Kalija, The hairy stuff is remnants from last year's petioles. The pips you are seeing are covered by a cataphyl which is protective material around the pip. If you begin to see those pips elongate and become more green then you can cover them with a frost blanket or a pot or whatever you have to protect them from frost. If you see exposed roots then you can cover them with a bit of soil or mulch, but there is no need to dig up Hosta at this point, unless you want to move them. When in doubt, leave them alone. More Hosta are killed by too much "love" than by neglect. Steve

Geez, I haven't been here in a while....thanks to all of you for your kindness. My update: I finished chemo early, on June 2nd. We had to stop because of side effects. I am slowly getting my strength back, but still very tired, and achy as heck. I feel like I aged 30 years. But all of that should fade over the next few months. I am still on blood thinners, so handling sharp things does make me nervous, lol. That being said, I did pull out my wet saw this week, and started working on my daughter's table (I posted about this on the other side). It felt good to do something 'normal'. It was a great distraction from worrying, too. I appreciate, again, everyone's well wishes. I don't know what may happen in the future, but I guess I need to live in the moment, and not spend my time worrying about the future. Easier said than done, but I'm trying. I had a very rare, aggressive type of cancer (less than 1% of all breast cancers are this type), so recurrence is a big possibility....I could drive myself crazy thinking about it, so I need to do something to distract myself...and mosaicing is perfect! It's also fun and creative and I'm glad to be back. Hope everyone is doing well, and I wish you all good health. Judy

Thank you! marti, I fell 4 yrs ago and have had 6 surgeries including Cervical spine (and maybe one or two more in my future), and lots of other 'ailments' that come from being 'sick'. I am on the up side now, have limited abilities, cannot do what I used to do, was in my late 50's full of energy, working, had my own kitchen remodel business and doing projects, my blog and learning photography. Then fell (upside down on my head) then somehow 4 yrs went by, I sort of 'wake up' and I am not able to work outside the home and I am in my 60's and retired! Like a bad dream filled with 6 surgeries to fix parts to work again, and lots of therapy. BUT I am going to make the BEST of it! I am alive and can do things for my self and can function better now. So, it is not all bad, just trying to find my niche in the world again! I am originally from Nova Scotia, Massachusetts then to Florida, Virginia and then now back to Florida. I am an East coast gal. Love the palm trees here and the climate is mild.

Thanks, kkny! This one is actually the third - SS very briefly had a counselor we'd found because she supposedly had experience dealing with kids in very bad situations. That was not at all successful; SS didn't like her at all (to be honest, neither did we). She kind of gave the impression that she was half-listening and not really concerned (to be fair, I'm sure she was used to kids in really dire extreme immediately life-threatening circumstances). Myfampg, thanks. I hope you find a Dr. Incredible as well. We didn't think anyone could help either. It was explained to us that a psychologist was what we needed; a psychiatrist would be best if SS had underlying mental issues (like chemical imbalances, that kind of thing) and that counselors, no matter how experienced, probably just weren't going to be able to help, so we asked pediatrician for a referral (she had already knew a lot of what had been going on). Dr. Wonderful met with DH and I first, DH had signed a release of SS's information, and by the time we came back with SS for second visit he had pulled SS's relevant medical records, talked to social services about previous complaints (years ago) against BM, talked to his doctors - we were so surprised and excited that he was obviously taking it so seriously. After the fiasco with the previous one ("it's just not really bad enough - suck it up and deal with it") we were pretty pessimistic and gloomy. I'm not a mental health professional but come on - when you've got a child whose been seeing mental health professionals for over a third of his life there's a problem somewhere! (Nowhere do I mean to imply that all anyone needs is to find the right doctor and that any child will be fine - DH has had primary custody of SS for almost his whole life, SS really wants to feel better and has been working hard at it, and BM is completely disinterested in the entire thing and doesn't interfere. I know too many posters are in a situation with their kids/stepkids where it seems like they're being fought against every step of the way - by the ex, by the kids, by everything.)