Gwanny, Six months after my stem cell transplant I was told that it didn't work and the cancer was "raging". I was sent to City of Hope in Pasadena where I was told to go home and get things in order to die. We couldn't accept that, changed doctors and my new one contacted her mentor the head of oncology at Scripps San Diego. I was accepted into a trial treatment (different type of stem cell transplant). I would be the 1st person to undergo 2 stem cell transplants less than a year apart. It's extremely hard on the body. My odds of survival on a good day were 25%. That was 8 years ago :) We believe the reason why the City of Hope wouldn't touch my case was because they anticipated my demise...it doesn't look good for a hospital to have a sure death on it books. And I suppose I understand that part, but way I was treated sticks in my craw. I wasn't offered nor did that "certain" doc seem interested in helping me survive. We were way past fortunate to have come upon a doctor who knew a doctor... My thoughts are with you and your family.

Darren, I have been eager to see an update and found myself leaning forward into the computer screen to catch every detail. Harlow Carr is such a beauty, I have not seen one before except in the Austin handbook. All your rose cuttings are amazing, so healthy looking. It was extremely helpful to hear how you start them. I've had a 100 % failure rate with my cuttings and will try it your way this year. How terribly difficult for you to find the garden in a damaged state, and the stunted blooms are heartbreaking- Ava's sad little face showed she felt your distress. I bought an organic Miracle Grow soil that nearly killed everything in it. I am going to use Alaska Fish Fertilizer, but it stinks horribly as you would expect for multiplied dead fish. I should plant a Gertrude to counteract the fish scent with her perfume. Today I noticed my fern had not died as I had thought, two small fronds had unfurled. I hope the victories you experience this year will far outweigh the setbacks. I was looking at shelter dogs online this morning and spoke to God out loud I would trade all my roses to have another dog. What a comfort you have with your horticulturist Ava, better than thousands of roses. Have some hot tea together, better days will come.

I would also like to contribute to a gift for Glenda. But do we even know if such a thing is allowed these days due to Covid. I’m fairly sure we could send cards if we had an address. We may have to wait until she is home and have something sent there. She will likely have to continue some sort of exercises at home. Maybe she will be having an in-home therapist for a while or have to continue out patient therapy. So many unanswered questions.

The chance of electrical outage is the same for one house and the next; if the utility power fails, all the houses go out. Good that your are bringing the wiring up to date. I would suggest adding a generator feed into the power panel as well, these can be rather expensive (automatic switches, etc.) or rather inexpensive (mechanical interlock with the main breaker). Regarding a generator, years ago we had repeated power outages so I bought a generator. Then we never had another outage for many years, so you might try that to see how it works for you. Turns out, our electrical power came through a heavily wooded valley and that summer the utility finally decided it needed some severe trimming. Never had another outage while I lived there.