I was tricked into getting her from a vet hospital I deliver to that is two hours drive from my house. They got me with the line ( Do you want a dog?, She's small and real cute, she is free to a good home, do you want to see her? ). The Veterinary Hospital had her for a month because people thought she was cute but when they found out she was ten years old they would say ( I was looking for a puppy ). Her name is Suzie and when I first saw her I was told you could change her name, but my first thought was I do not think she would like a new name after ten years. Her owner had brought her to the same vet since she was a puppy so when he told them that he had to go into a nursing home they told him they would find her a good home. After I picked her up and took her home I was able to tell the workers at the hospital how she was doing and all of the activites she was doing at her new house. The woman that had talked me into taking her went to the nursing home and told the man that she was in a house near a park where she could run free once a day for an hour or more. She told me the next week when she saw me that he cried when he found out that she could run around because he had been unable to take her out for awhile and that she really seemed to be having a good time in her new place. She does not play with any dog toys and does not fetch sticks or eat dog treats. We went on a walk today in temperatures of 25F and she was not affected at all. She has short hair on her legs like a dachsund but all of her other hair is longer and thicker like a Shiba Inu. When she looks out of the front window as we pull up to the house with her ears up she looks like a giant bat Lance

That is Deadly Nightshade. I was hospitalized after pulling it from my garden with no gloves. I've lived and gardened here for 15 years, and the nightshade plant has always been here. It grew vine-like at first on the fence, but as it gets bigger starts to bush out a bit. I had heard of it's toxic potential but liked the wee purple flowers with bright yellow center, and I only ever found the one plant in my entire large yard. Several months ago while watching evening tv with my daughter, my arms began to burn. I pulled up my sleeves and saw that the skin was red. Those symptoms went away after 20 or 30 minutes, and I didn't think much of it. (I had been working in my main garden a couple hours before that and pulled the nightshade to make way for a butterfly garden) 2 months later I again was weeding and playing in the same bed and again pulled a nightshade. I went to bed at 9 that night, very early for me, but I was exhausted. I woke at 10:30 in a panic because I felt flames burning me in my bed. Thinking there was a fire I jumped up and was about to get my daughter when I realized there was no fire. But my back, arms & legs, face, were all burning as if on fire. I ran down the stairs and into the bathroom where I turned on the shower. i splashed cold water on my arms but it did no good. My husband came in to see what was wrong. I told him how I felt, which by this time included nauseous and weak. I felt like falling to the floor... To be continued after I drop my daughter off at the fair.

I did and I'll be more than happy to either post them for you, send you the HTML code so you can paste them into your own thread or even walk you through the process so you can learn. It's very simple once you get the hang of it. Here's my email address, just let me know which you prefer to do. lukkiirish@gmail.com That is such a great story and I love the name Maggie. She may not have been what you wanted, but I think you will really enjoy having her. Originally, I wanted another Golden Retriever but was not thrilled about taking on the grooming needs. When Golddust announced her Lab Jack I fell in love with the pictures and read up on them. Temperment wise, Labs are very similar to Golden's and I couldn't be more thrilled with our choice. I just can't get over how smart they are. I prefer to have our pets in pairs as well but could never handle two, especially when walking them! LOL We got our girl over Labor Day weekend and my DH was the one who compromised. I've wanted a dog for years but my husband was perfectly content without one. Then one day we had to get cat food and there was a woman shopping with her new puppy, a yellow lab and DH was smitten. We tried to adopt from a rescue but ran into some frustrations. Then one day I saw an ad online from someone who lived in our area. They had 11 yellow lab puppies, males and females. My husband said I should call, you know, just to inquire and they still had several left. The lady offered let us see them that night and we were there within the hour. We ended up leaving with Ellie and I like to think she picked us. She was the only one who greeted us at the door and then she stayed close to us the whole time we were there. I've posted the link from when I announced her below. There are pictures in both the beginning and end of the thread. I also posted pictures more recently in Golddust's post about her chocolate lab, Jack. http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/decor/con1218514631788.html I'll try to get another couple of pics over the weekend. She is growing like a weed and at 45 lbs still thinks of herself as a lap dog. I believe she is an American Lab as well. Get your pictures ready! I can't wait to see her! Here is a link that might be useful: Ellie (short for Eloise)

"According to a spokesperson from McDonald's," and weren't there spokespeople from the tabacco industry that said smoking doesn't hurt anyone??? No offense to all the McD lovers out there, but I can eat a burger at Wendy's, In & Out, or Red Robin, and not get sick. Two bites from Mc Donalds's and I'm nauseated. Grease or beef, I still say YUCK. (and I used to love the big mac as a kid!) and I used to work for several fast food places, including McDonalds, Taco Bell & Wendy's. Wendy's is the ONLY place at the time that made their own patties with fresh ground beef. I think In & Out does too. Taco Bell USED to fry their meat & boil their own beans, now everything comes in a 'boil in bag' that you don't know what is in it. (even their veggies are prepackaged now, they used to be cut & diced daily) I'm not a big 'fast food' person. Once you see how things are done behind the scenes, it changes how you feel about what you see in the commercials.