Hey, Matt -- That's way cool! I want to tell you something about "Placerville White Noisette" because I think it makes the roses even better, when you know their stories. We collected him second -- and WE called him "Jacob Zeisz." He came from the grave of young Jacob Zeisz, whose Bavarian-born father started one of the first real breweries in California. It was in Placerville, and I've seen what remains of the ruins. The remarkably handsome striding Grizzley Bear on Jacob's tombstone is a California symbol, and as it turns out, the symbol of the Native Sons Of The Golden West. Jacob, despite his relative youth, was an active member. I guess they valued him, because they erected his marker. Later, poking around, we found that Jacob's Mama and sister are buried in front of him. Papa seems to be ... elsewhere. Jacob's rose should be dynamite for you. I love all your choices. :-) Jeri

(((Nicole & Benny))) Poor little Benny sure has been through a lot in his life hasn't he? You and Claude must be so worried and overwhelmed with this new diagnosis. I'll add a link to the Diabetes Association in your area. They have a parent support group and if you contact them they should provide you with a wealth of information. Two of one of my best friend's children were diagnosed with juvenile diabetes when they were 1 and 3 at the same time. Marilyn was told they contracted it through a viral infection. Both those kids are in their late 20's now. Being so little Marilyn didn't have to worry about them wanting the sugary foods or them feeling deprived because they couldn't have them. Monitoring them was the hardest part because children are on the go and exercising all the time. Of course the kids hated the finger pricking and the insulin shots but then they had to use a syringe. Nowadays injections are easier and less painful because of the new pens that have the thinest of needles. You can even get test kits that will allow you to test on your arm instead of pricking your finger. I know how painful that can be and if you have to do prick Benny's little finger you will cry just as hard as he will. I know I did whenever I had to test my Mom. She would just look at me with these big eyes knowing the pain was coming. As the kids got older because they were away from home more often they did their own testing and injections. Marilyn didn't have many problems with her son but her teenaged daughter rebelled and didn't want to follow the diet, didn't want to test herself and didn't want to take her insulin. She felt restricted and their were complications along the way. She did start taking better care of herself but just before she got pregnant with her first child she had to have eye surgery for retinopathy. My other best friend Vicki has had juvenile diabetes most of her life. She felt sorry for herself when she was a teenager and still does sometimes at the age of 51. Diabetes becomes a way of life. As hard as my friend tries and she follows her diet and does everything right her sugar levels are rarely under control. She has tried different types of insulin, met with dieticians and Doctors. She said the only time her sugar was under control was when she was pregnant. Vicki gets frustrated because eating right, testing your blood before every meal and more when she doesn't feel right and taking insulin before every meal is time consuming. She just can't sit down and eat like we all can. She can eat everything though and doesn't feel deprived unless she really wants to eat a lot of something that isn't so good for her and knows she can't. Vicki hasn't experienced any health problems related to her diabetes. She just gets tired of doing what she has to do to keep her blood sugar normal. Benny can still be a normal little boy just with monitoring and the hated testing and injectionsn. Holidays, even Halloween can just be as fun he just can't eat much of the candy. Chips and cheesepuffs, etc are good. Marilyn would buy her kids candy from them and donate it to a shelter. I think it is going to be more tough on you Nicole but you will get into the swing of things. Counting, measuring, reading labels can be time consuming but you will learn pretty fast and get into a routine. Give Benny Boy and Sophie a hug for me and one for you and Claude too. I really missed you guys at Christmas this year. Anne Here is a link that might be useful: Oakville Diabetes Association

I am assuming when you say your cat has been renal, that your cat has some degree of kidney failure? Or is it something else renal-related? 7 years is a long time to survive with renal failure, so either you cat is not that ill, or you have an amazing cat. What are his blood values (if your vet has told you that sort of thing)? What diet has be been on? Unfortunately there is no diet that is good for both renal failure AND diabetes as their protein levels are exactly the opposite (low protein renal failure and very high protein for diabetes). Canned would be by far the best, whatever diet your cat is on now, as both diseases severely dehydrate kitties. And canned is WAY better for controlling diabetes than ANY dry food is (lower carbs). Getting diabetes after having renal failure for a number of years is a peculiar and rare set of circumstances... usually it is the other way around. Your cat must have been a really good eat as a renal failure pet, as I almost never see diabetes in skinny cats (most are fat cats on dry food). You say 'when you speak with the vet... you haven't discussed this already? How was he diagnosed with diabetes? Keep us up to date when you find out more what exactly is going on.

There are chances of it both being a Schoener creation as well as one of his offerings. He had two locations in SB. One is now under a freeway exit and the other is a shopping center. I found the addresses on Ancestry.com off census records of the period. A Google Maps view showed what is now where the locations are. Mike and Don wanted to scour around where they were on a visit to see if they could find any remnants of the nursery. Nope, it's all gone. But Benny Lopez could well have discovered one of the remnants.