Thanks for the great update on everyone! I have jumped in and out quickly a few times lately, but haven't had much time. My little sis moved in for almost a week just prior to her move to Nebraska. She had been house sitting for a professor friend this last year while she was abroad. Since all of her stuff was in storage, we cleaned up the house and she vacated about a week early so that we could all spend some quality time with her before she left. That way we didn't have to do the final clean up just as Bernice was coming home. While here, little sis also had three of her granddaughters with us. It was quite a house full with a 11, 7 and 5 year old. On last Sunday, we had Christmas in July (August) dinner with turkey, dressing and all the trimmings. It is Tanya's favorite meal and we knew that we wouldn't be together this Christmas. We had 23 for dinner and I did all the cooking. I found out why we don't have turkey and dressing often except during the winter. It is TOO HOT. We spend all day Sunday together enjoying each other and then my older sister, Barbara, also spent the night with us. She lives here in town, but we wanted to have as much time together as possible. We sat up on the screened porch talking and laughing until 3 a.m. Monday night, we all gathered again and had plenty of left overs. Everyone was here again! Dan, Tanya's Nebraska love, flew in on Tuesday afternoon. I had told him that he needed to send some Nebraska corn our way because Walmart was totally out of fresh ears all weekend. We had a smaller cookout on Saturday evening with only 10 of us and had wanted corn on the cob on the grill. I didn't think anymore about the corn, until Dan called on Monday night and said that he was bringing corn to Texas. He had checked with the airline and could bring it in an insulated carry-on. He flew Southwest, which brought him into our small Love Field in Dallas. He said that something kept setting off the alarm at the security check and they had to unload each ear on by one to check them. He brought 44 ears of sweet Nebraska candy corn!!!!! Tuesday evening DH cooked hot links, hamburgers and corn on the grill. We had 26 for dinner that night. We had potato salad, baked beans, chips, and dips. I was so exhausted. Again, we were up until around 2 ish. Wednesday morning DH Jim, Dan, Tanya and I were up early to load the 26 foot U-Haul and her Jeep. She had sold her huge couch, but we had that truck and her vehicle loaded to the top. They pulled the Jeep on a trailer. They left around noon headed to cooler temperature in Nebraska. Jim and I took a long, welcome nap that afternoon and DD Tracie called me at 4 as she was getting off work to let me know that we needed to pick up the furniture on the screened porch because it was about to storm. I jumped up and Jim already had things moved and tarped and the sky was BLACK. Tracie came home and just made it in before the downpour. It was lightening and the wind was blowing so hard. We lost our power and were gathering flashlights and lanterns since the storm was at full fury. At 5 p.m. my neice called me and was hysterical. A tree had come through their new house. We rushed over and were the first of the family to arrive since we live only a few minutes from them. The firetrucks and ambulance were already there. A 60-65 foot (about 4 1/2 foot in diameter) tall oak tree had crashed through a window and side of the house and had fallen through the roof. My nephew Rod was sitting in his Man Cave room when their power went out. He got up and went to open the blinds to get a little light and actually saw the tree as it was coming down. He was holding one of their 3 Chiuauhas and threw Beau toward the door as he backed up. The ceiling, wall and window crashed down on him. He was under a bunch of the debris, but fortunately the tree and wall didn't land on him. He hurt his back, but looking at the room and house, it is miracle that he is alive. His family spent that night with us. The house is probably a total loss since the weight bearing walls that run from front to back were hit the hardest. They are still waiting on the final adjuster, but their insurance agent and the contractor that he called in say it will all have to come down. They had just bought the house during the past year. Thank God for insurance. They are staying in a hotel right now and for a house for temporary residence. I am still keeping their Mini Pin dog. It has been a crazy, crazy week around here.

My electrician (aka hubby) finally got my second pendant hung over the island today!! You may or may not remember when I posted this pic back in September or October Right after I built and installed my temp island. The area looked, quite frankly, somewhat ridiculous. An 8 ft long island with this one lone pendant hanging over one end of it. The reason it was there was because that was an existing box that used to have a fluorescent light box on it. I knew I wanted to put in another box ran off of the first one and install 2 pendants, well, today it finally got done!! Yay!! Not only is it aesthetically pleasing but there is soooo much more light over my island now! Can I just mention again how much I love the smoke colored glass in these pendants? Also, in keeping with our weekly thread "no accomplishment is too small", I tracked down some spare 2x6 and cut blocks to fit in the old window spot. I also got the piece of drywall cut to install. The only reason I haven't yet is because I am thinking of creating a "time capsule" to put in the wall before I close it off. Chances are that spot will be opened again at some point in the future, it is where the MIL quarters and main house meet. Even if I never open it back up, I thought it would be cool to leave a "treasure" there for someone to discover in the future. Tell me truthfully, does that sound really lame or kinda cool?

Im raising the big four as I call them. This is in order of the caterpillars, Promethea, Polyphumes, Cecropia and Luna. with probably forty Monarchs, countless Harris checkerspot eggs that havent hatched, 5-7 Tiger swallowtail on a Ash tree I dug up and put in a cage, Two black swallowtails and 6 American Ladies.

And a few more before I go out to work in the yard... This is one of Dave Bang's roses that he sent ot me several yrs ago. Not sure if it will be any of the ones he's got testing at For Love of Roses. It's kinda on the small side... probably a mini. Nice coloring on it tho.. BE-BOP at one of the pergola columns CARAMELLA FAIRYTALE GIVENCHY DEBONNAIRE SCANDIA INTRIGUE CROWD PLEASER- about 5" diameter... IMAGINE EDDIE MITCHELL aka DARK NIGHT