So you guys are tired of my thread? Thanks! It's been crazy here.We've got another bday celebration this weekend, this time it's my nephew's.He's three. The party's tomorrow but I've been gift shopping-and that general routine. I also have my new glasses and I'm going through that realization of how bad my sight has been-now that I can see. I have to say I'm reading fine print more enthusiastically! I'm still trying to decide if I really like the frames I picked.It's hard to have something on my face lol. Been doing stuff like recovering from the virus I had and now we're in track season so three evenings a week we are busy with that. Thanks all for the bday wishes for Ryan-he loves being five and has accepted his new age quite well-I think he's getting out of his "I never want to grow up" mode. Lol Chris is chatting with Drema on the phone right now-he always steals my friends lol. Drema and he both work at the same university so they are talking 'shop'. Hope your pilates class went well Drema! Lauren your pics seem like a dream!-to have tomatoes on the vine right now-that is such a cool thing to realize how opposite we are. Love the pics and color-thanks!Glad to see you here again. V such dramatic burn pics-it really is cool to see how different our environments are, from you burning the place down; ) to Lauren doing fall cleanup during our spring lol. Hey brag away there's nothing wrong when your kid is doing a great job-three awards is worth being very proud of!You've done a great job raising her: ) and Happy belated bday to your DS! Honey you've got some fun stylin' clothes there! Definitely need some pink nails/toenails when you're wearing that first one! That's was terrible that your house got egged!I hope it doesn't ruin your siding.How could someone do that to such nice people! I've been thinking about Tom's job situation-reading the newspaper is so stressful lately when it comes to jobs.Hope it all settles well. Sue I hope Nick is improving-such a worry when you're not sure what's affecting your pup. I know when our two dogs started walking gingerly it was due to arthritis(they were old). I can't wait to see your new hairdo...will you show us? I'm sure it looks great. Aren't brothers mean: )? I'm convinced I'm more resilient because I've had similar 'brotherly' advice all through my childhood....luckily now my big brother lives on the opposite side of the country lol. I learned early to always be on guard when once he told me I was pretty and after I said "thank you!" he added, "pretty ugly". Grrr. Oh I never told you guys my experience last week when I helped out at school picture day. You may recall AJ has a teacher who is a bit overbearing and I really haven't cared for her methods. Well as I get to know her I see she's an insecure person and she was especially nervous about getting her photo taken. She asked me what type of pose the teachers had been placed in and to lighten things up I calmly said "Well so far they've been laying on their sides-you know, like a boudoir pose?" Her eyes got larger than saucers and she just looked at me stunned. I said,"you do know I'm kidding,right?" I never heard a louder guffaw from a person!!(My dry sense of humor gets me in *more* trouble) It was hysterical and thankfully she doesn't hate me and she actually might think I'm not so bad. She couldn't wait to tell the other teachers at lunch what I did....yikes. She did say now she knows where AJ gets his sense of humor...now I'm wondering what he's been saying lol. Taryn are you better yet?and the boys? Any house news? Mary-I liked your description of Annie. That's nice to hear she's having a good experience with the music group. I've been hoping the same for AJ. He's got very few boys in his class so I'm hoping when he joins advanced band next year he can forge more friendships-the music groups generally seem to attract friendly kids I think. I look forward to May when he'll be involved in an area band festival even though he's in beginner band. They group four beginner bands from different schools together for one practice that's two hours long then perform the following day and amazingly their fall performance was very impressive for their very first performance experience.You sound like me-I was always shy in big groups of kids too. Marian I hope all is well...and we're missing so many others. Have a good one. ~Babs

