Ei...looks like I missed you before your Florida trip. You are right...it is the way of life and no it is not easy to accept at all. Just over a year was very recent Ei, and I am very sorry for your loss. It does get easier, it just takes time. I am glad you are so busy, I think that helps. It sounds like your Mom and my Mom would have got along fine. ;-) I had forgotten about that movie The Miracle Worker with Ann Bancroft, another great movie. I haven't seen 'Brassed Off', I will have to look for it. I am having trouble finding any ground alfalfa in my neck of the woods too. The only thing I have seen is alfalfa cubes for rabbit food in pet supply stores. Which sturdy roses are you using Ei? Kathy...So, you did get to see the Laura DVD? It just had a different cast then you remembered? I never rent DVDs anymore, but get that DVR box from the cable company. I use that a lot. Have you ever seen the Alfred Hitchcock movie Shadow of a Doubt, with Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten? It was filmed in Santa Rosa California and I always enjoy looking at the background sceneries. It was filmed in 1943, so it is fun to look at what Santa Rosa looked like then. When you were talking about the old buildings in California it reminded me of that. Although I don't remember seeing the type of historical California buildings that you mentioned. I'll have to watch it again..lol I must have seen that film about 4 times. I have no idea why it fascinates me. I had heard that expression film 'noir' and thought I understood what it meant, but thought I would look it up to see if I could find a list of films. Sure enough Wikipedia had a list. I found that I am a big fan of the classic period as well. I have seen a lot of them. I just happen to love that era of movie making in the 40s and 50s. Kathy, I found the David Austin website and see the Molineux. It is very pretty and sounds like it has all the characteristics I am looking for including a manageable size that I forgot to mention. I haven't yet found the hardiness info and was surprised that the David Austin site doesn't include that. BUT, I did find a few people on Dave's Garden who have it and someone in Massachusetts and someone in Maine grow it, so I think I will be able to grow it here. Don't worry about figuring out the hardiness at all. I was just interested to know which were your favorites and most disease resistant. I found photos on the David Austin site. Now a new website to look over...scrumptious photos! :-) Haven't had a chance to look up the others yet. That's really awful about the citrus and avocado crops. How horrible for the growers. We use guacamole on chicken casa dias ..the only time we use avocado. Clementines and Red grapefruit fans here. cynthia...has your clivia opened it's buds yet? Photo? jerri...I loved Simon and Garfunkel. :-) marian...I also had that Sedona coleus. You have a large deck with containers..do you have to take them all in every year? I thought the fall photo of your hill was very pretty. Great color. Really nice houseplant collection. Your begonias and is that a Norfolk Pine? I have a croton too that my son gave me for Christmas last year. I have had a small hoya for 2 years and hasn't bloomed. I can't give it any more light..is there a trick to getting them to bloom? I love your Viburnums too...especially the fall color of the 'Oneida' and the plicatum tomentosum...I just love that horizontal branch pattern. Some luscious Iris too...Lingering Love..so pretty! I couldn't find the african violets marian, what did I miss? I looked through all the houseplant albums I think. [Ahhhh, I see you mention..no AV photos....lol] marian...I agree, reading other people's memories jogs mine too. I am surprised that you grew up working the farm and are still interested in gardening. Did you enjoy working on the farm as a kid? You were married young and you have been married a long time. I'm also sorry that you lost your mother so young. Your chronic illnesses probably have more to do with it than you realize, marian. Life is a lot harder to cope with when you are ill. :-) Norma....what an awful time of it you are having. I hope there is not too much damage on your property. T....I just figured out those photos were from around your property! You are a lucky person! Really gorgeous and I think the second photo would make a perfect Christmas card. Babs...I didn't know you were an original Idyll. Saying hi! :-) Mary...saying hi to you too. :-) I second Michelle's request for a photo of Deanne in her duck blind. [g] Vtskiers....What a pose the Nickster presented! I think dog's are so expressive. 'Bug...I am amazed at how productive some of you are on this list..you already have the wall painted and the rug up? Plus you have finished your knitting projects..I am impressed. I think you do absolutely gorgeous work! Where did you learn to knit so beautifully? I love that white cap. I also loved the hat in that Entrelac link. Your new rug on newly painted wall just fits that space. Great job! Nothing at all new here...sun was out yesterday and in the yard, it was the first time I found the ground frozen. Have a good day.. :-) pm2

