When are you coming to Florida? If you get a chance to pick up a thin inexpensive rain jacket (the kind that folds up into a little square), get one for each person. We will start getting those daily thunderstorms soon and they are so short its not worth leaving the park to wait it out. Fanny packs are great to use to keep your money, meds, or ID's in. If someone doesn't mind wearing a backpack, its great to have water and snacks in to save on buying them. Disney is one place that allows you to enter with stuff. Make sure to use the system where you schedule ahead of time the rides you want to go on. I can't recall whats its called but its like call ahead seating. Doesn't get you out of waiting in line totally but puts you ahead of those that don't do it. Get a map ahead of time and plot out the order you want to do the rides. Some people, if they are staying close, will be in the park at the opening time, then take the hottest part of the day off to rest and head back out in late afternoon. Thunderstorms can come up anytime but as I said, they are scattered for the most part and you can get indoors easily. It will be hot and humid here for you all - we are already into the mid 80's and even though its still nice in the morning, its hot by 10 or so. Sunscreen is a must, baby powder is also good for skin chaffing and its best to wear a shirt with a little sleeve in it part of the time - the tops of the shoulders will get burnt even if you use sunscreen and its most uncomfortable so pack a t shirt in the backpack to slip on in mid-day. Sorry, I know you didn't ask for advice but having lived in Florida and being at Disney where you see everyone burnt to a crisp, I thought I might offer some ideas. Hope you don't mind. Enjoy your vacation.

Hey girls, I've been busy working enough overtime so that I can take a WHOLE MONTH (WooHoo!!!) off from work (1 week before and 3 weeks after...) so I'm sorry I missed this post earlier! We're trying to get everything ready at home. Gotta clean the carpets, get the guest rooms ready, clean out the fridge, etc... Wedding wise, DF and brother are working on the "privacy screen" (to make our wall taller so people can't stare at the ceremony from the street! We don't have fences, we have ~4 ft tall concrete block walls... so we are building a lattice scren that will be decorated/painted white) as well as the arches (2 for the walkway from front to back yard and 1 for the ceremony). I'm sewing the table runners, ceremony runner, and flags for the decorations (It's windy here most of the time and my fabric has this iridecense that is beautiful when it flaps in the wind, so I decided to make flags for the screen wall!) as well as maybe some curtains for the house (we don't really have any... I'll see how much time I have!) My mom is making the boutineers and mother's corsages with silk flowers that we bought when I was in TX last month (they look real!)... Still going to have fresh flowers (hot pink/orange roses) for my and MOH's bouquets as well as the centerpieces and buffet tables... She is also making kissing balls with silk roses to hang from our trees as well as one for the flower girl. That's it for this week - we sent out the newsletters on Monday and our RSVP date is next Monday (05/24). So far we've only gotten 4 back!! Oh, and we're worried because our mailbox (it's a community box) was broken into on Monday, so we don't know if anything was stolen!! The post office is supposed to be fixing/rekeying the box today!! (Scary!!) Anyway, at this point, I am just trying to get through all of these hours at work so that I can get focused! That, and waiting for everyone/everything to show up from TX (half of my stuff is there!! LOL!!) Oh, and we are going next Friday to get the license - CA doesn't require any blood tests or waiting periods... have 90 days, but we put it off (*shame on us* LOL!!) It's getting close!! Have fun these next 3 weeks!! :-) -DuckyHead

Vaporvac: I bought Shocking Blue, Zeph. Drouhin, Savannah, and Orchid Romance. Really kick myself for NOT getting those huge bags of MG-garden-soil for roses sold for $4 each at Walmart early spring. Walmart is sold out, same with HomeDepot, and Lowe's selling it for $9 per bag !! My roses which were grown in MG-moisture-control potting soil had wimpy roots and didn't survive my winter, but my roses which were grown in heavy & wet soil like MG-Garden-soil for roses developed THICK & SOLID roots that survive winter and flower lots. It's even wetter than my clay !! For the record: every own-root (be it tiny band-size) or gallon-size which I planted right smack into my dense & alkaline clay survive many winters, but the ones which I babied in pots (with potting soil) grew wimpy roots that didn't survive zone 5a winter, no matter how I did it: be it putting potting soil into the ground, or grow in pots 1st, then transfer to the ground (my alkaline clay) later. MG-garden-soil for roses (pink-bag with pic. of roses) was on sale at Walmart for $4 per huge bag. That soil is AWESOME in moisture-retention. I had 3 bags opened in hot sun over 90 F: Hyponex potting soil, Scott's premium bagged soil, and MG-garden-soil-for roses. Hyponex dried up into hard-granules, Scott's-top-soil dried up to hard-black-pellets, but MG-soil-for roses STAYED WET AND FLUFFY. I moved W.S. 2000 (own-root) right before winter, and planted that in a bag of MG-garden-soil for roses (only $4), plus mixed In gypsum. W.S. 2000 was the 1st rose to bloom (despite being moved), and having 20+ buds right now as own-root. Own-roots have short roots, so they can't reach down below for minerals, best use a HIGH-MINERALS & HIGH-NUTRIENTS soil like MG-garden-soil-for roses, which has black-peat (de-composed humus), plus peatmoss & pH-balanced to neutral with lime. Fluffy potting soil like MG-moisture control can't enable solid roots for winter-survival, like heavy clay or heavy soil like MG-garden-soil for roses. For newly bought own-roots I have to use a HUGE amount of soluble-fertilizer NPK 20-20-20 weekly to get blooms. Potting soil has zero-nutrients peatmoss, plus a few chemical granular-fertilizer. Too much hassle to fertilize frequently so I would rather use a rich & fertile soil like MG-garden-soil for roses, which is dense & heavy & black peat mixed with peatmoss, rather than fluffy-peat-moss-potting soil which produced wimpy alfalfa-sprout roots and thin canes. I have never seen any black soil which retain moisture as long as MG-garden-soil for roses, see below pic. In contrast, there's the lousy rating for MG-garden soil with mostly wood-chips. Below soil has perfect rating everywhere: Walmart-site, and 33 perfect reviews at HomeDepot site:

Mike, Wading the Stillwater River in west central Ohio is out of the question this weekend. Just 30-40 miles north of me received 5"-6" of rain this morning, so even with waders and a PFD the Stillwater will be flooded and unfishable for @ 1 week. Very disappointed, but on the good side the 'kids will get out for sure as we're expecting 80's for the next week or so. Like Bill, I have a lot in bloom right now. As of earlier this week, I had 27 of my 70-80 orchids in some stage of bloom. Great time of year for us indoor northern hemisphere growers. I have 2 nodosas blooming right now and it is 'special' walking into the grow room first thing in the morning and smelling their fragrance. Back to the weather: I very rarely complain about too much rain, but it's getting pretty ridiculous here in Ohio, I think we are 10"-12" over average for the year. Lawns looks great!, but I have to mow every 4-5 days, if possible. Will probably be a dry hot summer and we'll wish we had the rain. Bob