Thank ALL of you so much, it means a lot to me. Jeanne, I love the old-timey card. Jan, you are right, I had myself in a panic thinking I was having heart symptoms due to how and where the pain was hitting. (I suffer anxiety attacks occasionally and am my own worse enemy!!) My side is feeling much better, and I am being ultra careful for the next few weeks with just regular stuff. Guess I better be careful from now on, tho its hard to remember NOT to do stuff at times. I am lucky, if Dad falls on the floor, my youngest son Jason, is less than 10 min away at his office. and less than 5 min. from his house. He can lift Dad right up like he was a ragdoll. LOL. Jas is 6'3" and strong as can be. Oh, the reason I haven't mentioned my DH helping me with the lifting is HE's been seeing a back specialist the last few weeks and can't lift right now. Just recently he's gotten those spinal injections and that's helped him a lot but lifting isn't a good idea. Plus he and Dad about same size. Of course Fred's back problems have NOTHING to do with him playing golf, LOL. So he still plays 6 days a week. Its probably a good thing he's not incapacitated and on required rest, I'd probably have to shoot him! LOL. Sherri, one of the problems with me trying to get any decent sleep and rest is the Fibro has worsened so much that even my soft mattress feels like its full of rocks at times. I can't stand ANY pressure on my body without it causing from an ache to a major pain. Have to keep a pillow between my knees, as them resting on one another is excruciating. Sitting can be hard, even tho I have a special soft pillow on this chair, as it kills the back of my legs. So resting is difficult. LOL. Think I've become a Zombie, so look out. hugs, Karen

There was a nice lady, a minister's widow, who was a little old fashioned. She was planning a week's vacation in California at Skylake Yosemite campground (Bass Lake, to the uninitiated), but she wanted to make sure of the accommodations first. Uppermost in her mind were bathroom facilities, but she couldn't bring herself to write "toilet" in a letter. After considerable deliberation, she settled on "bathroom commode," but when she wrote that down, it still sounded too forward, so, after the first page of her letter, she referred to the bathroom commode as "BC." "Does the cabin where I will be staying have its own 'BC'? If not, where is the 'BC' located?" is what she actually wrote. The campground owner took the first page of the letter and the lady's check and gave it to his secretary. He put the remainder of the letter on the desk of the senior member of his staff without noticing that the staffer would have no way of knowing what "BC" meant. Then the owner went off to town to run some errands. The staff member came in after lunch, found the letter, and was baffled by the euphemism, so he showed the letter around to several counselors, but they couldn't decipher it either. The staff member's wife, who knew that the lady was the widow of a famous Baptist preacher, was sure that it must be a question about the local Baptist Church. "Of course," the first staffer exclaimed, "'BC' stands for 'Baptist Church.' " And he sat down and wrote: Dear Madam, I regret very much the delay in answering your letter, but I now take the pleasure in informing you that the BC is located nine miles north of the campground and is capable of seating 250 people at one time. I admit it is quite a distance away if you are in the habit of going regularly, but no doubt you will be pleased to know that a great number of people take their lunches along and make a day of it. They usually arrive early and stay late. The last time my wife and I went was six years ago, and it was so crowded we had to stand up the whole time we were there. It may interest you to know that right now there is a supper planned to raise money to buy more seats. They are going to hold it in the basement of the 'BC.' I would like to say that it pains me very much not to be able to go more regularly, but it is surely no lack of desire on my part. As we grow older, it seems to be more of an effort, particularly in cold weather. If you decide to come down to our campground, perhaps I could go with you the first time, sit with you, and introduce you to all the folks. Remember, this is a friendly community."

Hi Annette. Thanks for checking in with me. I know I haven't been very active lately. This month has been utter madness at work. I'm a member of our emergency operations contingent. With just three weeks notice, we've been tasked by the State to conduct a campus-wide active shooter drill. It's a huge deal involving State and local agencies as well as our staff, faculty and students. On top of that I've been coordinating our administration and finance team retreat at Asilomar tomorrow. I'll never understand why they call three solid days with your co-workers, working like dogs in a conference room a retreat. It's more like an ambush. We leave on Sunday, come back on Tuesday and our drill is Wednesday. That's basically a long-winded way of saying that my garden is well and truly a mess. We did manage to get out there last Saturday and get a grip on the weeds. Kids, you can't imagine the invasion of clover we had in the new beds this year. I suppose it flourished with all the delicious amendments we dug in. We filled up our own yardwaste recycle bin plus three of our neighbors. I would say we got about 3/4 of the property weeded. Despite it all, I've got an amazing return from last year. Things are beginning to shoot up everywhere. Hyacinth is nearly over, but my tulips and daffs are still going strong. We've really had an early Spring this year. Believe it or not, I've got three sunflower blooming and one hollyhock that really never stopped blooming from last year. The wisteria is just about to pop and I think it's going to be a show stopper this year. Hmmm, let's see, what else...many overwintered petunias are blooming, night scented nicotiana, marguerites, nemesia, carnation, loads of geranium, canna, lavender both French and English, several salvias, various osteospermums, scabiosa, cala lily (just beautiful this year!), Japanese maples are just beginning to leaf and all most all of my roses are on their way to their first flush. You wouldn't think our garden looks as shabby as it actually does, would you? I did get a bit of a nice surprise this morning. I was wallowing in the barcalounger (yes, we have one of those) when Brian turned to me and said "Get dressed, we're going to Mid City Nursery." I was out of the chair like a Warner Brothers cartoon. I came back with a bunch of annuals as well as a gorgeous tea olive. I've always wanted one. It's going right under the front porch, for the smell don't cha know. Now I just need to find the time to get it all in the ground. Well, I'm off to iron work clothes on a Saturday night. Don't I just live the glamorous life! Thanks again Annette and a warm howdy do to you all. Steven

Visit the farm in question and ask to see the cows and how they are cared for. Raw milk is superior and not dangerous to drink if the farm is spotless. Your best bet is to find a farmer that rotates his cows to differnt pasture, preferably every twelve hours, and is fed 100% grass. Cows are ruminates and by nature should not be fed grain. Grain alters the ph of their system. People get sick from food raised in filthy conditions, which was the case when people moved from farms to the cities and brought their cows with them, to live in confinement. I won't touch industrial milk any more. Once you investigate how filthy commercial farms are, and what a joke the FDA and USDA are, you wouldn't either. If I ever have to in the future, I will raise my own cow as I will never touch milk, or meat from a store again. Bottom line is, check the farm out. There is much less risk from drinking raw milk from a spotless, well managed farm, than from ANY commercial operation. A clean farm will never smell like manure and the cows look happy. Furthermore, the government has absolutely no right to tell any of us what we should be eating and drinking. The choice is ours to make and not theirs. Perhaps it is about time people start becoming more vocal and demanding that right.