Lulabellesview, I've been gardening for quite a while now. I started with containers at my apartments in my twenties, taught myself through trial and error how to garden around my house in my thirties, and now that I turned forty last month I'm moving on to veggies. I do have a rose obsession but for the most part I've settled in to knowing which ones work in my garden and I'm just enjoying them now. Did add a couple new Austin varieties this year though. Couldn't help myself. My "potager" is being created by raised bed boxes on the south side of my house that really is an RV parking pad. But the overall look of my very small house and lot is very cottagey. I even have a shed back there that is finished to match the house and has lighting. Having great fun reading your blog. Loved the idea of the glass refrigerator containers! The butterfly gold is one of my favorite vintage pyrex patterns. Julie

First of all, don't give up on the therapy--this is what many would consider an emergency, so DO NOT let the therapists put you off. Call your local children's hospital for a referral or, if need be, call the suicide hotline for advice. Yes, the threat is vague, but you're absolutely right that it needs to be addressed, sooner rather than later. Beyond that, try to get your son interested in doing something to make a difference. Maybe he could initiate gun safety talks for younger children, or perhaps there's some way he could volunteer with the police. Brainstorm with him to try to find something he (and perhaps the other 2 children involved) could do to make the world a better place now. Even if it's just getting a playground or Angel Garden installed in the local playground in memory of their friend. The more you can get him involved in making a difference, the more worthwhile life will seem to him. My nephew was similarly depressed when, in high school, he saw his best friend fall through the ice and die. There was a bridge keeper right above where the accident happened, but he had no emergency equipment available (it would have made a difference). I suggested to my Dsis that nephew see if he could raise money to get the equipment so nothing like this ever happened again. They went to the mayor/counsel, and THEY agreed that it was necessary and provided the emergency things for the bridge. My nephew was the catalyst and was able to feel that at least he helped stop this from happening again, hopefully. I reallly think, getting your son involved in something that makes a difference is the way to go here. Might take a little encouraging, maybe even a little subterfuge (you might present it that YOU want to start some sort of memorial effort, and see if it doesn't encourage him to get involved, rather than pushing the idea at him when he may not be quite ready for it yet). Very sad story--my condolences to all who have been affected.

The dog did have a checkup including all that is listed above with the exception of an ECG. They did a full bloodwork including T4 along with a check of the Urine and a Culture of the Urine. I apologize that I didn't specify what all he was tested for. X-rays were taken not only on his last visit but often on other visits as well to monitor him as he has the spinal/hips issues and we are well aware of this breed's susceptibilty to cancer.He gets bloodwork done every few months whether ill or not due to his being on Previcox. I will have my mother bring up an ECG at the next visit. There is nothing that is showing up that could cause this. We can only conclude at this point that it's just an age thing. Everything else is normal for him, appetite, water consumption and all test results. At 77 in dog years and considering he is a larger breed dog, I am not 100% suprised on the occasional accident. It's not all the time, just a few here and there. My mother is starting to take him on a frequent schedule whether he asks to go out or not. That is probably the biggest adjustment, just as he was so reliable in that he would just tell you he needs to go out with the exception of automatically taking him out before bed, work or any leaivng of the house. I think it's also hard to do just in the fact that we have to acknowledge our handsome man is getting older. :o) I was curious on how others have dealt with the old age accidents. Looking for ideas do help curtain the "flood" :o). Has anyone used the puppy pads etc for a larger dog? We are looking for something to help him in case he can't hold it in when no one is home etc. I am just not certain a puppy pad can hold the amount of urine that this breed turns out. :o) My mother has even thought of putting a small kid pool filled with litter somewhere for him. He is a very smart dog, so I think if we trained him to use an acceptable area in the house, he would do it. We obviously don't want to encourage him to start going in the home, but if we could get him to use a certain area in emergencies instead of the dining room carpet, we would be fine with it. Any past experiences with this anyone?

No - nothing wrong, but the top could stand some thinning. To grow benjamina well, the top needs to be restrained - even if the plant is still much shorter than the ht at which you'd like to maintain the tree. This is because the plant is very apically dominant and tends to allot about 2/3 of it's energy to the top 1/3 of the tree. If you view the tree looking for verification of the tendency, you'll see what I mean. The counter measure is to regularly reduce the top, which serves 2 purposes. It keeps the top branches from getting conspicuously heavy, and it lets more light through to stimulate back-budding nearer the center of the foliage mass. Your tree is already getting some rather heavy branching at the top of the tree where things should be light & airy - twiggy. To fix that, you would first sort of bring the branch extension back inside of an imaginary ball shape by pruning back the longer top branches. Then, open up the top by concentrating on the heavy branches. Cut those back so you're leaving a pair of fine branches pointing in favorable directions, or to a single fine branch pointing in a favorable direction. The branches in the lower 2/3 of the tree would just get minimal pruning. It already appears to have a rather nice shape (good job!), but could do with that extra measure of refinement if you're up for it. Al