Hey El Jeffe, Thanks for your note. You make me smile because you point out the obvious; growing aloes and growing aloes from seed are 2 very different hobbies. A person can be involved in one and not the other. Seeds can be a real pain because they take some care and patience, but they are an inexpensive way to increase diversity; there is no way I'm willing to plunk down $5 or $10 (or more) to buy some plants. Seeds range from about 2 cents each (Eurica) to $1 or $2 each (Penrock). I start seeds each winter; this helps with the "patience" part because I have plants of all ages coming along at any given time. I do have a list of things I am looking for and I'll send it to you. I really haven't made up a list of things I have to trade but perhaps I should. Cordially, Conroe Joe

Went to the ER and it is broke. Doctor was very nice and told me I did the right thing attempting to tape them together. X-ray showed it is broke and because of where the break is the doctor wants me to wear one of those lovely "shoes" for a couple weeks. That way my foot will sit right and hopefully the break will heal properly. They all know me in the ER and know what I am dealing with so all were very nice and got me taken care of right away. Now, on the way in the door of the ER my dad stepped the wrong way and pulled a muscle in his calf! I ran in to a PT guy we know and he said that if it continues to bother him I should get him checked out because of his age but more than likely it is just a pull so he showed me some exercises he can do to make it better. Dear Lord I hope this is it for a while! We did go see mom and she is being released back to the nursing home today. The doctor called me this morning and said her liver and kidney functions, still has "rattle" in her chest but that is better also. She looks and sounds much better. Doctor said he thinks some of the throwing up comes from her shoving too much food in her mouth at one time, so he is ordering speech therapy to work with her more at the home so she gets in the habit of smaller bites. Dad and I just came home as there was no need for us to sit there and wait for transport for her. Mom was not too happy but that is just too bad, my toe hurts right now and is all swollen. I know in a day or so it will not be so tender but right now I am going to baby ME! How's that for a self centered attitude? LOL!

add the sender to your address book and accepted list. Often times there is a question asking if you want to add this person to your accepted list click yes to that,adding them to your address book will usually do that also.

While some updates may include "bells and whistles" many are designed to improve stability and others increase security. That may not be readily apparent unless one reads the "fine print". The unfortunate reality is that folks out there who want to do harm and today a computer owner has to exercise due diligence because in this age of always on/always connected computers your mistakes can impact others. To some degree it's like a car, you have an obligation to maintain the vehicle so that when you step on the brake pedal, the car stops. For the most part a computer virus isn't going to have catastrophic consequences of hitting, say, a pedestrian with a car but there are real costs associated with these things. 80% of all email is spam. Spam that we all are paying for because the hardware and associated costs of the increased traffic; costs that are passed to us in the form of higher fees for Internet access. At the very least: Use anti-virus/anti-malware software. Use a firewall. Even better is to have a physical firewall like a router in additional to a software firewall. Keep your computer updated. The more popular the software, the more likely someone is trying to find flaw they can exploit. Use common sense. Because emails are generally scanned several times, they are an unlikely source of infection BUT any links they contain are NOT scanned. So if your dear friend sends you a message, "Hey, check out this video of a three headed baby." Before you click, think about using Google instead. If there really was a three headed baby, it's probably going to make the evening news. Or before you click on a link in an email from Aunt Millie wonder if you 87-year-old aunt really has a Facebook page. Beware of phishing schemes. Your bank, investment broker, electric company, ISP, etc. is NEVER EVER going to send you an email saying they need information from you. If you are really concerned, call them using a phone number from the phone book or a statement. Think before you click. If you're not sure why you're clicking ok, spend a couple of minutes and look up your problem. Generally somebody, somewhere has asked the same question before.