Did someone say ER? First off, Michael, I hope you're doing much, MUCH better. Secondly: I'm waiting for 2 ER bills, and I'm bracing myself. Last month I accidentally swallowed some water of my "curing" saltwater fishtank. It honestly was a mistake - I wasn't thirsty or anthing like that! (I was seen quickly due to my disorientation and the color of my tongue. I had to strip down to my underwear and put on one of those robes. When the (moronic) doctor came in to see me, he didn't even bother to look at my tongue. He asked me: "WHY would you drink saltwater?" I was so dumb-founded, I replied: "Because I was thirsty?" Of course I tried explaining that it was an accident, and tried handing him the sample water, which we had put into an empty bottle of Vitamin C. The good doctor took a look at the container and said: "Oh, you won't feel like that from taking Vit. C." A DUH!!!! Again I told him WHAT was in the container, but he was so preoccupied with God knows what, he said again: "Vitamin C won't discolor your tongue." Then I've had it. I told him he hadn't even bothered looking at my tongue, so how could he possibly know WHAT my tongue even looked like? My husband had to step in because I was ready to jump off my stretcher into the good doctor's face. To make a long story short (yeah..right), he sent me home. With NOTHING! He said to go see my family doctor if I got worse. No, they couldn't/wouldn't test the water, there was nothing they could do. 2 days later I was at my family doctor because I was developing a high fever on top of my black tongue and all other symptoms. They tested my blood AND the water. I had consumed some bad bacteria (gees - who would have guessed), and needed to be put on antibiotics QUICKLY. I even got an injection of antibiotics to give it a jumpstart. I was also put on a short term steroids, and within less than a week I was back to normal. So - considering what went on in the ER, what will they charge us? (I should charge THEM.) Saturday my oldest son busted his knee open at the beach and went to the ER. They found it necessary to take X-rays before administering 6 stitches. Sigh! So I have a pretty good idea how much we'll be paying. ---- rant over...sorry everyone

Blue--you found it! Maybe if you are extra good this year, Santa will pull through with a BIG gift! Maryl--I'm probably a few weeks behind you. My pansies will probably keep going for a few more weeks. We've had so much overcast weather that the pansies haven't suffered as much from the heat as usual. When the pansies give up the ghost, I switch over to medium blue lobelia--they make some now that can take a lot more sun, but even the lobelia will probably give up in the oven heat of August. However, by September or October, I can plant the pansies again. They will bloom in the fall and almost all of them will survive the winter to start blooming again very early in the spring through May/early June. Maryl and Carol: When Braveheart blooms, he is spectacular, but he sometimes is slow on the re-blooming. He's another one that got a severe pruning this spring like Jubilee Celebration and Earthsong did, and he is absolutely loving it, throwing out all sorts of blooms this year. He didn't do that well the past couple years. I have a theory--about long-term damage from that late hard Easter freeze several years ago (I'm sure you remember it, Maryl). I think the canes on a number of my roses did not fully recover and I've been trying to make them bloom more than they were capable of. I noticed that my hybrid teas weren't having that problem--and I have to cut them nearly to the ground each year--so I decided to try a more severe pruning with the shrubs that never seemed to fully recover after the Easter freeze. It worked--they are blooming like crazy. However, I won't prune them that severely every year by any means. Raining here today. Where is that sun? Kate

Aloha folks, I did it!! :) I was able to package up 1 or 2 seed packets for every participant. :) Amazing! Also wishing you a Happy Holiday! well I finished up packing at 5:34am this morning..lol I pulled an all-nighter but I managed to get it done. so Sue you're not the only one! Oh my. You really stuck to it! I quit at 1 AM because I didn't want to be tired today and maybe even tomorrow and maybe be grumpy around a lot of folks. I had 'thought' I would do more this AM, but my AADD got in the way. I may send a few extra things out Fri, and if they throw a kink into the sorting they can just be kept to be passed on as bonuses sometime later. Whew...glad to be over the seeds for a day or so. Sue

And if you're not a Mom, I sent my wishes on to your family for a happy day nonetheless. Yes, I came down from the ladder - DH took me to Forbidden Kingdom yesterday. Relaxing. Today I paint the living room ceiling, finish the white base coat on my last wall (this is taking forever moving furniture around) and Monday start the colour. Going to take a piece of the fabric I'm making the curtains with to the paint store to match the wall paint tone - heck I've come this far might as well get the colour right. Stopped in at the Lazyboy store yesterday - we ordered a new couch (recliners on either end) and a new oversized giant recliner for Dave (6'3"). It has a great feature of extended leg rest you can push out with your foot so your feet don't over hang. These are do in a couple of weeks which hopefully works out for all of my old furniture around here that is spoken for and due to leave about the same time - otherwise the stuff can get introduced to the back garden shed. No love lost there! Finally getting our first living room furniture that's not hand-me-down. Only took 15 years but that's okay. At least it's cash and not on credit. Wonderful to see everyone is enjoying their families this weekend! Today is clean the fridge day, grocery shopping later. So I am thinking of what can I get myself for this week. Need to also start digging in the freezer to see what we have in there for meal planning. I keep forgetting. With food prices rising, I'm getting more and more fussy on portion sizes (less waste), quality and buying what we really eat and not stuff we might eat. I don't know how folk manage raising families these days. So expensive. Also have to think of packing lunches this week since I start my seasonal job of planting business/hotel garden beds. Need to pack lots of water. If ya hear me moaning next weekend about muscles I forgot I own this will be the reason behind it...I should dig out my bubble bath stuff too for this week! Enjoy your day today. Think ahead. I see apples in the fridge that need cooking (mmmmmmm), carrots and sugar free jello for later this week. Good week to get my single serving containers out to make my treats. Gotta get working on a new mini weight goal! Cheers, Peggy