Thanks for that, Kim. I've been in a unique position for watching the development of both Weeks and J&P. I live about a half-mile from the old J&P "Research Facility" -- which is where Keith Zary, and John Walden, and others worked their magic. What an exciting place that was. I was also able, on a couple of occasions to visit Weeks old facility, out in Upland. Tom Carruth was -- and is -- a friend. What I see happening now is a flat tragedy. As far as I'm concerned J&P no longer exists. What remains of Weeks is -- not the company I knew and admired. For Weeks to deal with that outbreak of a terrible disease and try to cover it up -- and then ship that material out to other growers (to potentially contaminate THEIR stock ... that was appalling. Now, I"m an Old Rose person -- so there is nothing J&P OR Weeks have to offer now that I would be interested in buying. As for Weeks, it breaks my heart to say this, but . . . At this point in time, with the water that's floated under the bridge, I wouldn't buy ANY roses from either Weeks or J&P. (ir any of the other companies to which Weeks sent budwood). And if I wanted them that bloody much, well . . . I would have to have a safe containment area where I could grow those roses in self-applied quarantine for four years. Maybe 5.

I am completely neutral on the Duggar's, since I can see pros and cons to their lifestyle. I come from a large French Canadian catholic family, as did my mother, as did hers. I absolutely adore my siblings and loved growing up in a large family. I look so forward to our family reunions because I have over 75 cousins to enjoy time with. Yet neither myself and siblings, nor any of our cousins can say we felt like we were assigned a younger sibling to look after. Sure we looked out for each other in a general sense, but it seemed our parents' main expectations were that we help out with the household chores, and focus on our studies for school. The childcare was the responsibility of our stay at home mothers, not any of us. When we were asked to do specific childcare if our mother wasn't available, it was called babysitting and we were given a little money to put in our piggy banks or maybe just given a little treat as a thank you. None of my Aunts had more than 12 children, so perhaps they thought that was the limit to the number they could care for themselves, without imposing the childcare on others. Being very conservative catholics back in the day, I know my own mother (and probably her sisters) relied on the rhythm method for birth control. Although there were no doubt some 'Oops' babies, that method was fairly successful overall, since a dozen or less children each were conceived from bridal bed to menopause, encompassing more than 30 years. That isn't an option for the Duggars though, because any form of birth control is contrary to their desire to have as many children as they are blessed with. I can understand how some posters feel the Duggar parents are being unfair and a bit selfish by fulfilling their own desires, but not really giving their children any voice in the matter. And I truly don't know if I'd be so enamoured of large families and so happy to have come from one, if the repsonsibility of caretaking for one of my siblings had been given to me as an automatic 'assignment.' Regardless, I think the Duggars are a lovely family, who appear to be raising very kind and loving children. Hopefully, their children will continue to be well adjusted individuals and never become resentful of the choices their parents made for them.

MtnRwdux, that would've happened to you at my house. I never ever answer the door to strangers. I don't care what you look like. If it's daylight, I may go to the door, which is glass, with my 100 lb barking black lab, to see who it is and if I don't know them, I tell them I don't open the door to strangers so if they have something they want to tell me, they can leave literature at the door. Nothing irritates me more than someone coming uninvited to my door at dinner hour. Coincidentally, just this evening I saw someone get scammed right in front of our grocery store! As I was leaving, I saw a man b/w 40-50 yrs old with wallet in hand talking with a young girl who appeared to be in her 20s. She was dressed "nicely" in loose cotton shirt with long summery cotton skirt, blond hair in a loose bun. I didn't think much of it as I passed by them and then noticed a guy in an unrecognizable uniform heading toward us, about 50 ft away. I thought he was just going shopping, but then I hear him suddenly yell, "you need to leave the property immediately. You are not allowed here. Get out of here now!" She kind of took off and the man was standing there bewildered. It hit me that she must pave given him a sob story needing money. I've never seen security there before but wonder if this has been a problem lately so they hired someone. Odd. Two,summers ago, I was approached by a man and his son outside a hotel in NJ. I had just checked in and went out to the car to get a few things. We were there for a soccer tournament so,the area was unfamiliar. He gave me some song and dance about needing a few dollars for gas, but I've heard about these kind of scammers before so I politely refused. I then went back inside and reported to hotel staff. My elderly parents got the IRS scam call. They are both totally "with it" and my mother had a nice argument with a guy with a strong Indian accent. She basically told him to go ahead and send the cops..she wasn't worried about getting arrested. I do worry as they age that they might not be so smart.

We had a situation this year where next door neighbors were knowingly and willfully infringing on our property with noxious behavior, and while the HOA did issue violation warnings, their process moved at a snail's pace. During the slow crawl where the noxious activity continued, the neighbor was actually seeking an exemption that they thought would allow them to continue damaging our property. Unwilling to wait, we hired an attorney who swiftly brought about a remedy, to our satisfaction. Know that anyone who has entered into an HOA has the right to legally enforce its provisions in a court of law. You are not at the mercy of the HOA to take action; you and your neighbors are contractual parties with rights of your own to enforce. Just saying, in case anyone might think that the association itself holds the power to enforce.