"I keep seeing Boots under the azaleas where he liked to be while we worked" That reminded me of my Earl. My dear Earl was a pound kitty, a mere 5 weeks old. He was due to be euthinized because "he bit a girl"...give me a break! Anyway, I convinced the shelter to let me adopt him. They wouldn't release him until he was "tutored". How can they do that to a 5 week old kitten? Two days later after he was "tutored" I brought him home. He became soooo ill...off to the vet...Earl has distemper, from the shelter, plus he was too young to be "tutored". For weeks I nursed Earl and injected fluids under the skin. He grew fast and was the sweetest little guy in the world. Because of the neurological damage from distemper Earl walked like a drunk. 2 years later he became very ill and he didn't make it. Funny thing about Earl was every evening when he came home he set off the light sensor in front of the garage. That's how we knew he was home. After Earl died, that light went on and off - all night - for days. We finally had to turn it off. Edna

Syble, Your collection reminds me of a magazine picture I saw earlier this year. There were several of the red boots such as you have, and they were used as vases for evergreen sprigs, so it was a very similar look to what you have shown us here. I liked it so much I thought I might start collecting Santa boots. I MAY have one, my mother had an old plastic one but I'm not sure I still have it. - Magpie

Shaddy please ignore your second thread requesting help. I had replied there before realising you had 2 threads running on the same issue. This only causes confusion. Below is what I had written on the other thread............ This is more likely a software issue than anything to do with hardware. Does the loading stop at the same spot each time? How long after the black screen do you wait before you shut down and re-start? Leave it a little longer next time to see if it cures itself as it seems like a corrupt file. Watch the flashing of the activity light on the front of your tower, does it stop about the same time as the black screen? Next time this happens and you reboot take a look here once it is running click Start click Control panel click Administrative tools click Event viewer Do not get frightened off by all the gibberish you see while doing the next bit Shaddy. Just quietly review it for clues so we can help you get this sorted out. Now we have a new window with 2 sides, on the left side click on System. Now look on the right side for red error messages, scrolling down if needed. Double click on any of these to see what it says. You may not understand much of it but look for clues and any error message and error number. There is also a link underlined and in blue text, you can click on that the bring up a help page. When you have finished there go back to the left side of the Event viewer window and click on Application and see what there is there regarding errors or warnings.

Wow, I really love Kathryn Ireland's work. I had no idea she did a boot camp. If the extra money spent wouldn't cause your family all that much heartburn I would definitely go for it, even though it seemed disorganized at first. It might be worth the $$ just to hang out and pick her brain. As an aside - I had a somewhat familiar experience at my workplace. There was a woman (who worked in a different locale and whom I'd never met in person) who I needed to do something professionally for one of my research projects (run a focus group). All through the planning she seemed totally disorganized and non-committal. But when the time came to do the deal, she was phenomenal and I learned a lot by watching her. Please keep us posted - I hope you go!!