Hi all! I am enjoying the new job, though I will admit it was a challenge at the beginning! The guy who had been working there walked out and left a 3-4 week backlog of work piled up and deleted alot of the old job files (which I was able to retrieve (partially). Having not worked in a year I had to really figure out the machines quickly and get everything caught up. I am now on top of things and thankfully had all my contacts to get questions answered about certain things that stumped me. Things should go along a little smoother now. We have had rain and heavy wind the last 2 days--I found my GH on it's side this afternoon when I got home. It's back up and relocated now. I thank you all for the offers of replacement plants, but I want to wait to see what does come back and what room I may have left to plant stuff. I have 2 more gardens planned at the back of the house and once I get the ground dug up, amended and start planting I will have a better idea. This WILL be my LAST move!! Getting too old to do this again. Elizabeth--I will call TC one weekend and see what he has going on down there this year. He is a really nice guy and I have enjoyed getting to know him better over the last 4-5 years. Hope he has some of the ones I had gotten in the fall that did not make it as cuttings. Well-better get me some dinner and a shower and a fairly early night to bed. 4am comes early!! Linda

Chandra, Welcome back. I was wondering what was keeping you too busy to talk about gardening. Your trip sounds like it was wonderful fun. San Antonio is one of my favorite vacation destinations. I am glad your garden is so productive this year. I am happy to hear that the Laura Bush petunias are doing so well for you. Remember that they like to be sheared back hard when their production of flowers starts lagging in mid-summer. I usually cut mine back by about 50% when they start looking tired. Within about two weeks they have rebounded so strongly that you'd never believe I had just cut them back. I look forward to hearing about the latest info on continental drought and tree mortality. If you have anything interesting to share about soil moisture and rapid onset of drought, I hope you'll share that with us too. It astonishes me how quickly some parts of our state can go from nice, moist soil to drought---often just in weeks. I've been busy harvesting and processing and putting in succession plantings too. So far, it is a superb year for the garden, and I am glad! We deserve a great year this year after last summer's horrid drought. Dawn

Hell'o Lulie, So Sorry to hear about your Mother. I lost my Mother about a year ago. She was so talented in many fields and I am too. However, I took up painting about 1.5 years ago and have really enjoyed it. I know Mother would have encouraged me on too. Keep painting.... I feel your Mothers watching. Put your paintings on for us to see. Do you paint oil, acrylic or what? I really like acrylic. I especially like Christmas or Halloween. However, what I really enjoy painting is WINE BOTTLES, with grapes, flowers, fruit, animals etc. Whatever comes to me at the time. I have 3 Grandsons and 2 daughters that have lovely homes that enjoy my paintings. I noticed this topic is still going but not heavily used. I hope it is not discontuined and maybe others will jump on line with us. Good luck. Grama

Jgopp, been waiting for yours, too! Thanks all, and yes, the paint for the beadboard and walls, plus installling the "tile rug" is all that is left in the kitchen! Decided togo withcab color on the beadboard, got ithalf repainted and had to refocus elsewhere so it is still half painted, ha ha. Texas Gal, will absolutely let you know via email when the reveal finally gets posted. After all this time it will seem anticlimactic, but my GW peeps have been so faithful in standing by me through my agony I would not dream of skipping a reveal! I will try to keep up in the weekly thread, that tends to be difficult for me. I always feel like I leave out recognizing someone! But I do miss you folks, so will check it out right now...