SAND? Surfer DUDES? Yes, she was in Calafornia,(the best of two worlds) where on one side you have the beach, on the other the mountains! FTM trudged on looking for brenda,(who ever that is)and unbeknownst to her, her friends had in the mean time found land, and obtained a boat, in an effort to find her floating dead water sogged body. Completely unaware that she was heathy as a horse they fought wave after wave, storm after storm in their efforts, because they were truely loyal. Anyway,only they knew that she held a secret key in her pocket that unlocked a chest that nessie had been guarding for 9000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 years. Nessie was quite old. Inside the box was something truely wonderful which will only be devulged by someone else in this silly story. As the 2 friends neared the land of C. FTM spotted them immediately, and was overcome with joy! She whoopped so loud and long that she completely lost her voice and could only stand on the beach with the tears running down her sweet face. Oh what gladness at such a reunion!!! Just as she was about to catch her breath after the second whoop, a large ------- snaked out of the water and wrapped it's suckered appendage around her leg...

Yes, we participate & have enlarged gardens with mostly free plants. We surrounded some fruit trees with the spreaders at the back of the lawn so it would be much easier to mow. These plants are going to duke it out this year, so we'll see who wins! Bee balm, Japanese anemone, almost 50' of staggered ribbon of ditch orange daylily, foxglove, peach leaved bellflower, ajuga, various Lysimachias (yellow tall, golden creeping jenny, white gooseneck, etc.), tall Sedums, Geranium macro as edger, Goldflame spirea, and more all received free or from divisions of previously free plants along with some natives in the shadier spot with the stump. Be on the lookout for ride alongs & remove ASAP when you get home. -snails, slugs & those white eggs -aphids, white fly ... -invasive weeds in the roots: horsetail, bindweed (morning glory), quack grass -weeds on plant surface of potted plants especially that liverwort (scrape off top layer to remove the weed seeds present...) Also, learn to --ask if it's a spreader (or rambler, or creeper) or does it seed about...then listen carefully so you'll know if it fits your garden bed --label them as you receive, research that the plant given matches label (check leaves, stalks, flowers, etc.) before planting out in your carefully arranged existing beds --accept the unidentified plants & ask others at the swap if they're familiar with that plant. If it is still a NOID watch carefully so you can identify before you give them garden space --take pics & post on GW forum Name that Plant to help ID it --water right away once home as plants are usually dry from the digging & traveling in cars to the swaps --plant the bare root things into pots or a nursery bed ASAP so plant survives while you research & watch them for habit. When they bloom you'll be able to identify much easier, so takes time to care for the mystery plants. --shop at nurseries all times of the year to see plants in various states of growth. Sometimes, plants are given with unusual common names, so research helps. Especially in early spring or mid-fall swaps you can't identify plants that are dormant. Some examples: giver could only say grows in sun with yellow blooms in summer & her mom called it sundrops. I repotted & sunk in nursery bed in the fall have identified it as Sundrops (Oenothera fruticosa). Another in early November showed some blue flowers & had plant clumps in a cardboard box showing it as a low grower with creeping rhizomes & fading foliage from a friend who didn't want them at her new home...I planted in a low flat with good compost & mulched for winter. I took some out & planted when it started showing growth this spring, then after those ones bloomed blue & I could identify it as blue eyed Mary or Omphalodes I moved the rest of it to another bed. These 2 months of blue have been a great complement to yellow flowering Celandine poppy & Lamium 'Aurea'. A current NOID received 2 weeks ago is a tall deeply divided small leaved foliage plant given a few weeks ago in a plastic bag that she said is a daisy that showed up in her vegetable garden. Upon getting home I found 5 parsley starts around the base. Parsley went in veg. garden & the plant in nursery bed. I'll be watching closely when the blooms appear to makes sure it's not a weed It's not the common oxeye daisy on the noxious weed list here in western WA or the currently yellow blooming weed in nearby pastures.

I belonged to a pot luck monthly dinner club for about 12 years. There were 5 couples and we alternated so you had a month when you were host and 4 months off. The host provided the meat course and all drinks, alcoholic and otherwise, and the guests brought vegetables, salad, hors d'ouvres and dessert. And that also alternated. It was very interesting because one gal didn't cook....at all! But was willing to learn....sow e had a few interesting things in the first few years...until she learned to read a recipe! LOL! When wew ent to their house, they almost always served steaks that he grilled ( and very well too I might add!) and hordouvres were things like a big bowl of shrimp, or a side of smoked salmon, sometimes some nice cheeses and deli spreads....but the vegetables and salads were the adventure! Over the years we all learned some things. One gal never made desserts and had no idea how to make a pie or cake, but she learned that brownies and icecream were good as were fruits and bought pound cake. I am bad at veggies to take, I don't make veggie casseroles, but learned to take fresh veggies to be quickly steamed on site or a dish of veggies to be roasted. But I have never liked no list potlucks. Years ago I hosted a lot of cast parties for the community theater. Very often there were 75 to 80 and once I counted 120 people....sitting on the stairs and standing anywhere they could find a square foot to stand in! It was the custom for the host to order food and soft drinks and to tell everyone how much their share was and then everyone would bring something to share. The usual "cost" was about $5 per person...that covered drinks meat and buns for sandwiches. So I decided I could do better.....and made a gazillion buns with one other person's help and bought a ham and had it shaved and bought a big beef roast, cooked it and had it shaved and bought and roasted a turkey and had my DH carve it. And used my own plates and silverware. Costs for that amounted to about $1.50 per person. I counted on others to bring potato salad, and brownies and such....and got bags and bags of chips and commercial dip... So the next time I made coleslaw.... and provided a sign up sheet for chips and dips, raw veggies, desserts and specified cookies or bars, potato salad and posted a category for "miscellaneous"....and some idiot brought a frozen pizza that had to be cooked, watched so it didn't burn and cut and served....and it only served 8! I hate to be surprised when I am hosting a huge party. Linda C

Saw this on FB today. "Sen. Dianne Feinstein wants to hear from YOU. She has gotten a week's delay of the Jeff Sessions confirmation vote. FEINSTEIN WANTS 2-4 SENTENCES FROM MARCHERS EXPLAINING WHY YOU MARCHED AND WHAT IT MEANT. She will be incorporating messages AND most likely the sheer NUMBER of emails she gets, in her opening statement at the Sessions hearing for the Senate Judiciary Committee. Send emails to: Sean_Elsbernd@feinstein.senate.gov, Caitlin_Meyer@feinstein.senate.gov Subject line: WHY I MARCHED Please copy, paste and share this message widely. Thank you!" The person posting followed with this: "This is what I wrote to Feinstein: I marched because I have 2 kids under 2 and I stay awake at night worrying that they will grow up without the inalienable rights that have been promised to us as a democratic nation. I oppose everything that the Trump administration stands for, especially when it comes to defunding Planned Parenthood and taking away a woman's right to choose. Trump is terrifying with his malignant narcissism, but those whom he has chosen to advise him in his inner circle--specifically Mike Pence and Steve Bannon--are even more frightening to me, and I feel that if Jeff Sessions is confirmed as AG our civil liberties will be even more compromised."