Sorry to hear that. Mice are so annoying, more so when the cat becomes annoying trying to get the mouse. Where I used to live, we kept getting mice, twice they got into the toaster. The first one was easy to get rid of, dump the toaster upside down over a plastic container and release mouse into park. The second one would not leave. We took the toaster outside and I tried to annoy him into leaving by poking him with a leaf. Nope, just clamped on tighter. Only when I took the toaster apart did he finally realize that we could get him. He took off, little mousie butt bouncing away... I could still see him running even from a surprising distance away. That was one mouse that wasn't coming back. My worst mouse story does involve my cat, however. We had this stubborn rodent that didn't care for peanut butter, evaded my cat, and was just smarter than the avg mouse. Well, one day, we noticed the house smelled... off. Couldn't figure out what it was. The next day, it smelled bad. Still couldn't figure out what it was. I decided to sniff it out, narrowed it down to a bedroom, and randomly decided to lift the corner of the rug. You guessed it, squished mouse. In hindsight, I noticed that the cat, who normally sleeps on that corner of the rug, had been sleeping on the other side of the rug, and studiously avoiding that corner, while pretending nothing was wrong. She had chased the mouse under the rug, sat on it to keep it from escaping, and smothered it, basically did the cat version of "whoops!", and proceeded to act 'normal', all while we unknowingly continued to walk on said rug... It's funny in retrospect, but not whilst cleaning that up. Luckily, she had chased it under both the rug and rug pad, so the $300 rug was not ruined, only the much cheaper rug pad.

Contrats, Paul! Don't you hate it when you read that a Hoya has fragrant flowers, then you get them and detect no scent?! I've read some's description of DS-70 (tsangii) as "buttered popcorn" which sounds absolutely heavenly to me! Mine bloom CONSTANTLY yet I've never detected even an inkling of scent on mine. Drat! Well, either way, they're absolutely goregeous, so appreciate them nonetheless. Denise in Omaha

Dawn, sounds like you had a good year, all things considered! Our spring/summer garden was fairly pitiful. The only thing that produced was salad greens, walking onions, and garlic. We got only a gallon or ywo of summer squash before it went kaput. Tomatoes never did get it right after the rainy setbacks but we did get a decent flush this fall, enough for several days of good eating. Melons, not so much. Beans & cukes were a complete bust. The fall garden is seems to be doing better. Peas, cabbages, and cukes are showing promise, summer squash has just started putting lots of goodies, and salad greens are up a almost ready to start cutting. Walking onions and herbs are doing well now and I'll be setting out the garlic before much longer. The chiles finally started taking off in late summer so we've had a decent harvest of those and they're continuing. Spring = Fail. Fall = Much Better. Diane

My heart goes out to you in your moments of despair which is totally understandable when you look around and see so many with their children on the right path. Know that you're not alone, go to Al-Anon please. Addicts are just people who can't stop doing what they do. We can relate to them if we think of giving up foods we love or cigarettes or coffee etc. It's not easy and it's not because we're weak, it's because the yearning is ruling our brain. I will pray that your Kasey can find the strength to realize that she's on the road to losing more than just her children. In the meantime you need to surrender to God. Know that He is on your side. Do what you can to make yourself accept and realize you had no part in her addiction, it was just a very bad choice that has it's grip on her. Way down inside her, she yearns to stop but the drugs rule. Say your prayers and then just let it be. You're a good woman and she knows it. She loves you but the drugs are making her love them over others. In time I feel she'll recover. God bless you and your husband.