Cynthia, it was always bobbins and tension for me. Every item had one HUGE mistake: the leg in the sleeve hole or some such nonsense. Knitting was easier somehow. I hear more about bum knees these days than ever before. It must be the ailment du jour. DD's FIL just had one repaired and is due for the other at the end of the month. DSIL now has problems as well. My good friend Joan, 87, is delighted with her new knees and is back in the garden planting this year. Such a woman! I can only hope to age as perfectly in mind, spirit, activity level and kindness & generosity. Paddle to the Sea and others by Holling C. Holling were favorites of our kids too. I know that Skyler has them already. Whether or not he is up to reading them solo I'm not sure. DD & DSIL visited the nearby school today. Here's her opinion: My goodness, it's a beautiful school. I never thought you could say that about a modern school. Hardly any of the rooms are rectangular. There is bright light all over the place. They have a huge library and a GREAT (according to the principal) teacher librarian. They have a huge special needs program (which Skyler wouldn't fall into - it's for people with learning disabilities - called "learning strategies" - who are generally 1-2 years behind who are separate classes). They have a huge ELL program (ESL for people who are BRAND NEW to the country, as in know NO English). They have two regular classes for each grade, and the ELL students are mixed in. There are animals (REAL ONES!) in the school - an 8' boa, a finch, some gerbils, a bearded dragon. They have a brand new computer lab. The teachers are really involved with making the school fun - they do a year long study of something (example government) and spend a week at city hall to learn how things work. They have an "artist in residence" program where an artist comes through for 2 weeks and works with the students on whatever their specialty is - dance, music, watercolours (the artist that just came through is actually the native artist who painted the picture I almost bought for DH for Christmas). There is artwork by the students all over the building. The kids were happy and excited about whatever they were doing (we walked around for 1/2hr). They have a serious focus on behaviour and treatment of each other, something that I think would be GREAT for Skyler. They have FM (for Skyler's hearing aid) systems in every classroom. They have tons of clubs like choir, running, robotics (they build a robot and program it to do stuff like go through mazes), TV (they do the daily announcements broadcast, interview staff about what their healthy snacks are for lunch, what they do for physical activity), they do a daily morning 10 minute exercise in the classroom (another thing I think Skyler would greatly benefit from). They have a Friday morning coffee for parents association - who happened to be there while we were there so we got to talk to some of the parents. It's right next to the ravine. All in all, it seemed like a great place. I want to go there. Can I go to elementary school all over again? But I fear it was simply an exercise in frustration because "SHE" will simply say "NO". Oh well. At least we know what one option is for Reed! It is really frustrating for both of us to deal with the crap .................... And so it goes.

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yes ... SE MI had 6 to 8 weeks of drought .. and 2 weeks of 90 plus weather and no night time recovery ... if you dug down 6 to 8 inches.. you might find its VERY DRY down there.. regardless of surface moisture ... but thats where the roots are .. i mean.. its really bad.. when 20 year old lilacs start wilting ... i wouldnt bother with the scissors... just grab a bad left.. trace down the petiole.. then yank it out ... ken ps: what in the world possessed you to buy 14 of anything ... ever hear of a monoculture ... get rid of 13 ... enabling done ...

" hope Shades will be back, too. And ML." I do too! i'm glad you're back and that phoggie posted here! i'm glad to see the heat go - not that I want the really cold to show up... it can get down to 30 (or even less) here. that's usually only a few nights tho. but I have to remember to cover the pump when that happens! I am (just mentally so far) planning on what I have to do to move the printer stand/printer from the 'winter place' of the heater/fireplace. That'll come up quickly - I want it in place before eye surgery, so I'm not caught with a really cold night and no heater. the really cold ones don't usually come until maybe Feb tho. and I need to get my blanket out (ok, it's about 5' away from the bed). OTOH, things don't seem to go the way I think they should, so we could have snow in Nov - lol! And I need to be looking for a different vehicle. going to look at Honda CRVs, maybe 8 yrs old or so. planned to do that this month, but the days have gotten away from me. i'm going to email the local church to see if their 'ranch guys' can come here and put up a fenced area (out front) for my dog. It's right outside my bedroom window (so hopefully I won't forget she's out there) and the front door is close to my bedroom door - so not far to go to let her out and in - especially at night. I've got some fencing out there and my 'helper person' says there seems to be enough metal posts on the land that can be used to put it up. they'll just have to dig the post holes and put it together. They do this to fund the 'ranch' (halfway house down the road a way). my 'helper' has been sick (she's been having seizures) and has another job that has been hard on her, so she hasn't been by here to help lately. hopefully, she can get on disability. I don't see much chance of her getting a regular job - she's a liability to companies - as was I, when I had to quit working. They don't want to take on a known liability.