LOL, Ducati makes some good bikes. Even when I owned Harleys and rode with outlaws I usually rode Triumph. Every time I got a Harley built to ride... some rich kid would offer me so much money for it I had to sell and start building again. When I moved to Montana... I sold the Harleys and the Triumph I had. Only kept one bike, the one that fit me and was the most fun to ride. It is a 1981 Honda CB900. I ride to suit myself not fit someone else's image :) All my riding partners ride Harleys and they tease me a little. They always want to swap bikes for rides too. Oh, Deb likes the Honda best too. It is so quiet, comfortable and smooth. That helped make the choice easy. The fact it is a rocket doesn't hurt either. Living in Sacramento for 30 years gave me time to find some good rides out of that area.... you ride up 50 to Lake Tahoe. Take 89 over Monitor and down to 395. Head south to Lee Vining (Mono Lake). Go up over Tioga to Yosemite. Take 49 north to Placerville and back to Sacramento on 50. That was Deb's first ride with me. I warned her I liked long rides :)

We got our rain! Looks like a pretty good amount. Everything is thoroughly soaked. Amazing how much good the rain can do for plants. Glenda, You have had much cooler night temps then we have had. It has been in the high 90s during the day and high 80s at night. At 1 o'clock in the morning the temps would still be in the mid to upper 80s. Awful. Cameron, I am so sorry about your weather. I know the last time I flew to SC to see my daughter, I couldn't believe how brown everything was from Atlanta to SC. It was an olive green. I have never seen the South like that. The lakes were down really far and some almost dried up! I could see columns of smoke rising from the fires burning here and there all over. This must be the fourth or fifth year for you guys to be in drought conditions, huh? Man! We had a ten year drought and it was devastating. Nearly broke the banks because the farmers had no crops and the ranchers were having to sell off their livestock because there there was no hay to feed them. All the cattle ponds had dried up. This year, all the rain and precip. we got in winter and this spring really made the difference. The trees were able to get moisture further down in the ground, so the plants closer to the surface are not having to compete with them for whatever there is near the surface. I have had to water every day through this Heat Wave, but everything is doing pretty good, considering this early hot weather. The only exception being the veggie garden - insects ruined my cool weather crops. But even the areas further out where I never water look good. The garden phlox are the first to indicate drought. When they shrivel up, I know we are in drought. It's still very overcast and gray out, so we might get more rain. Hope this heat wave and drought ends for everyone... and moves on up to Washington where they could use a little heat and drying out. BTW, has anyone heard from MeMo lately. She blew out her knee(s?) trying to move plants and do things she shouldn't be doing by herself. She doesn't have one person to help her when or how she needs it the most. Wondering if she is in the hospital. Oh dear! I am just heartsick for her over her beautiful cottage garden plans. She worked so hard at designing it and digging those beds and her veggie garden. Then digging up her plants out on the ranch and transplanting them, mulching them, babying them along, only to be told it would all have to be dug out. And to make matters worse, this all happened right when the heat wave hit. Good grief! I would have been devastated. I worry about her. ~Annie

Yachter...I'm sorry when I posted my reply to you.. I referred to you as OA..so that reply was for you. Lynn...I hope you let us know if you went today..and if you bought anything. Syble...I have to tell you that I think your DH would like CB for their meals. Their food is like 'Home Cooked' meals. Not at all like FF Chainstore..I like that they will add something new each time we go. We started going to them when we traveled South, and I really looked forward to them. My DH is very 'picky' and he was impressed..So I'd say, give it a try at least once. Kathleen..thanks I like the soft colors too. I'm trying to figure out something for St. Pat's day.. I really don't have anything green..but will try to 'shop' again around my house! lol Punk...Glad you thought they were pretty.. The dishes can add up when you start to put the set together. That's why I bought some last year and added some this year. Even though they are a little different in pattern, they will still work together. All the pieces, including the cups, were $3.99 ea..Except for the plates and the S&Ps which were $5.99 ea...and the Egg Cups - $.99 ea.. I think your DGdtr would love them... jane

I am you. I LOVE marble but my DH really had issues with it (etching, scratching, staining) and neither of us was willing to baby it. We are going with something called Supreme White - some call it granite others call it quartzite. I checked out all available in my area (Boston) and found a more dramatic slab, which we picked. But there is much that is softer and very evocative of marble. I never really thought that that it had the linear nature of marble, except the Luce de Luna was close. I was surprised to find that not all of the distributors or fabricators categorized it as a quartzite, but as granite. Some the names I found for the stone, whatever it is, were: Super White, Supreme White, White Fantasy, Princess White and Luce de Luna (the more linear, the others are more webby.) So I am desperately trying to put in marble everywhere else (back splash, bathroom.) I was hoping at some point my husband would just acquiesce on the counter but no luck when we found the super white (that looks like head cheese according to another poster :) which I was overwhelmed with at first but really love now. Note as gray as the photos, and even has some warm subtle peach color undertones. I will try to create a photo album of the quartzites I found & post. They really vary from amounts of gray and white and in contrast/how busy they are so I would ask stone yards to email photos AND ask questions about color (because photos can be off.) Here is a link to a thread on my backsplash, the photo album has pictures of my Super White slab. Appreciate any input on backsplash :) All that said about Quartzites - if you don't find something you love I would encourage you not to compromise. Get the beautiful marble - if you read up on old posts most of those who did they don't seem to regret it. Good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: Supreme White Slab & Backsplash options