Woot!! Woot!! Go Nancy Drew! My grandfather was a sharecropper, a poor sharecropper. In those days they had kids to tend to the farm. I just found out recently that my grandfather saved seeds, and thats how my father learned. They farmed 100's and 100's of acres, so I have to say its totally in my blood. My father is the one that has taught me alot about gardening and starting plants. My grandfather passed when I was very young, but my mom says I was really close to him. When I am gardening of any sort I feel as he is watching saying thats my grand daughter, lol. I wished he was alive today to teach me more, cause there is alot I am still clueless about. Its in my blood for sure!!

fallingwaters; first of all, know that your you and your dh, and his hea lth care prov iders are in my prayers. Your priorities are in the right place, although I know there is some disappointment after getting so much in place for the renovation. I, too, put off my kitchen for a year. My MIL fractured her hip and was having repeated complications, my husbands workload increased at work and by being the primary healthcare surrogate for his mom. I sensed that just having the stress of ripping out the kitchen -- but also of not HAVING a functional kitchen, was a bit more than our family could deal with. My kitchen is a place of respite, even if in it's current state it isn't perfect. My experience has been like needssometips and jreuter. I saved up some more $$. I'm not putting that extra into the kitchen, but it is giving us a bit more of a cushion. 2. I've gotten just about every wee decision made, down to the gar bage di sposal, and what I'm lining the drawers with. Except for the darn faucet. Still trying to figure it out. In the next few months as you go thru this with your husband, there will likely be times when you feel out of control. Looking at pulls and such and making a few decisions unrelated to the health aspects may help you get a feeling of control back. And in the middle of the night, when you can't sleep, no doubt someone has posted a tittilating post (I know that isn't spelled right) that may take your mind off the stressors for a few minutes.

This thread is getting very slow to load, so I'll start a continuation of it. Please let this thread lapse. I hope you don't mind ravencajun. Part 2: https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5724532/let-s-start-a-chain-reaction-game-get-some-activity-going-part-2

LOL!!! Yeah, it’s ALL high, Digit! Most of us posting here right now are along the Front Range, which is on the plains, TR. Denver, the Mile High City, is at 5,280’! And, going west, it just goes UP from here! Methinks you definitely wouldn’t want to live in Gunnison, Digit! It’s often the coldest place in Colorado! Before they took the official weather station out of it, Fraser, Colorado used to always be the coldest place in Colorado—and most of the time in the lower 48. Fraser, way back then, was called “Ike’s Icebox,” and “the Nation’s Icebox.” Eisenhower used to “vacation” there! (Mamie lived here as a child, and was married to Ike in Denver.) After Fraser “shut down,” Bemidji, MN claimed that honor for a while, but the weathermen don’t seem to make such a “big deal” out of “the coldest place” anymore. If you were here for a whole month you should have gotten over any altitude sickness in about a week. Monarch’s 11,312’, so it is kind of high, but most peoples’ bodies adjust within the first several days. Funny story—I think! Many years ago when my in-laws (at the time) came to Denver to visit us—from (pretty dern close to sea level) Pennsylvania, we took them for a drive out to Aspen and then drove over Independence Pass coming back to Denver. My father-in-law “didn’t like” being out in the mountains because he always had “altitude sickness”—he never would admit that it was because he was scared of driving (being in a car) out there! Now I can’t say the he didn’t really have some degree of altitude sickness, but he felt REALLY bad when were up on Independence which is 12,096’. The “funny” part came up when we got over the pass and “all the way down to” Twin Lakes on the eastern side! We were on FLAT ground there, and he was feeling MUCH better! Ok! Twin Lakes is at 9,200’! He didn’t know that—and we didn’t tell him that! It was flat, so he didn’t have “altitude sickness” anymore! Maybe his particular “altitude sickness” should have been called “mountain road steep drop-off sickness!” And, yeah, much of the reason for our extreme temp swing is because of the changes in altitude. Especially here along the front range where the mountains can “mess with” both the winds and the precip coming from the west. The WINDS we had yesterday are called Chinooks here—“warm winds.” And that’s why it got so warm yesterday. The Chinooks ZOOM down on the Front Range bringing all that nice warm air to us, but the “warm” comes with a price since we get the WIND which can cause problems for plants/trees, and also, as we had yesterday, high fire danger since Chinooks are also DRY winds. It’s still a little breezy out today, but MUCH better than is was yesterday—and cooler! The reason the 148 mph gust on Monarch yesterday was “unofficial” is because NOAA didn’t really “trust” their equipment and they were going to send somebody out to check to see if it was working right! Haven’t heard anymore today! I think we’re sorta taking this thread OT, but it seems to have pretty much run its course anyway! Skybird P.S. Mathew, I think I need one of those retractable awnings just for the veggie garden! Well, and maybe for my perennial beds!