Thanks for the replies so far, IÂm surprised more people havenÂt chimed in with their random thoughtsÂthis thread isnÂt meant to be a definitive anything at this pointÂitÂs all speculation, observation, and guessing for now. Pdshop, youÂre right, IÂm not married. My dogs have shown an inclination for playing with tubers that were put into a low propagation tray last year so I am taking precautions not to do that again. They have left the plants themselves alone. I will be taking as many pictures as I can. Viking, glad IÂll have someone to trade results with throughout the winter, this is going to be fun! Plantlady, your observations are pretty much what I expected. Your remarks, coupled with my own cutting experience last winter, tells me that a tuber is a sprout factory more or less for life. I had it in my head that a tuber, once it had produced a plant, was pretty much spent. I realize, however, that I took many cuttings from a single tuber last winterÂso why couldnÂt they do it year after year too? With no replies to some of the questions so far, hereÂs my plan: A1: I am going to simply cut the tubers at the pot boundary on the assumption that I can get enough whole tubers in each 4" pot to propagate what I need for next year. A2: IÂm going to keep one or two cut tubers as an experiment, but for the most part I am planning on tossing those that end up with a large cut. A3: I am going to bring the pots in as soon as the stalks are cut and place them in my propagating cabinets to allow the eyes to form. I am going to try and wash out most of the soil from the pot and then place them in the trays, then put a small amount of water into the tray to feed the roots. A4: Thanks Plantlady and misslucinda. A5: Thanks everyone. A6: For those varieties that take a long time to bloom I plan on starting them as soon as theyÂre out of the ground. As a tuber eyes up I will cut it from the original clump and put it into its own pot. I am interested in seeing whether plants grown from tubers, as opposed to cuttings, exhibit any differences (Faster growing? Better growth? Higher survivability?) A7: Thanks misslucinda. IÂll cut off side branches. A8: Guess weÂll just have to see what happens. Hopefully my experiments with the existing blooming plants will give me a heads up as to what to expect next spring when there are too many plants for the cabinets. Cheers, Russ

gurl - glad to see you're heating up again, and saved $ 40 ! moebus -your elect. co. is ignorant. Whole house surge units exist, there's even one that mounts to their meter itself , in the socket. NOW, whether they work or not is a highly debated topic. I've heard both camps and come to the conclusion that it's as much voodoo as science, and depends on your specific electric system. What doesn't seem to be debated is the benefit of a good grounding system . I am not talking about the rod the sparky drives into the ground or the connector he bonds to your water pipe that satisfies the inspector. We are talking about multiple ground rods connected together spread around your house. Lightning strikes , especially those really close by seem to defeat almost any measures to safeguard electronics in a residence. FWIW, We have surge suppressors on our meter box and in each sub panel. In addition , most computers have a dedicated surge outlet as do the stereo and video equipment closets. Fridges have a surge outlet too. We have also upgraded the grounding system , but only three rods I think, ran outa $$$ to give the electrician for more. Lots of redundancy there, and most are prob. a waste of $$$ , but the surge outlets were about $20 , so cheap insurance and they look cool. No failures so far. Here is a link that might be useful: whole house surge protectors

