Lee, You're welcome. When you used the word 'panic', I wondered if I should be panicking too. I'm glad to hear the answer is no. : ) It is a great relief that the Euro is backing off a bit on the freezing temperatures. Let's hope that the chances of frost start dropping too. I hope you have a great visit with your parents, and I hope the weather behaves itself so y'all can have a good time together without having to run for shelter. I can handle frost. Freezes worry me, even with row cover, but mostly because all the trees, shrubs, perennials, etc. are emerged and leafed out and I cannot cover the whole yard. My hollies (old and well-established) suffered massive damage when we went to 28 degrees, and normally that wouldn't happen. However, we'd been having a lot of days in the mid-80s or warmer, and nights in the 50s-60s, and the hollies had lots of new growth that wasn't conditioned to sub-freezing temperatures. On the other hand, Johnson Grass growing outside my garden fence and attempting to creep into the garden froze back to the ground. Of course it isn't dead, but at least it has been set back for a while. For future reference, to find row cover and frost blanket fabric in large enough sizes to cover anything you can envision, you can visit the website of Agricultural Solutions. That's where I find my frost blanket. I bought it in 12' widths, but they have it available in many widths---some of which are so huge that they clearly are aimed at commercial farms. Most places have it in only more narrow widths. I like the 12' width because you can cover a row of fairly tall (well, fairly tall for early in the season) plants with it. If you buy a roll they have it folded in half on the roll, which helps keep the shipping charges lower since it is a box a little over 6' long instead of 12' long. The very first row cover fabric I bought around a decade ago was 6' wide which sounds good, but really isn't. I was using it on 4' wide beds, so I couldn't cover a whole bed with it once the plants were any taller than 11-12". I've discovered that with row cover, wider is better, particularly since I grow in raised beds that are mostly 4' wide and often I have some plants that are knee-high to waist-high by the time the last threat of frost has passed in the first week of May. If the strong storms the next few days don't pound our plants into the ground or carry them away with the wind, we all might get to begin the month of May with gardens that are in pretty good shape. I like the idea of cooler temperatures. The longer we stay cool in Spring, the better the cool-season crops will produce, and the better the fruit set on the tomato plants. I did look at my Accuweather forecast the last couple of days since it goes out farther than the NWS forecast on the Norman webpage and farther than our local TV forecast, and it showed my lowest low next week of 43. Today that's been raised to 45. I'm starting to feel a lot better about next week's weather, but that doesn't mean I will become complacent and stop watching the forecast. I'll be watching it like a hawk. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: One Source for Large Sizes of Row Cover This post was edited by okiedawn on Wed, Apr 23, 14 at 12:09

LOL Annie. When I originally posted I suggested a picnic at "The Lake" but then I realized that SOME people in Michigan do live by Lake Huron or Lake Superior, or even Lake St. Clair! Oh, too bad we will just miss each other. I will be in S. Michigan the night of the 17th, but we do plan on going up north to Whitehall for the weekend. Then back on Sun. night to leave for PA from the south. We may pass each other on I-96! Once again, my dream vacation in MI is a rushed in and out trip.

I came home yesterday and have been mostly sleeping since. I feel better today than yesterday but its still kind of rough. I have my little netbook computer so I can follow the forum posts without getting up but my typing skills are not too good while I'm laying down so I'm not posting much yet. I've been paging through the May/June Fons & Porter quilt magazine and drooling over every page! The little retro tablerunner quilt on the cover is adorable and one I'll have to make! I already have several retro fabrics with cherries so I think I can put together a black/white/red/green version. I can hardly wait! Thanks for all the encouraging words. I know physical therapy is the most important part of my recovery and it's good to have that reinforced. It would be easy to put it off because it HURTS, but I know I can't. PT was supposed to start today but they can't make it until tomorrow, so I was a good little patient and had DH help me go through the exercises we learned at the hospital. I don't want even one day of delay. Hugs to all! Kate

love the christmas card exchange. have a great time on your trip and i will watch for your post about the exchange. ;)