TomatoWorm - OMG, I mean OMG!!!!!! It is so good to see you back on the forum! You have had the greatest influence on my fascination and rearing of sphinx moths ever - truly an inspiration! While I am not really able to venture onto nature trails or habitat areas outside of my home, I have raised 12 or 13 different species of sphingidae found in my own yard, believe it or not. This year has been especially horrid, though, due to our extreme drought. Butterflies AND moths are few and far between. I have only raised a Eumorpha achemon and a Eumorpha pandorus. I have had several Nessus sphinx at my butterfly feeder, though. One morning there were 4! That's a lot at one time for me, when I usually am lucky to see only 1. Last year, I was thrilled to find on my Blue Sand Vine, Cynanchum laeve, larvae of the Erinnyis obscura, or Obscure Moth, which is a rare find in Oklahoma, since it is a much more tropical species. I raised the 5 I found, and all pupated and emerge as beautiful little moths. So tell me where are you and what have you been doing? Inquiring minds want to know, lol! Susan

Welcome back AnnaKay. I also was gone when it went to "pay to play". Years before that, I was Kathy, Pa. When I realized it wasn't a pay site anymore I tried to get back in with my old name but couldn't get it to work. Now I'm Katlan. This is a great site, glad you found it again.

Even though you haven't found a new place, I bet it feels great to be in the position of having sold already! I've been hoping for a quick sale for katieob - someone is going to walk in there and say "I must have this kitchen!" - ours went in just under a month and the kitchen was definitely what sold it. New house is a generous term for what we bought...we're right in town in Concord center and our place started out as a barn built in 1872! It was moved over ice blocks to its current location and converted into a colonial in 1911. The living room has the original beam and timber ceiling which is wonky and I love, but sadly everything got painted so the wood grain isn't showing. There's evidence in various places of the house having been a stable and we're going to keep that as much as possible. The kitchen is a disaster - "redone" in 1988, and added onto with a sunroom in 1996 - they put linoleum over the original wood and then tiled over that! The cabs remind me of something you'd find in an abandoned cabin in the woods (bugs and all) and the counters are some ancient formica. It's an odd layout with one area having FOUR doorways in it so that part is totally unusable as functional kitchen space (it will become a desk/workspace for me). We could kill the sunroom portion but keeping it has its appeal in an odd sort of way so we're going to go that route. The plan as of now is to force an L-layout out of it as my KD and I think that's the best use of the odd space. I think white perimeter cabs are in my future with possibly a painted island, and counters being considered are the usual for me (marble, soapstone or similar, wood). I'm head over heels for some of these Modernaire and Rangecraft hoods that people are showing here on GW so I'm guessing I'll end up with one of those. Smaller scale to everything as it's just not the grand space (or house) that we had, which was the whole point of moving anyway. We've done the huge fancy house thing and are "over it" - we wanted to simplify life a bit. Challenges for this reno will be maximizing efficiency for the space, staying true to the house's character/history without being too period-perfect, and keeping the scale in-line with its surroundings. I'm excited to try some new things (like a Liebherr integrated fridge) and make it all come together in an undated, classic sort of way. Plan is to be hosting Thanksgiving dinner here - yikes!!

Hi Jan & Len, Lovely to hear from you again. Unfortunately Im renting this house, so the garden's a bit of a no go project. Other than removing the dreadful clitorea vine taking over the plants in the front garden, man it seeds so well!!!! Yes Holly is at school, preschool actually, five days a week and loving it like you wouldnt believe, made friends so easy and the transition went unbeleivably smoothly!!! I decided to study Law, and it's so intense. Finding it hard to relax after twelve weeks of eating, sleeping and breathing a Law degree!!!! Len, I think I will sell the house, like you I have noticed that sellers of properties go about changing them the minute they get in the door and they end up looking awful. Not going back is a good thing. Think I will buy up here and then get that garden of my own happening. It would be lovely to plan a new garden from scratch. I had to do that in my old place. We've all settled in really well, the two dogs and the cat came with us too, so it's back to being a full house again! Loving it. Cheers, Mel....