Good morning, y'all. I think the beginning of the cool-down is here, although we will feel it more at night than during the day. I'm not complaining though, because it is progress towards cooler weather. We awakened to a crisp, cool 63 degrees this morning and that's nice. We are supposed to stay in the 80s today, and the dewpoints are much lower so I doubt the heat indices even will hit the 90s. I feel better because this is a sign that summer (I hope) weather finally is done with us. Y'all watch next Thursday's/Friday's forecast because the models are bringing us temperatures at night in the 40s down here, so some of y'all be get ever cooler than that. The surest sign that the cold fronts are rolling through southern OK and finally mean business? Yesterday, the hummingbirds still were here, but were eating and leaving, and not even hanging around at all. I refilled the feeders in mid-afternoon, and they've barely been touched since then. I knew as I refilled them that it might be for the last time. I haven't seen a single hummingbird this morning either. Usually, I leave the feeders up for 7-10 days after seeing the last hummingbird, so I'm sure I would refill them with fresh nectar again sometime next week, but the hummingbirds may not be here to enjoy it. There's still tons of butterflies though. Jennifer, It is the hardest thing to see your childhood home sold, especially if it was your childhood home for your entire life. I think it wouldn't be so hard if we'd moved around a few times, but we didn't. Until we grew up and left home, it was the only place we'd lived for our whole lives. We all tried to mentally and emotionally prepare for it, but signing the papers to close the deal still was pretty sad for us 4 kids. And, I use the term kids lightly as we're all grandparents, and one of us (my little sis) is a great-grandparent. Still, it also is a good feeling to know another family will live their lives there, make their memories and hopefully be as happy as we were. The house is on a corner lot, across from a nice little neighborhood park with 2 baseball fields and a playground, so it is a great place for kids to grow up. As the old folks of my parents' ages (my mom was the last one on our street and one of the last in the immediate neighborhood) have died or gone into nursing homes, all the 1940s era homes have sold to younger folks who've invested a lot of money in remodeling the houses and redoing the yards and the whole neighborhood has become revitalized and that's a great thing to see. I think I probably never will drive past that house again though even when we are down there visiting nearby family. I kinda want to remember it the way it was when we lived there. Once your parents and your home are gone, then that area doesn't feel like home any more, I guess. I don't necessarily think we needed a 4th dog, but somebody had dumped this one and he was glued to the spot where they left him....for several days. We were afraid a car would hit him as he was right beside the road, so we enticed him up to the house with food and attention. Now, I guess he'll be ours unless the vet finds a microchip tomorrow and we learn he is lost, not dumped. He bears all the earmarks of a dumped dog though. We're going to name him Jesse, after our dear friend who passed away this summer. He's a young, big dog who likely will be a huge dog someday and our two younger dogs, Ace and Princess, are not happy about having a new brother. Jersey is okay with him as long as he doesn't jump on her---she is old and frail---and I am sure Ace and Princess will get used to Jesse. I reminded them that they, too, were stray puppies without a home when we took them in back in November 2014 and our dogs we had then, Jet, Jersey and Duke, accepted them and came to love them and that they should do the same for Jesse. I'm not sure Tim and I are ready to expend the endless energy needed to train a puppy, but we will find a way to do it. I only had to take him outside once during the night, and then Tim took him out early this morning when he got up to go to work, so at least the puppy seems capable of sleeping most of the night without having to go out...and he hasn't 'gone' on the floor once, so maybe at some point, someone had him indoors and he already has been trained in that regard. He's all clumsy puppy though....with big paws and a vigorously wagging tail, so I'm sure we're in for a lot of adventures. Is it idiotic for a person who is attempting to redo the entire landscape to take in a puppy who probably will be a digger and will be somewhat of an impediment to doing new landscaping? Probably, but our yard and garden have survived digging, destructive dogs before and shall again. Dropping the pounds is so hard, isn't it? I feel like all I've done is gain weight all spring and summer, perhaps stress eating from all the illnesses and death. I'm working to lose those pounds now, but they are a lot harder to lose than they were to gain, and I think the holiday baking will make it even harder. Being older makes it harder still, but I"m pretty determined to stick with it. I'm glad Tom is smoking meat for the band. It makes life feel more normal doesn't