Hi everyone! Celeste, first I want to tell you how much I enjoyed your article in the current Heritage Rose Groups newletter. I wish I could do the same thing: wind in my hair, holding on tight, and exploring the highways and byways with my sweet husband via motorcycle, sounds like a lot of fun. Too bad I am scared to death of motorcycles!!! (I cannot believe I just admitted that on this forum!!!) I have loved roses since early childhood, due to my mother's love of them, and spending some time with her in her "garden" (well, just a suburban yard, really, but when you are a preschooler, the whole world is bigger, you know?). I have had small gardens at each home I have lived in, and even when I was young and single, I would at least have houseplants and a rose or two in a large pot out on the patio or deck of my apartments. My husband Johnny and I married in 1996, and he knew from my small pot ghetto at the time that a larger garden would be inevitable once we bought a home together. Although he is not a gardener by nature, he is very much an outdoorsman, and he was content that I would want a nice big garden. Whether it was roses, other flowers, or vegetables would not have interested him at all. We bought our home in 1999, and before we had moved in, the garden plans were beginning inside my head. As soon as we had made this older house habitable inside, I changed my focus to the outside... Being the nice guy that Johnny is, he took my planning and excitement in stride. He could be counted upon to dig some holes, and assist with maintenence. But no way would he help pick what roses and other plants to buy, or help choose where to plant them: "You just tell me where to dig, and I will dig" mentality, lol. I joined the Texas Rose Rustlers, and Johnny has been sweet enough to tag along with me to the meetings. After all, how many times have I gone with him to the deer camp, or out fishing, etc, just so we could spend some time together? He met several men in that club that are avid gardeners of every description, particularly rose gardening. He listened to the speakers at each meeting, he joined in the socialization, he made friends with all the sweet older ladies that think of him as one of the nicest guys they have met... and before you knew it, he was asking questions, becoming curious about soil science, propagation, hybridization, and even would love to try his hand at growing roses from seed. Several years and hundreds of planting holes later, Johnny still doesn't consider himself a gardener. He leaves that distinction to me. He is the gardener's helper in his mind. He has lots of pictures of me in the garden that he loves, and I know it is not just that the pictures are of his wife! I think one would have to be heartless to spend so much time caring for the earth and not be able to develop an abiding love for the plants that you have nurtured! And anyone that knows Johnny, knows that he is a man with a very big, very happy and loving heart! Does he get teased for gardening with me? Not that I have ever heard. Would it bother him? I doubt it. He is pretty strong minded, and can hold his own in any circumstances (except for needles.... he nearly passed out during a minor procedure once, but that is a tale for a different sort of forum!) I wonder what sort of folks would think it odd for a man to garden? Maybe I am naive, but gardening is pretty common here in Texas. Lots of us come from Farming roots. And there are generations of hybridizers to look to for the nobility of the art of gardening. How many of the founding fathers of the United States were gentleman farmers before they were called to become patriots? I doubt they *only* grew their cash crops, but probably also grew things that they fancied. ... That reminds me that Thomas Jefferson was just such a man. His garden journals still exist, and he was, I think, the original American "Master Gardener"! Maybe there are problems with people's thinking nowadays, to disparage a man for being agrarian, rather than just a hunter-gatherer! Seems to me that agriculture was a step up on the evolutionary pathway. My final thoughts: Anyone that is foolish enough to question the masculinity of a male gardener is deserving of having a whiskey barrel full of compost, or a trash can full of fermented alfalfa tea dumped on their head! And anyone that stops to think about it will realize that rose gardening ain't for sissies! Most roses have big, mean thorns, and they bite. Anybody that would laugh at a guy that wrestles Mermaid without fear is lacking in brainpower. And last but not least, as Poodlepup knows, men that grow roses... yeah, they're hot! And most of them don't even know it! Allison

PUDDING CUPS: I buy these from time to time for my kids, and the plastic is recycleable in my area, but before I toss in the bin I use them several times each in the summer to make bigger ice cubes for packing coolers or filling the big water jug on outings (or cooling the water for when I am freezing beans/corn), or cut holes in the bottoms and use as little planting pots for some of the seeds I start for my garden. Since they are clear I can tell when cuttings have rooted well. Thanks for coming forward, all of you, and pointing out that although many are striving to be energy wise and cutting back on waste, it is difficult to do it all and still live our lifestyle the way we've been used to. Just today dh took kids into the bigger city close by to buy them shoes, and I asked him to pick up milk on the way home. Pick up milk he did, and he let the clerk bag both jugs! I will speak to him later on this, I don't think he is aware he can ask for his items to NOT be bagged (I do 99% of the shopping in this household, and just assumed he knew how I felt about those plastic bags). Or that anything that size WITH a handle needs no bag! Oh well. I'm still trying to influence change within my own little world (family). kioni

Okay Ladies, that does it for me! I think we've heard from everyone who's going to speak up about their boxes. Everyone did a fantastic job for their partners! This swap had a lot of good times, and a few straight out of the Twilight Zone too. I'll peek in next week from New York to see how things are going for y'all over in the August swap. Linda, I'll e-mail you Friday or Saturday when I get the chance so you can let everyone know I made it okay. THANKS AGAIN FOR THESE WONDERFUL BOXES SOME OF YOU HAVE SENT FOR MY TRIP!!! I'm resealing the two I've opened so Paula will have fun opening them, and all others I'm waiting to get to New York to open. THANK YOU FROM ME AND PAULA!!! -Dan

Gardenspice, sorry this is so late, but I never saw your post! We had a "friend" who was going through a rough patch with his wife and he had just lost his job. They only had one vehicle and I offered to loan him my green '97 Sebring Convertible to use whenever he wanted,we have three cars for the two of us, so it wouldn't be a hardship to us. After about a year I offered to sell it to him for $2500, we drew up a promissory note and we both signed it in April of '09. I gave him two years to pay it off, $100/month for 25 months. In October of that year he hadn't paid a dime and I filed an addendum to the original Promissory note because he hadn't paid per the contract. He skipped town and moved to Indiana with my car without making a single payment. I found out where he worked and had him served at his work with legal papers for the money. While the filing was happening, I called several shows, Judge Alex was the first to call on a Tuesday, the show was taping on Thursday! But when they got us there within days (which is why a lot of people aren't prepared when they come to court). I totally thought it was a joke until I went to the courthouse and they confirmed that a guy had been in a few days earlier to look for my file. I was called on a Tuesday and flew out Thursday morning. They flew me to the FOX studios and had a meet and greet with my handler and given $35 cash for spending money for the night. They also provided a hotel room. They flew me in but not Jim, who really wanted to be there, drove the 6 hours or so to meet me there. The next day they were taping and did my hair and makeup and fed me about 6 Red Bulls to get my emotions rolling, but I don't get upset easily, so the script they wanted me to say I flubbed up so bad it was left on the cutting room floor. How these court shows work is that the people really ARE real, and Judge Alex dismissed my case without predjudice, which means I can resue him when the two year Promissory note was cleared. We were each given $150 for our appearances and up to your state law for the car (mine happened to be $2500. Now, at least on JA's show, the money comes from the the network and goes to the winner and the defendant would have to pay nothing to me. But could he keep his big, fat mouth shut he would have gotten off scott-free and would no longer be required to pay me anything. But the dumbass waved the Addendum to the judge and screwed himself out of $2500. The two years went by and voila! There was a cashiers check from the weasel. I am glad it is all over, but I miss my Green Machine, I hated to see it go.