Denise, Fig trees are pretty late to come out. Just be patient with them. It is not unusual for them to die back completely to the ground and then to be late to show new growth. It is just one of the frustrating things about growing figs here. The good thing is that once they start regrowing from the ground, they grow quickly. Two of the latest blooming peaches (they have chilling hour requirements of 1000 hrs or more) are Contender and Reliance. I don't see Contender in stores here often, but do see Reliance from time to time. Both are available from Stark Bros. Those are lovely cabinets! Nancy, The sleet part doesn't sound good, nor can it ever be good when Wyoming is warmer than we are in the month of April. Oh well, I just keep thinking "Lee warned us....". Because. he. did. (grin) We only dyed two dozen eggs---a dozen with a blue/purple Galaxy kit that had rub-on transfers of the stars, the Milky Way galaxy, etc. and a dozen in pastels that have a pearlized/marbelized finish you apply after the dye dries. I didn't think that dye ever would dry. We also had 60 (says Tim and Lillie, and I say 61) plastic eggs to hide. Tim says he hid 60. He counted. Lillie says she found 60. She counted. Yet, when I went out to the garden to throw row cover over the two beds that include tomato and bean plants, I found a plastic egg at my garden gate. So, I say 61 eggs. Regardless, the Easter festivities are over, our temperatures now are dropping (we were 64 at midnight, and still 55 until about 4 p.m., but no longer....) and it is sort of misty/foggy but maybe with not quite enough rain to call it light drizzle. Our prank was to fill Lillie's magical, mystical golden egg with brussels sprouts. Let me explain. She has gone on and on about how we have to hide the golden egg (my reply: what golden egg? why? we never had a golden egg when Chris was a kid) for a couple of months and it has to have a spectacular surprise in it. Oh, and how she must be the one to find it, and with no help. Hearing about it daily about drove me out of my mind, until I finally started teasing her on being fixated on a golden egg that we didn't have, weren't interested in and weren't going to have. She still went on and on and on about it endlessly. So, a couple of weeks ago I told her that I was so tired of hearing about it and that if she didn't stop talking about it, I'd buy a golden egg and fill it with brussels sprouts. She kept emphasizing it had to have a great surprise in it. I told her that brussels sprouts would be a great surprise. It all was a long running joke that she wasn't taking seriously until we bought a bag of brussels sprouts at the store yesterday. The look on her face when I put those brussels sprouts in the grocery cart was priceless. At home, she took a new approach, begging Tim to hide the golden egg so well that she'd never find it. Apparently she decided I am a woman of my word and that there really was going to be brussels sprouts in the golden egg. Guess what? She was right. I am not cruel. When she sat down her basket and started taking out the plastic eggs to open them up, I suggested she first take the golden egg (only a bright yellow egg) and put all those brussels sprouts in the fridge before they started smelling up her Easter basket. She promptly complied and, when she opened the fridge, sitting next to the brussels sprouts bag, there were two "LOL Surprises" toys on the shelf. So, she got the spectacular toy she loves and had hoped would be in the golden egg, and we got the fun of seeing her react to brussels sprouts in her actual golden egg. It was hysterical. She promised solemnly that there would be no talk ever again of a golden egg at future Easters. We'll see. Our forecast low for tonight has dropped to 38 and for Tuesday night to 35. Tim and I covered up the two raised beds that have some tomato plants and some green bean plants in them. We might not have needed to, but with a 38 in the forecast, I figured better safe than sorry. Tim is sicker and sicker. I told him I think he has the flu and not a cold. He won't admit it. He thinks that because he had the flu shot last fall, he couldn't possibly have the flu. I think he is wrong. He is just too stubborn to admit it. He is not planning on going in to work tomorrow morning. This is going to be the longest and most boring first week of April we've had in a long time. rere's not much that one can do out in the garden in this sort of weather. I brought in all the flats of plants from the front porch, even though lately they've been staying out 24/7. I'll probably put them outside tomorrow and bring them in again the next couple of nights. We will be cold, but not nearly as cold as places further north. We have had small numbers of hummingbirds recently, about a week or two earlier than usual. Suddenly we have a lot more. I suspect a bunch were arriving here on their way, just passing through on their way to points further north, and the cold front hit. So, here they are, feeding like crazy at the feeders. I'll refill the feeders with fresh nectar tomorrow. I am tired (apparently I am no match for a 9 year old's energy) and am planning to go to bed early. I'm trying to stay awake long enough that at least it will be dark when I go upstairs to go to sleep. Really, I don't care if it is light or dark, but even when tired find it hard to fall asleep before it is dark outdoors. I looked at the garden while covering up warm season plants and there's hundreds of warm-season volunteers uncovered. Either they'll sink or swim on their own, and it doesn't really matter. If they die, more will sprout. More always do. Dawn

