Happy belated Birthday, Ron! That is a sweet picture of the two of you--what a great birthday present you received that year, huh?? My dh almost got the same thing but our first dd arrived one day early. Poor thing, his bday is usually lower key than hers, but he is ok with that as he didn't grow up celebrating bdays and still finds it odd that adults do so here.

Have yourself a lovely birthday, Ron. And an outstanding year ahead (and that's not more than a smidgeon of "out standing in the snow". ole joyful

Thanks again for all the good wishes. We went out for Mexican food this evening. Too bad it's mediocre at best here in Minnesota. Tomorrow we leave for Galveston to spend Christmas with Sues family. I hope Leos is still open after hurricane Ike. I could go for a riblet plate. Ron

Jan, lol! Your list for this upcoming spring is so inspiring! What kind of litchi do you want? I heard sweetheart are the best! Here is an update on my exotic fruit trees in case it can help you to choose: My soursop, sugar apple and starfruit finally went dormant. They lose all their leaves and I hope that it doesn’t mean that they are dying. Oh no! My guava trees are the thirstiest trees even in winter! They are only happy when I water them every other day! The jaboticaba doesn’t seem to understand that he’s in the middle of winter in Canada because he’s still growing without any leaves drop. I am amazed! Litchi, longan, avocado, mango and sapodilla stop growing bur they seem alright Oh the jackfruit really doesn’t like my temperature. Maybe it’s colder than what he likes (45 to 50 during the night) Jan, I hope that you will love your new aerogarden as much as I love mine! My lettuce grows very fast in there! Brian, I hope that you are recovering well from your cold. I am slowly getting better as well. Today, I noticed that the sun set a little before 5pm! Just one more month and the worse of winter will be over. Oh I hope that March will not bring any surprise loll. Mike! I hope that things are getting better for you! Oh lVanda are beautiful don’t you thing? They are very easy to take care of when they are growing in a vase. Mike, I just have one of my veitchana masdevallia in bloom right now and I will try to post a picture for you tomorrow. The folor is just insane!