TouCan2, Nice looking plants. Although I've gardened more years than I can remember this is my first year for rasied beds also. The reason I made it was because black walnut roots had migrated into that area and was making it hard to grow anything there. So far the results have been great. I used a raised bed mix from Soil Mender. It retains moisture well but also drains well. It is next to the eaves of the garage so drainage was important. My plants here usually don't get as big as they do elsewhere. And that is for several reasons. The weather conditions here are so severe that if a plant is in the open and carrying a fruit load their size is limited by the environment. Where plants have windbreaks(trees, buildings, ect) they will get taller and also in the milder years. If I put shade cloth over the top it helps also. I read a post in the Soil Mender site about a man in the Tulia, TX area who grows his garden under 10-20% shade cloth. Mine most years is in the open with some minor wind protection and it fends for itself. I fertilize with the intent of growing a large root structure more than foliage and plant size. The root structure is all that kept many of my plants going during the last heat spell. Celebrity hasn't done much this year. I remember now why I quit growing it several years ago. Arkansas Marvel is the only plant I haven't picked a fruit from and may not. The hail hit it hard. Not only did it beat it up it stressed the plant and it aborted all blooms and took a couple of weeks to even start recovering. It has one small fruit that I doubt has time to mature. All of the plants I planted in July have fruit and have either produced or will have ripe fruit soon. This is a typical year in that the plants planted after Memorial Day have out performed those planted in late April and early May. Jay

I'm a dork. For a moment I couldn't figure out what was so funny about Cox. Why did tishtoshnm get it and I didn't? Ooooohhhhhh. Got it :)! I had suggested the name Arwen and DH said no. He's a die-hard Lord of the Rings fan since childhood. Such a pretty name. Bronwyn (fair breast and dark hair) was a name that came up regularly as she was a character in a book that DH read as a kid. Just weren't sold on it though. We were literally still deciding up until I was wheeled in for my C-section. We said 'No - it's going to be Eleri - we've thought about it too long'. When she came out DH said 'Honey - she has fair skin and dark hair'. I wanted to strangle him. Anele - you got it! The kid is 5 and one of our friends still calls him Glocklin. 'He's not a gun' we keep teling her. He was on meds when he was a baby and CVS was HORRIBLE at getting his name right on the script. Our last name is Todd so guess where it always ended up? I finally gave up on them because I was tired of telling them over and over that Todd is his LAST name not his first and to fix it.

Well this was an eventful weekend! Yesterday (Saturday) I found another loose Husky running around my fence. This one was a female and much more people-friendly. She kind of ran off when I first came out, but after a treat and a water bowl was put outside she came right up. I leashed her, she had a collar but no tags. She immediately rolled over and made the "I'm a good dog" face at me, then walked fine on the leash. No aggression whatsoever. She looked VERY similar to the male Husky seen previously. I took her through my backyard and put her in my laundry room with a bowl of water. On the way she lunged for my dogs, I wasn't sure if it was to play or to eat them, but either way I had planned on keeping her separated from them. I called AC and they came and picked her up. During this time I watched for anyone to walk by who might be looking for her. I let the AC officer know she looked like the Husky that was out before and they should check with that family. I never did find out where they lived - I'm regretting that now. The AC officer also mentioned that the dog matched reports of a Husky that was attacking local livestock. I'm in a neighborhood, but there is farmland 1-2 miles away. Again I feel bad about calling AC, but it is far outweighed by knowledge that she won't get hit by a car, go hungry and she has a real chance of finding either her owners, or better ones! I left for visiting friends that evening and was out until about midnight. When I came home there was a note on my door saying that my dogs were keeping the entire neighborhood awake all night and had been since I moved in. AC and the police had been called multiple times and they were considering legal action. And my dusk to dawn light was too bright and keeping people awake. It was signed "Residents of X lane". This greatly upset me as I try to be a good neighbor and considerate of people around. Any time I hear my dogs bark I bring them in or do the "hush" command. Since the note was pretty anonymous I went around to each house on my street this afternoon to talk with everyone - apologizing profusely for bothering anyone and letting them know that I would fix the problems by not letting my dogs out at all after dark (even though they are never out past 10pm and even then are supervised) and turning off the light. Not a single one said they had a problem with my dog barking or the light or admitted to writing any note or discussing it with other neighbors. One did admit the light came in through the edge of her bedroom window and I immediately agreed to unplug it/put it on a timer for early night hours only. She also said she had heard my dogs sometimes, but it didn't bother her, and denied writing any note. The pit bull in a pen in the house behind me was the only real problem anyone had - it barks constantly and I've only seen it out of the pen once in the 7 months I've lived here. There was only one person that wasn't home, but she had a dog herself so I can't imagine she'd complain about mine. I plan to follow up with her later. The thing that really bothered me was the note mentioned AC and the police had been called but I haven't heard anything from either them and I just had AC at my house the day before for the Husky! My mother suspects that it's retaliation from calling AC on the Husky. I'm scared to leave my dogs outside anymore (they have a dog door so they can come in at any time, but they have access to the outside while I'm at work too) and I'm scared to call AC if anything else happens again. I guess I just can't wait to get out of this neighborhood - which won't happen for several years. My plan is to lay low for a while and hope it blows over. I just can't believe that some people could be so petty, stupid, and just plain liers.

I certainly don't think I've stolen the cat. There are always posters of lost/found pets at the mailboxes, so I posted them on all the mail centers and in the stairwells of the apartments with e-mail address and phone number. If the people cared about the cat they could have put a collar with a tag on him instead of the crusty flea collar that I found him in. Jasper's vet is just down the street from the complex, so I will go there to see if anyone reported a lost cat. I've been waiting to have him vaccinated and neutered to see if anyone claims him yet, but I have an appointment for Monday at the low cost animal care shelter to get that taken care of. If I spend money on that and then someone claims him, they will have to reimburse me for the expense. They should have done it in the first place. I don't feel like a hero or a theif. If someone calls with an accurate description of the cat and pays me for the medical expense they can have it back. Until or unless that happens, I am going to be a good steward with the life that has been (even if temmporarily) entrusted to me by happenstance or the great Universe or whatever you believe in and enjoy every second of it. Maybe there are people on this forum who would rather me turn the cat back onto the streets so he can get run over by cars or eaten by predators in hopes that he will wander back to his original "owners". I placed an add on Craigs List. I've gotten 3 offers for Viagra and one offer to make a million dollars a month to work at home from a textile shop based in the UK. Then the add was flagged. There is a point at which you have to draw the line. Maybe I should quit my job and just knock on every door in the state until someone says the lost the cat I have found. Then I will be able to sleep at night since I'm such a horrible person! Some people!