Don't know about the hosta but the twins are wonderful! I also have identical twin grandchildren, but mine are boys and almost 12 years old! Also there was about a pound difference in their weights when they were born....and now Alex out weighs Brian by 15 pounds. This picture is a few years old...but.. How about Hosta Double Vision? Twins....especial identical twins....and especially identical twin girls are a real blessing! Your son and DIL will be majorly sleep deprived for about 2 years....but after that things become easy and so much fun! Lucky Lucky you!! Linda C

Miss Amy, your box did arrive yesterday and I apologize for not posting sooner. My grandbaby just went home and I wasn't online. Anyways, Amy sent me a wonderful box. It has a bottle holder in shades of blue and off white, an awesome assortment of mixes to put in my water, a hummingbird feeder, a rose scented soap, and seeds :prairie coneflower, blazing stars, portulaca, blanket flower, purple spiderwort! Thanks so much Amy..I loved it!

Thank you, cynthia and holligator for your reading tips! I appreciate those so very, very much. mazer, you continue to be a font of information! lily316, the way I found our breeder is by first visiting the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club USA site, the American Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club site, and, to a lesser extent, the AKC site. I looked for breeders only listed on those sites. I did NOT use search engines to find breeders. There may absolutely be reputable, ethical breeders out there not associated with the above-mentioned organizations (although why they wouldn't be I don't know), but for me this was a "safety net." I then e-mailed to them a long list of questions, asking if they'd be willing to talk with me and answer these questions: 1) What are the registered names of the puppy's parents and may we have copies of the registration certificates for both parents? 2) What are the birth dates of the puppy's parents? 3) Have you complied with the MVD Breeding Protocol? 4) Have you complied with the SM Breeding Protocol? 5) Have both parents' hips been x-rayed after age two years, and have those x-rays been evaluated and cleared of HD by the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA)? 6) Have both parents' patellas been examined and cleared by qualified veterinarians within a year before the date of birth of the puppy we may adopt? 7) Have both parents' eyes been examined and cleared of serious genetic eye disorders by board certified veterinary ophthalmologists within a year before the date of birth of the puppy we may adopt? 8) Have both parents' hearing been tested and cleared of hereditary hearing deficiencies, preferably by the Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response (BAER) test, no earlier than at age 2.5 years? 9) Has either parents exhibited the symptoms of episodic falling syndrome? 10) Have both parents' blood been tested and cleared for diabetes mellitus and hypothyroidism within a year before the date of birth of the puppy we may adopt? (see here for information regarding the above diseases / syndromes) I was both surprised and disappointed at how many breeders did not want to answer these questions. They were immediately crossed off my list. To my absolute delight the breeder to whom our little girl was born answered every one of my questions at great length. They also had a long list of questions for me, which thrilled me. This led me to believe they don't let their puppies be adopted willy-nilly -- they wanted to check us out as well! Our breeders are in Wyoming, and they got started breeding Cavs because they'd each (they are two friends) had a heartbreak with a sick Cav. They vowed they would help "clean up" the system and they take fastidious care of their dogs and have all the paperwork / registrations for it. Anyway, this is how I found a reputable, ethical breeder in our part of the country (I'm in Colorado). I was heartsick reading about the Greyhounds dying of bone cancer -- I never knew about that! When I was a little girl living in England the caretaker of my parents' "farm" (more like a weekend house -- as if my parents farmed!) had a multitude of Greyhounds. I loved them. Beautiful, gentle creatures. Fast, and then a couch potato! This is a picture of our little girl from last Thursday, on her seven week birthday. We're naming her Genki-chan. "Genki" is Japanese for "healthy," "peppy," "lively" (although she is a mellow girl -- the breeders decided only two of their litters would be suitable for us [with such small children] -- gentle with their teeth, but still "sturdy" for play with toddlers), and "chan" is the feminine diminutive. My husband is Japanese and our children speak Japlish. Well, more English than Japanese at this point, but we keep it up. My 3.5 year-old refers to Genki-chan as Genki-grill; "grill" is how he says "girl." Our 19 month-old merely says "Genki." One of the breeders gave the laddies a little stuffed Cav doll whom the 3.5 year-old named CiCi-inu -- "inu" is dog in Japanese. I have no idea from where the "CiCi" came!

Itsmce - I don't think you have to worry about the cabbage worms going forward. I haven't seen any of the moths for a couple weeks up here and I would imagine the hard freeze would have killed any that had already hatched out. As Chris mentioned, the carrots should continue to sweeten up as well as size up the longer they are exposed to cool temps. I'm going to wait until at least Thanksgiving week to harvest mine and may leave some of them until December as long as it doesn't get cold enough for the ground to freeze solid. I've still got a lot of garden cleanup to do. I still have 26 broccoli plants that are slowly putting out more side shoots. I'll probably leave them be until I get around to starting my new compost piles and then chop them up to mix with the fall leaves. Chris - Yes, I'm still planning to build the 3 new beds. I need somewhere to put the soil from the beds that I am ripping out. Besides, I have a $100 Home Depot gift card burning a hole in my wallet I need to use. That's great that your friend is going to let you use his garden next year. More food! Naturegirl - Yep I am going to make my goal. The potatoes didn't put me over the top but they sure helped get me close. I didn't know my garden had fans rooting for it...thanks!!! I don't know what I should set my goal at next year especially if I use my friends garden too. Maybe 1250 lbs. would be reasonable. Did your bunching onions multiply this fall? I overwintered them one year and then separated them the following spring and they did well but I think I prefer just planting new seedlings in the spring. It sounds like you really got dumped on this week and now it looks like snow is coming down over most of Michigan. There is some snow in western KS heading our way as I type but it is supposed to turn into a cold rain before it gets here tonight. Perfect for the little Trick-or-Treaters :-(.