I wanna see some damn booties! (w/o crack, thank you very much). I suggest using the cable ties electricians use to keep his hands off his feet for the picture... good to see that even the world's most perfect baby gets crabby every so often. :) Sue, my own bout with Lyme involved the worst headache I've ever experienced. It was relentless and went on for a few days. I described it to my boss thusly, "my teeth hurt". It was then that I KNEW something was really, really wrong. You need to be on anti-biotics again! and you really need to keep on alert and follow the directions to the letter. LD is nothing to take lightly; it's absolutely insideous because it's so often misdiagnosed or not fully treated. I'm sad that your summer has been so curtailed by it. But, as all gardeners know, "there's always next year"! I know your open day will be a huge success. You worry too much, sistuh! Yes, Wendy! I would definitely be "up" for a Nutmeg State cruise. Lord knows I need to get the hell outta Dodge before the snow flies, lol. And I DEFINITELY could use the laughs. Yoo-hoo... Saucy? The preliminary layer of new driveway entrance gravel has been spread and it's QUIET here. I can even hear birds chirping. I have one final coat of paint to apply to one of the "man doors", but I'm tired, it's very warm, and I don't feel like it! I have to pay the remaining (mondo) bill for building supplies tomorrow. GULP. I'm growing increasingly irritated by the electrician who has been grossly unreliable about returning phone calls, but he gets one more shot before we find someone else... there're plenty of people looking for work right now... . You'll laugh at me, but we've taken our first tentative step into the world of "automation". Our mortgage is taken care of on the agreed upon date... not check writing, it just "happens". It worked fine the first time... we'll see how the next payment goes... . One down, 179 to go... but we are "rounding up" and paying one "payment" to principal every year. LOL An employee of the ambulance company that transferred Mum found the missing hearing aids in the car they used, after my paniced call to them. I have his name and the address of the company and will have his thank you in the mail tomorrow. It's my chore to write my letter of complaint this weekend, e-mail it to my brother, and have it looked over by the attorney before sending it formally. What is so exhausting is the blase attitude that "UTIs are routine", and that we "expect too much" from the facility; that the care given in a home environment is always better. HUH? jeez, we did it for "free"... they're charging 9K/mo.. Please, my friends, tell me I'm not being unrealistic when I expect that Mum will be free of UTIs, instead of having one every 2 1/2-3 weeks! Is the world really upsidedown and I'm the only one who missed the memo? If I performed as abysmally at work I'd have been fired 7 1/2 yrs. ago. When I screw something up I take responsibility and I FIX IT. I change the way I perform the operation. Is this mindset peculiar to tradesmen, people who work in fields where errors and mistakes are more easily "tracked down"? Right now, though, I want to go outdoors, enjoy the late summer warmth, and look at the devastation and dream about how I would like it to look... You're good, true, and loyal friends. You make me smile and even chuckle when all around me seems so glum. I thank you for that and hope to return the same in time.

Susan, You're welcome. You hill up potatoes when they're grown in the ground. When I plant in containers, I partially fill a tall container with soil and plant the potatoes. When the initial stolon emerges above the soil level, I add more soil to the container when the stolon is an inch or two tall. As it keeps growing, I keep adding soil until the soil is as high in the container as it is going to go...maybe 2 or 3" below the top of the container. That's one of the advantages to growing potatoes in containers---no hilling up, just adding soil in a container. Some folks on the vegetable forum have experimented with growing potatoes in bottomless 'frames' or 'trays' they stack on top of an existing soil-filled bed. As the potato plant grows taller, they add another frame and fill it with soil. They haven't had quite the results (tons of potatoes) they've hoped for as the potatoes will not form new potatoes endlessly along the stolons forever. I do not know if they had control plants grown in the ground to compare with the boxes or frames they kept stacking and adding vertically. To me, containers seem simpler than adding stacked boxes or frames. Potatoes make their best growth in our climate early in the season while the soil and air temps are cooler and while rain is (hopefully) falling. Research at Texas A&M University when I lived in Texas showed potatoes make their best growth when temperatures range between 60 and 75 degrees during the day and 45 and 55 degrees at night. We don't stay in that temperature range very long, so early potato planting is critical to success and also is key to getting bumper crops of potatoes. We get way too hot too early to expect amazing potato yields in our climate because once soil temps hit 85 degrees, potato initiation ceases. Our weather is really better-suited to sweet potatoes than regular potatoes. You'll notice that Oklahoma is not a hotbed (pun intended) of commercial potato growers. Dawn

What a great opportunity you had to give her the snow globe! Even though we lived fairly close to both sets of grandparents and I loved them all, I didn't interact with them much in elementary years or as a teen; but had "snow globe moments" with them from time to time. My mom occasionally mentioned my maternal grandma wondered if I didn't like her because I usually went off to read a book. I just didn't know what to say to her. When I was 12 we moved next door to my paternal grandma to be where we could help her. I never felt close to her really. She tended to be critical and to compare me to, well, pretty much everyone, but she meant well. In college I moved into my mat. grandparents basement apartment to be closer to campus. In my whole life they had never tried to correct me (something I feel is always best left to the parents!). While I lived there they just visited with me, asked me about school and work, told me amusing stories, etc. Never once did I use the kitchen downstairs. I always ate with Gramm and Gramp and they always acted amazed that I would do all the dishes when I "should be studying" or that I could carry my book bag with so many big textbooks. They were delightful and brilliant and the least judgemental people I know! They met my husband long before the rest of my family did and made him feel welcome, too. He feels as close to them as I do. Gramm's been gone nearly 20 yrs now, Gramp has been gone for 11. I still miss them both with all my heart! I think you're wonderful for wanting a close relationship with your family! Just keep loving your little one and be patient. Don't push the relationship. Love her mom, too. Grandparents can be a safe haven when the time is right! Wishing you all the best! Kay

I did find this at ToysRUs website and I agree about the bear being taken away from her, she doesn't react. From Toysrus.com & Amazon.com Editorial Review Bright-eyed Boo wants to have a conversation... but we're not exactly sure what the topic is. This replica of the young girl who is accidentally allowed into Monstropolis in Pixar's film Monsters, Inc. is made of hard plastic; wears a comfy-looking T-shirt, purple pants, and white socks; sports two ponytails held up with pompom bands; and holds on to Little Mikey, a one-eyed and four-footed Teddy bear. With articulation points at the hips, shoulders, and head, Boo is easy to pose and can either sit down or stand up. As for the "babblin'," that word sums it up perfectly. Push on her belly and she will giggle, sing, or say a phrase in an adorably young, although somewhat tinny voice. We didn't quite understand what she was saying, though, and one phrase actually sounded Hawaiian. The package claims that Boo will cry when Little Mikey is taken from her arm, but that didn't happen--not necessarily a bad thing from our point of view. --Pam Lauer