I cut hansa rose back this year.. it was blooming at the top of seven feet canes, fine for me, but no so great for my wife. She loves the smell of this rose, plus behind it I planted John Davis, the were both the same hieght and it looked odd. Normally do not cut rogusas back, but honestly, it looks soooooooooooooo much better now. the foilage has filled in and you cant tell I hacked it in half, its around 4.5 feet now and the increased light has prompted John Davis to grow up even further. Silverkelt

Beautiful pictures, Terriks! Is that Mt. Shasta in the background? When we Amtrak up to visit the children, in the PacNorthwest, the train winds slowly around the base of Shasta and then heads into the Cascades, where we are surrounded by the most wonderful forests as we gradually rumble along. On our first trip up, we swung off the I-5 and drove to Grant's Pass, where we had lunch in a restaurant at the edge of the Rogue River. You are so fortunate to live in the area - it's lovely. Who knew? What I should have done a long time ago: have osteoarthritis and had tremendous pain in my lower back and left leg, finally could hardly walk, this escalated over the years, finally went whimpering to my doc a few months ago, said "give me something other than a cortisone shot". He sent me to a sports medicine clinic for physical therapy, I was very dubious. Long story short, my trainer taught me exercises on the floor and with a stability ball, and got me on a recumbent stationary bike (since I cannot do treadmill and regular bike). Now am continuing to work out every day at home and awaiting a on-order recumbent bike for our home; meanwhile the pain has been dramatically reduced, I am slowly increasing my walking distance, decades-long knee pain is GONE, and my weight is coming down. Talk about Who Knew? Slapping my head that I didn't do this years ago!

"his ex hates my husband she is not sad they they are not together. She likes to cause trouble though." I didn't mean that she is pining away for him, but you said, "My husband was fooling around with the mother of his other child for years on top of everything to start off. I stayed with my husband because I believe in love and 2nd chances." & I thought you are saying that he was fooling around with the mother of this 8 year old & if he was doing that while he was seeing you, then yes this child saw his parents 'together' at least in some way, unless they were so sly that they hid it from their own child. And even if the mother hates him & is not sad, that does not mean she does not let her son know how angry she is (anger is also a feeling that is much easier to express than hurt, so who knows if she truly hates him or is hurt he finally ended it with her and married you) but I'm sure the child picks up on those feelings because children are little sponges & know more than most people give them credit for. If mommy is angry all the time at daddy, of course it's going to affect how he feels about daddy's house & the new wife, baby, etc. "I think that it's good to be proactive and encourage my stepson to be nice to my son. I don't try to force it upon him. To me to encourage him to love his brother should be a good thing. I agree that yes he is eight and may be frustrated which is understandable. I just don't think that it should be ok that he takes it out on my 2 year old son. If their our any mothers out there you know how you are protective over your children no matter who it might be. If it was my neice , my friend son. I would not stand them to be nasty to my children." If you want to protect your 2 year old, then never allow the 8 year old to be alone with him. It's THAT simple. If dad refuses to acknowledge the problem, then it rests with YOU to protect the baby & make sure he's always in your sight when big brother is around. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be a happy little family, but if he (the 8 year old) does not want that, it is going to backfire to force it. I believe he does know right from wrong & he has anger, resentment issues... maybe from how his mother expresses, directly or inadvertently. He is manipulative if he changes face when dad comes around the corner & I agree with Sylvia that is a dangerous child that does that. (reminiscent of "the good son") Lovehadley has a great point that leaving is probably not the best idea since the child only comes over every other weekend and leaving could place the younger child in jeopardy when he would visit. The bottom line is that unless mom & dad are willing to work together to find out why their son is so aggressive & deal with it, then the only solution is to never allow your baby to alone with him. Yes, he was part of the package as you & your kids were part of a package, but YOU and your DH accepted each other's package... the kids don't get a choice. He didn't choose the package so how can you expect him to accept you as you've accepted him. You are the adult.

Yeah, you all are probably right, I'm missing the idea of a dog and not the reality. Life's been kind of heavy here a lot the last few years. Interacting with that dog was so rewarding, even for as little time as it was. Instincts and habits are a very real thing that sets in when the initial fun is over. Even our low maintenance cat brings his share of issues to the table that need to be dealt with on a regular basis. I've always been around cats, so they are relatively second nature for me to deal with. Dogs are a little less so and require much more energy. Cooper, I'm so sorry about the little squirrel. That's the kind of thing I have to remember. Cute and charismatic as they seem on the surface, they also have instincts that take over and are still animals are heart. Yesterday I asked teen DD if she ever thought we should get a dog. She was a hard no. Told me that if I want a dog that maybe that would be a good thing to do when she leaves for college, lol. Maybe she has a point. Still, I'm waiting for this sadness to pass and trying to convince myself to not look at the shelter website- if she didn't turn up there the last two days, and we've seen her here before, it's probably safe to say the neighbors knew where she belonged.