it, even though Ethan no longer is in high school. And, since Ethan's GF still is in high school and in the band, why shouldn't y'all be there? I know it will feel different, but I bet it still will feel good to be there. Larry, I'm so glad Madge is feeling better. Our deer are starting to disappear and be a lot less visible now. They must feel deer season approaching. When I have planted wildlife plot seed mixes for them, I did notice they didn't seem to like the brassicas as much as the legumes. Our older flowers are looking worn out and tired, and probably showing the effects of shortening day length now. The ones that still look the best are the cosmos, roselle hibiscus and candletrees that I planted in June and July. All three tend to be late-bloomers here and love the autumn weather, so they should look pretty good for a while yet. Now, if we hit the 40s late next week like they say we will, probably on Friday night, then all 3 won't care for that cold night, but I'm just not going to worry about that now. It if happens, it happens. I don't see any harm in asking if you can have all the leftover plants so they won't be wasted. dbarron, Your 59 degrees has me green with envy, but we should be in the 50s on Monday morning and Tuesday morning with highs only in the 70s. I'm dreaming of making some kind of yummy muffins to have for breakfast with hot cocoa or hot tea (I'm not a coffee person) and maybe making chili or stew for dinner. Or tomato-basil soup from frozen tomatoes. Any more, it seems like summer lasts throughout all of September and it hasn't always been that way, so I guess I just need to adjust. I'm ready to wear autumn clothing too. There's a part of me that hates to see summer weather end because the grandkids love to play in the pool. We are thinking that with a high temperature tomorrow around 87-88 degrees, we may have the last day in the pool with them. Of course, it depends on how much the water cools off tonight, and then it also depends on the rain in tomorrow's forecast and all that. For the sake of our two little mermaids who would stay in the pool 24/7 if allowed, I hope tomorrow is a pool day. If it is, it will be the last one. Last year, our last day in the pool was October 4th---they had a Friday off from school and were in the pool for as many hours that day as they could manage because we all knew it would be the last pool day of the season. If tomorrow ends up being too cool to play in the pool, we might take them down to Dallas to the Dallas Arboretum for Autumn at the Arboretum, which features an incredible pumpkin festival, including a village of buildings made of pumpkins and gourds, and with around 90,000 pumpkins, winter squash and gourds on display and over 150,000 seasonal flowers on display. Now that I've mentioned it, I should link it, in case anybody here is going to be in the Dallas area during Autumn at the Arboretum. As a gardener, Autumn at the Arboretum is incredibly delightful and it runs through Halloween. Or, maybe I'm just a big kid at heart and would love it even if I wasn't a gardener. Autumn at the Arboretum: It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown Jennifer, The heater? The heater? Oooh, I am completely emerald green with envy. I am looking forward to our first day that we need heat in any shape, form or fashion----I don't care if it is the heater in the car, the heater in the house or just roasting marshmallows at night around the fire pit. I simply want for it to be cool enough to need heat! Our TV met last night more or less said that the temperatures in the 90s should be over for all of us in southern OK now, and that the cold nights will come quickly over the next 7-10 days and will stay. I hope he's right. I've had all the heat I can take. After the hottest September ever recorded in the Texoma region, I'm ready for something that feels more like normal autumn weather. The air feels much drier today, and that's a wonderful thing. The elms and persimmons still are the only trees showing autumn color. I'm not expecting autumn leaf color to be great down here this year. Probably most trees will hang on to their green leaves forever, and then they'll turn brown and fall off overnight. We have to have long, mild, cool autumn weather to get great leaf color and that sort of weather has eluded us this year. I need to go clean house. I need to put one more coat of red paint on the doors, and guess I'll do that first. Then I need to get out the Halloween decorations and add them to the autumn decor that already is in place. I want the house to be decorated for Halloween before the girls arrive this evening. I hope you all have a wonderful day and a terrific autumn weekend. Dawn