Areas that have Dec-Feb lows in the 20s-30s and 50s for highs are lumped in with areas that have 40s for lows and 60s+ for highs. It can get pretty sub-tropical for 4-5 months out of the year in central NC, but we're not in the same boat as central TX (yet). It is getting warmer here, though. Bromeliads are becoming more popular and we're seeing outdoors earlier...more variety of trees and annuals can be grown here. It's hard to keep up with what's just expanded selection by industry for the marketplace and what's "new" to the area thanks to the increased warmth. We've had 2-3 unusually warm winters the past many years, but we still get our "apple chill" temperatures. The hardiness zones are just general guides and all that, but you still get a headstart by almost a month on summer/spring crops in mid-TX and your winter greens don't need as much constant care in the winter.

I hope this doesn't sound wrong...but he's got an old face. I mean that he seems so wise and has such depth already. Like he's going to be a very special man when he grows up. He's so lucky to have such wonderful family supporting him. If I may, I'd like to tell the story of my SS. The Egg Sac (cannot by any means call that woman a Mother) hooked up with DH while they were in their teens. She kept pursuing him and he just looked at her as a one (or two) night stand. He dumped her quickly and went on with his life, then she showed up one day saying she was pregnant. He blew her off, but she kept hanging around, even after he was involved with someone else. He did show up at the hospital after the baby was born (with his new girlfriend) but fell in love with the baby and shortly afterward moved in with the Egg Sac and her other child, and SS. He tried very hard to be a responsible parent, had a job and was a Dad to both the kids (only the boy was his child). But he could not stand the ES, and eventually caught her sleeping with other men and doing drugs. So he left her. She was on welfare and getting child support from him, but she never let him see his son unless he gave her $. SS was 4 when I met DH, and DH was crazy about the boy. We eventually went to see a lawyer about setting out some visitation and went thru 3 years of drama in the courts with the ES. LONG story short, he tried to be a great dad, he loved his son but the ES was so toxic and horrific that she poisoned the boy. Now he's 26 and he and his father have such a tenuous relationship. He has anger issues, has gotten into drugs and has served time for drugs & other bad things. We tried several times to get custody of him, but the ES always managed to prevail but he came to live with us when he was 15, but then bounced back and forth to the ES and us till he was 18...then he beat up his dad and was kicked out of our house for good. DH has only seen his son 3 times since then, but tries to talk to him weekly, but the damage is really done. I guess my point of the story is that it really takes two to make the relationship be stable for the children, and anger issues between the parents will cause far, far more damage than one parent being absent. My own kids were abandoned by my ex-husband, and raised by DH. They're all good...they call DH Dad, and have no desire to ever see Jeff. He did find me on FB, and the kids were able to see his profile but asked me not to friend him (I wasn't going to) since they really didn't want him in their lives...he meant nothing to them and they didn't want him to know them. So I am confident that Haley will be an exemplary mother to Spenser, and if the father just fades away, he's going to be just fine. Our POTUS was raised by a single mother, and politics aside, he turned out fine.

Thank you, all for the welcome! Colleenoz, that would be hard. I'm a good cook for the type of cooking I do. At one point, I would've said bread, but we pretty much stopped using it as a staple as we got older and as one of our girls developed an auto-immune issue that included gluten. I can bake sweets, but don't really love to do so because I'm not fond of sweet things. Hmmm.... Interesting question. Annie, a daughter has an autoimmune issue (psoriasis) that she's found she can pretty much control with a strict diet. She can't eat red meats, soy products, wheat products, citrus, eggs, cheeses (except very soft ones because of the histamines) and several other things. Her husband can't eat nuts, spicy peppers, poultry, seafood, alcohol, and a few other things because he has something called Mastocytosis and those things are triggers which send him into anaphylactic shock. Needless to say, it makes family dinners challenging. Unfortunately, I've sent him to the emergency room more than once until it was figured out what he had. Jasdip, I wasn't lurking so much as reading to see if it was a group that seemed like a good fit for me and friendly bunch. And I think it is. I love to learn new things about food and it seems this is a good place to do so. Thank you for the welcome!

Fantastic photos, Bob! I especially like the one where they are standing side by side next to the fence. He is a mini-me of his mother right down to the blaze on his face. Even at this young age, one can see the horse he is going to be in a few years. What a little beauty he is. He must be providing lots of entertainment at the farm. Everything is new to him and he has the energy to check it all out. I'll bet he is full of mischief!