Thanks to hostarookie for keeping the count & doing the Excel spreadsheet! Posts through 9:45 am on 4/29/11 are included here, others will be included next time. Please post any corrections & we will work on them! Zone Wars Total: 17,910 Please post here with your current TOTAL count. Happy sowing! Zone 4 = 1129 Zone 5 = 6568 Zone 6 = 4402 Zone 7 = 4740 Zone 8 = 1071 Please click on the link to view the Zone Wars Spreadsheet Game on! Zone 6 = 4402 Zone 7 = 4740 It has been previously announced that containers sown on Winter Solstice Dec 21 - May 1 count for Zone Wars. You can celebrate May Day & sow containers! You have until midnight of Sunday, May 1, your local time, to sow containers that will count for Zone Wars. Any containers sown on May 2 do not count. Please post ASAP. You have until midnight on Wednesday, May 4, to post your final total count. Winners will be announced shortly thereafter! Gardenweb uses Eastern Time for the time stamp - sorry West Coasters! Midnight May 4 should be GMT -4. Any post dated May 5 on will not count, as we will need to wrap this up & move on to our seedlings! Happy Sowing! We've enjoyed being your counters! Signed Hostarookie & River

Happy Birthday Raeanne! May this year be filled with happiness, health and continued strength to go where you want to go, be who you want to be and to do all that you can in life. LOL and Hugs Raeanne! And now, for the news. Peggy and Dave are really confused. My husband is just as abnormal as I am medically. He did an hour with a recorded blood pressure machine. Leave it to Dave to totally baffle the nurse. His blood pressure readings drop 40 points after his doctor's visit 48 hours previously. Of course he had the entire weekend to get worked up. He also stopped taking 2 brand new medications - we don't know if they were part of the problem or not. He still has a heart scan being booked. His bloodwork has shown enzymes that are present after a heart attack. I am expecting "something" to show up on the scan because of the enzymes. I'm not worried so much anymore as too more curious - how can this be? When we get the results from that we can move forward. But his blood pressure is a huge relief. I too wonder about the pills he was put on. We'll see. Stay tuned for another episode of "We're Not Normal". On a lighter note - went to a charity shop today to purchase jeans. My size 14's are getting too lose so I got a couple of pair of 11-12s (whatever that means today). Out of 5 pair of jeans I liked enough to try on, only 2 fit. One tag said 11-12 but I could have wrapped the zipper area across itself a good 4 inches in totally. And there must be a pattern/industry design problem with that size because I also noticed it's the largest space consumed by one size in the women's jean racks. What a pain in the a$$ trying jeans on. Of course everything fabric related I purchase now from charity goes right into a garbage bag and stays shut until everything goes directly into a sanitizing wash run. Don't care to bring home bed bugs. The Ottawa area stores have posted signs warning people to take precautions because once one item that is infested gets into any recycled clothing store the store is considered infected. Makes sense to me. Every jean that I think would fit and I like, before I take it off the rack to try on, I do the pocket test to make sure the pocket is big enough so my wallet won't pop out. Today's hand testing revealed 3 advil in one pocket - so the jeans were worn, then tossed into a charity bag - unwashed. I even purchase bed sheets and some for quilting - everything gets sanitized. And then some. I spent $12 on 2 pair of good quality jeans. Bargoooon. But I did have fun in there. Got a huge aluminum roasting pan with lid - for a whopping $6.00 - bargooon. $12 on a percale soft/strong queen size sheet set - bargooon. And a few other small items. Bargooooooooooon. Had a lot of fun. Spent an hour in there - could have spent another but hubby happily took off to do the groceries. Came back just as I was getting tired of hunting down jeans and starting to enter....Peggy's Danger Zone.....I was going to start browsing more that today's purpose of going there. Danger, danger I say. I have been known to spend hours in big charity shops. But mentally it was better than a bottle of prozac. So I can retire a couple of pairs of jeans - making a jean bed spread for my niece. My pal who is on a health journey, weight loss all in one is also entering a smaller jean size - she's donating her jeans. There's no going back once the jeans have been cut. Saving the top part to make jean purses for both of us. So that's my Thursday. Still holding around 135. Very, very happy. And Dave is making a stir fry dinner tonight with a ton of veggies. He was on a mission at the store. His cooking is heaven. (And he gets more veggies in his meals this way.) One night a week to let go and enjoy. Have a wonderful evening too! LOL Peggy

