Yeah! You shoulda' seen me, trying to work on the irrigation ditch with the Ruger strapped to my back after I saw the tracks!;~) I'm goin' to have to get a book and a mirror. Just to check if I have a "gazorp"! Sounds like something Mel Brooks would say!:~) I never got over 'High Anxiety'! I don't hunt at all and never saw the point. If I was hurting for food...well, yeah! I grew up fishing on the Russian River, and spent a lot of time around Clear Lake, Mendocino and all up and down the coast, but wasn't a hunter. We used to inner tube up and down the river. Those were the days!:~) I guess that the old hippy nudist camp just north of town, is now an upscale resort! If those waters could talk... Well, they'd likely ask for some pot!;~) Can you tell, Ginge, that I'm from Sonoma County!;~) Moved to Cloverdale, when I was two! My brother was born in Ukiah. He still lives in Petaluma and is a cop over in Napa. You couldn't pay me enough to live there now. Everything is gone!!:~( They alway said that the builders would turn it just like San Jose... They were right! The last time I lived there, was out of Sebastopol. A few miles out of town, heading toward Bodega Bay. Great place to grow up in during the '70's. Really nasty little place now. (Cloverdale, I mean!) Actually has been for twenty years. Yeah! I spent three years down in S.Cal, before moving to Sebastopol Then, after my parents moved back overseas in '93, I opted to move back down to Palm Springs again. I have very mixed feeling about the place. Many, many horrible aspects, but could be a lot of serious fun. I really missed trees and real water. The golf courses just didn't cut it. My biggest issue for the longest time, up here, were all of the raccons! Disney lied his butt off! They're not cute little critters. They're nasty, viscous and will really hurt you. It took me forever to erradicate them from my area. They had, eventually, ripped the roof off the chicken house and wipped everthing out. My Boxers won't even look at chickens anymore. They had develped an unfortunate taste for fresh chicken when they were younger. These new LGD girls have a very unhealthy interest in them, but they know that I won't have it! The foxes are mostly tolerated, as long as they don't become too much of a problem. They do a lot of good otherwise, so... As long as they don't push it, I sorta' like them. The weird thing is... They hang around talking to my cats! I'm serious! I've seen the cats and them, just laying around like they're having a good chat! I've went out and they just look at me. It's like I'm interrupting something! I swear, everything is so worthless around here!;~) Loose dogs are not tolerated! Period!! They are shot on sight! We don't believe in shoot, shovel and shutup! They will be shot and hung on the gate! That's if we can't find the owners. Although I generally put up with one of my neghbors old hunting dogs. Not thrilled. but I do try to get along. (Believe it or not!) Our mule, and the donkey as well, absolutely HATE dogs and will chase them down. Good entertainment! Our dogs have learned to keep a lot of distance!:~) X-rated words are the way I generally talk to... Well, everything! I'm so bad...I sound like an Aussie!;~) From the many that I've known, that's saying something! BTW... I picked up more .223 ammo today! Although I hate them, Wally world is good for somethings. The guy selling them to me, said that he's shot three cougars over the last coupla' years. They're really getting to be a dangerous problem. I really love most of the wildlife, but the predators need to keep some distance. I have a small herd of deer that I generally leave alone. They don't eat much and seem to tolerate me being close to them. It's sorta' cool, plus, they give me a heads up as to what's going on. I know that when they're around, it's pretty safe. I'm still armed, though!;~) Jeeze!! Is this reply long enough? Scott

Thanks Jim!!!! I'm still really excited about it working!!! I have some news about my eyes. I went to the retinal specialist. They put 3 different types of drops in my eyes. I had to pry my eyes open so they could keep going with the drops. Blech. So he said that I have retinal deterioration. Do I have RP (retinitis pigmentosa - where you get tunnel vision and go blind). He said maybe. I asked if there's a chance I could go blind. He said that it isn't a matter of when, but that I'm probably legally blind ALREADY!!! So he's sending me (in a few months probably) for this procedure that's like an EKG for the eyes. If it shows that I'm legally blind, then I won't be able to drive anymore. This would be terrible, because I have trouble walking around where I live because of all of the inclines/declines - it's hard on my ankles, and I just got over having ankle tendinitis (a whole year of it). I love driving to the off-leash areas to take my dogs for a walk. It's so much fun. Anyways, the good news is that he said my vision will get gradually worse - but very slowly. So if I'm not legally blind yet, then I can probably drive for a few more years. Now, I'm asking for prayers that: a) I'm not legally blind b) that I can handle being legally blind if I am. Thanks everyone!! Carol

I really like Winter Frost. I got it at Solberg's place during his annual sale. I asked for it since Doug Beilstein is the breeder and I didn't see it. He had a couple left that weren't labelled. It didn't look that impressive when I got it in late 2018. Next spring I discovered it was like the blue Bridegroom.I didn't get a good pic of it this year. Here it is today looking a little worse for wear in a tough year for Hosta growing. A good grower in my garden (under an Oak tree, lol).Bummed I didn't catch it earlier in the year. What was I thinking?

Yum, sleevendog, I love brussels sprouts, maybe I'll pick some up for dinner soon and your roasted veggies look really good. My election is over, my precinct had the highest voter turnout in the county at 85.66%. It was very busy but everyone behaved themselves and things went smoothly. Today I did nothing except take naproxen for my aching back from being on my feet for 16 hours and think how nice it was to not have to take the phone into the bathroom with me because I was getting constant calls about early voting (Michigan doesn't have it), absentee ballots, people checking to make sure they were still registered to vote, although they voted in August and it was OK. Anyway, now I can do some cooking again. I got my first box from Wild Alaskan Seafood today, it contained 4 pieces of cod, 4 pieces of sockeye salmon, 2 pieces of coho and 2 pieces of halibut, as well as 2 pounds of crab legs. I also got $25 off, so it was still expensive but I justified it by planning to eat the halibut for Christmas for Elery and I, it's one of my favorite types of fish but terribly expensive here. I haven't had time to load pictures, but some of these look delicious. Neely, your salmon with mustard sauce sounds like something I'd like a lot, as well as the carrot/parsnip mash. I really like parsnips. Congratulations on getting to see that grandson again, nothing is quite like watching them grow. Lynda, I always like shrimp and yours looks perfect. Peke, another Nick Stellino fan!! Stand here with me and Jasdip... Lpink, that sauce looks perfect. I like the lighter tomatoes a lot, they are sweet and mild, almost like tropical fruit. Jasdip, I like that eggroll better without the wrappers, and I'm also terrible at wrapping/rolling. Spring rolls, burritos, eggrolls. Phyllo is the worst, I'll never touch it again, ugh. Tonight we had chili and cornbread, Elery cooked. Annie