Carol, I have a pet spider also. He/she lives in the living room at the bottom inside corner of the entry door frame. At least once a week I clean up tiny wings and or legs or otherwise apparently inedible body parts that the spider tosses out. I am sure it is not the same spider that has been there for years, but there is always one there. It is very tiny, but is certainly earning my respect and it's keep. Other than lady bugs, I don't see any other bugs around. The LBs seem to know about what spiders do.

I'm sorry that it didn't work out between the two -- but you certainly tried your best, and gave Jayden a shot at a better life. My two still get into scraps daily -- 10 months after Chloe moved in with us. Nothing as severe as what you've described, but they do pounce and roll and scream and kick. Clumps of loose fur floating in the air, but I've never seen any blood on either of them. I break them up with a shout or a tossed pillow, and occassionally - if they seem bent on a pattern of destruction - one or both have to go to their room for a time out. I've recently re-evaluated my feelings about the "fighting" when I watched them lolling at my feet on a relaxed Saturday afternoon recently. They had been peacefully lounging for about an hour or so when Chloe rolled over, gently took Frank's tail in her paws -- and bit it. And the chase was on! Sounds like your two were a lot more serious about it. Glad you're back to a calmer household -- and it sounds like Jasper knows how good he's got it! Do you think you'll try a second cat again? Perhaps a younger cat, or a female?

So sad, another cancer victim. I too just lost a friend to this monster a few days ago. Hurts.

We had the same kind of temperature drop - record temperatures of 80 on Wednesday and into the 20's by Friday night. Welcome to Nebraska, eh? Western and northern Nebraska had as much as 8 inches of snow, and as close as 2 hours west of us there was snow last week. We just barely missed it, but I'm now happily enjoying a belated fall. Sadly, I was out of town for the one single week that my Japanese maple decided to turn red. It must have turned and dropped all its leaves in that week, as it's now bare. Ah well, planning plenty of mulled cider and yes - hot herbal tea - for the weekend. Like Seil, we went from iced tea to hot cocoa overnight. It FINALLY feels like Thanksgiving, which means I'm allowed to stay inside and hibernate looking through rose catalogs now. All but a few hundred bulbs planted and that'll be done while the turkey cooks on Thanksgiving. I agree with you Carol - I wouldn't want a winter without some snow. I'm OK with not having any yet, since first snow is supposed to be a 1" dusting on Christmas Eve in my ideal scenario, but I'd miss snow if it weren't there. I'm surprised that North Texas got as cold as that so early in the winter, but that's the Central Plains for you I guess. Happy fall - finally! Cynthia