Good Morning All, Raeanne, Happy Belated Birthday! I am so sorry I missed it. I haven't been checking in an missed it. Birthday or not I hope you know how much I love you and cherish your friendship! I hope this year is filled with lots of love and happiness for you. Marci's gifts sound wonderful and that is because she IS wonderful. I got my wake up calls from Gretchen and Marci about being MIA. Thank you two. I have alot going on and I will share. It is with great saddness that I share we lost the vernerable elder goat, Fred two weeks ago. He had been doing so well and I actually thought he was going to make the winter and have a great spring, summer and fall. But on February 19th I walked into the barn and found Fred in his stall. It was not pretty but there did not appear to be any signs of struggle or distress. He went on his own terms and that makes me happy. I was lucky enough to have my DH home who was able to take care of him. We had to be in Albany, NY that morning to deliver a cart that I sold so we had to move him to the garage, deliver the cart and deal with digging a hole in the frozen tundra when we got home about 1pm. It took us til 6pm to finally bury poor old Fred. We sent him off well and he is resting under the white pines beside our barn with his mother and my beloved Paddy. DH took this very, very hard. We are both very raw still. I am sure it's hard for some to imagine this distress over a goat. Well, all I can tell you is that to know a goat is to love a goat! They are one of God's most charming creations! Also, I have been working alot of weekends which is all consuming. This week was deadline........made my goal again this month! I am working again this weekend at a trade show in Strubridge, MA. There seems to be no end to these things. Better now than when it's riding season. It's DH 50th birthday on Tuesday and I am planning a family dinner at my inlaws farm on the 12th. That is time consuming. I am also putting together a scrapbook which is fun but really time consuming! This morning I am tired. I wish I had a weekend before this dinner to get myself centered. On top of it all winter is starting to drone on. We have had endless snow here and it's cold and windy. March is usually when I start seeing the sublte signs of spring but they aren't happening yet! I am anxious to have the snow gone and it seems far off right now. I will spend time to get caught up. I hope everyone is well. Marci and Gretchen thanks again for my wake up call!

Good (and cold!) afternoon! I've been missing in action while putting into motion plans for my immediate future. I turned in my resignation on Monday. Director refused to accept it. She's telling me that I'll be back. But, I had already decided to take time off from working, period, to finally have my knee replacement surgery. That is now scheduled for March 7th. Only one knee needs it. The other one has a kneecap problem which will be dealt with at another time. I need to drop a few pounds between now and the 7th to make recovery easier for myself. So, I've hit the SS way hard and heavy. I've been invited to a Girls' night out with some of the other teachers tonight at Gloria's, a Salvadoran and Tex-Mex restaurant. Wish me luck SS'ing there! lol Zig, it's so nice to see you here again. Jen, I'm glad your girls are on the mend. Winter is always a rough time on little ones. BJ, I admire you for being able to work in the funeral industry. It takes a very special person. Dee, sounds like you and your dh may have a very special evening coming up! Suzanne, I know the job is still hectic, but isn't it nice to have one you like? Maddie, sorry your dh is under the weather. Hope you manage to enjoy your enforced weekend at home. Raeanne, Marci, Donna, and Besh, it's always a pleasure to read your posts. Oh, Patti, where are you? Well, heading for a quick nap before my big night out on the town. I'll be up past my usual bedtime. LOL Take care and stay warm. It's supposed to drop to the 20's during the night here. Brrrr!