Came through the overnight storms just fine, thank goodness. soxxxx - my fear isn't really the wind knocking over the pot, I can see the stone wall it's sitting losing a major load-bearing stone, pot tumbles into sunken garden, on the way down hits the bench first, then continues to smash to smithereens on the garden floor. :) Here are pics of three other urns I planted yesterday. This one DID meet with an unfortunate accident several years ago, but I loved it so much I couldn't toss it. It's terracotta. It comes apart in three or more pieces if you lift it the wrong way. I merely fit it back together like a jig saw puzzle and carefully plant and move it about. Now who's crazy? The next photos are urns I normally sit on the sunken garden floor, but decided to put them on the walls this year. They are also terracotta but have a wonderful aged appearance and when in the shady moist atmosphere of the sunken garden, develop a nice greenish color and sometimes moss! They'll lose that now by sitting in bright sun most of the day. I planted blue lobelia, peach verbena and vanilla million bells petunia. I don't have the best of luck with verbena, but the color was so pretty I couldn't resist.

Chris: I have two plantings of Pearl Harbor. The larger clump seems to have dwindled in buds this year while the other which was moved and replanted last fall seems to be continually going. Very odd. I'm still waiting for ROUEN CATHEDRAL to bloom which was planted last fall. Lots of scapes and buds on it. Registered as a late so I guess it is on schedule. And RAMBUNCTIOUS ROSIE has 3 scapes coming up instead of just 1 I spotted the other day. Not listed as a rebloomer so I guess the odd weather here is put some new plants in overdrive. No watches or warnings today so far and it has cooled off. Been raining on and off which we need the rain so no complaints from me. Julia

Great analogy DA! I live in NY and our house has been hit 3 times in 15 years. Last one was 4 years ago and it blew up every TV in the house. Six TVs. It hit the phone line travelled into my garage and blew up the FIOS box (was on fire) as was the garage wall. All TV's were unplugged, but not uncabled. Came through the cable and blew the TV's. Computers were spared because I ran around the house unplugging them and pulling out the cables. Everything happened so fast, I didn't get to all the TV's. Insurance covered the TV's only if I had the original receipts to prove what we paid. One TV was 15yrs old and we got nothing on it (worked perfectly before), our large screen was destroyed and they gave us 1/3 of what we paid. All the others were flat panel (13-17") and they gave us around $25.00 each. We had a $500.00 deductible so we got nothing. BTW, all the telephones were fried also. We went almost a month with no TV's and telephones before it was repaired. I wanted to shoot myself! Unplug those cables and forget surge protectors. A direct strike melts everything in its path. I was never bothered by thunderstorms before. Now, I'm like a lunatic! Jane

Moni, Congrats on the new house. So, if it hasn't rained any more since that one day, I'm guessing you are somewhere near Sharon and Lisa ('cause they aren't getting rain either). Ouch! Hope the foot heals quickly and I hope you're current on your tetanus shot. My son stepped on a nail recently and couldn't remember how along ago he last had a tetnus shot, so he headed to the clinic in town to get one. At the rate things are going, it may be a while before you get to dig out any of that devil's grass. We have a good shot at rain next week. I hope y'all do too. I cannot imagine you not being able to go out and ride your bike. I hope your life gets back to normal soon, and I hope you're not climbing the walls with boredom. Dawn