I've been with the same company since 1989, and so we are very familiar with each other by now, but it was not like that in the beginning. When I first met my boss, I felt an instant rapport with her and felt like we were meant to be together. When I looked at her furniture, I thought to myself, "These are the exact same proportions I would use," and so I knew from the beginning that we had a compatible design style/sense. It took her a little longer than it did me to realize this, but once she did, she trusted me with all new designs. Kevin has some good friends at work, and a couple of the them live not too far from us. One has offered to help cook and help with grocery shopping, if necessary, but I think I am recovered enough by now to handle shopping. I just cannot get anything heavy yet, but that will come in due time. As for the garden, I will hire help probably in October. It would nice to have him sooner, but he is my friend in Sacramento, and I have to work with his schedule. I don't trust the local landscapers here. I could possibly find a good landscape architect here, but that would be expensive and more than we need right now, although I'll keep it in mind for the future. It depends on what we end up doing in Palm Springs. I think Kevin will be much happier when we can buy a second home in the Palm Springs area. We'll probably end up in Cathedral City (Palm Springs adjacent but not walking distance), and hopefully Cathedral Gulch. This won't start happening until next year, but it's something to look forward do that I think might help Kevin feel better. What is odd is that so many people ask us if we are twins, but I am 15 years (+3 weeks) older, and I think this must be very insulting to Kevin. First people ask us if we are brothers. Then they ask if we are twins. Then they ask which one is older, which is the worst question of all. I've afraid that Kevin is going to appear even older after this ordeal, but if he can have a week-end house in PS, then I think he won't mind so much. I don't know yet how I will look after my full recovery, but I am keeping plastic surgery as an option. I've had hospital technicians tell me that if you live in Los Angeles, then it is almost mandatory. When I had a bike accident that cut my forehead, they would not release me from St. Johns until I interviewed with a plastic surgeon. Back then (around 1996) I did not care about having a small scar or two on my forehead, and now it's barely visible anyway. If anything, what I can see of it makes me look more rugged, I think. I wear bike helmets now. Sorry for rambling - I'm having trouble sleeping some nights, and after just having seen Kevin, I am feeling even more anxious. I think I will be able to help him with most of what he needs, but he is very private and introverted and often likes to be by himself. I hope he will spend his alone time in the back yard instead of his bedroom, but for now, I know it is painful for him to sit in a chair, and I expect that to last for a while. I could see the evidence of the surgery that had been done, having to remove part (or all) of his sphincter, which I mentioned before but had not seen evidence of before. He's going to be on disability for about three months, I think, but since he has been paying disability insurance for many years, he will get paid pretty much his normal salary - from the insurance. However, they deduct Californian disability payments, as California is fairly generous with these payments, and so Kevin will have to apply for those as well - since the payments will be deducted whether he receives them or not. He cannot file for California disability until he gets out of the hospital, but I think he knows how to do this.

The mail-order tree business in general has declined quite a bit Definitely. Everything horticulture related has declined in my opinion...in this country at least. I've already started plenty of threads documenting the decline and loss of mail order businesses. Local nurseries aren't what they used to be. Take the once legendary Styers in SE PA. 20 years ago you could probably have gotten 5-10 cultivars of European beech there, and plenty of other rarities. I remember speaking with employees who clearly knew and loved plants. These days, it's a trendy restaurant and housewares boutique that happens to sell outdoor plants LOL. It doesn't even feel as 'horticultural' as it did 3-4 years ago. Every time I stop in (and these days, only because I happen to be in the area for some other reason) it seems less and less a garden center.