Good morning, all. Cheery photo for such a cold day. It is exceptionally cold here. Poor DH is out in the cold wind wrapping pipes and putting the Christmas lights back out to warm the plants. The large yellow noid is about to bloom inside, I will definitely show that when (if) it happens.

Joyce, so glad that you dropped in and said hello. We've missed ya. I hope you find a way to get your knee surgery done. Keeping you in my prayers. Hoping that the plants coming out of their winter sleep and starting to bloom will at least cheer you up a bit. Don't feel bad about losing a few brug cuttings, this was my first year to start brug cuttings over the winter and I'm embarrassed to say how many I've lost. :o( But on the bright side, I do have some that will find a home outside when I get time to plant them. :o) It will be nice to actually have a dinning room again. lol Bri, hope you get over the sinus infection, those are no fun at all. Get well soon. Hugs to you both, Deb

Always good to have a fellow Sooner (or are you a Cowboy?) down here. The altered planting schedule is one of the hardest things to get used to. I like Tom MacCubbin's book, "The Edible Landscape", if you like fruit and veggie gardening.

I'm envious of your tomatoes. We can't grow tomatoes here at the immediate coast but last summer we made another stab at a veggie garden & planted 10 heirloom tomatoes (along with other bunny delights!). Well, we had an abnormal summer with scorching hot sun every day & little rain. The tomatoes thrived. We got over confident & planted 12 heirlooms this spring. This year, we're having our normal weather...temps in the mid-60s to mid-70s, marine layer creating what we call "Mystic Pewter Skies", & abundant rainfall (already over 5" with more this week). The tomatoes are miserable, several have keeled over dead, a couple more are in the hospital & are unlikely to recover, & the rest are just sitting there looking just as they did back in mid-May. :( Enjoy your harvest! For yummy dehydrated tomatoes...slice, cover in red wine, sprinkle with salt, basil, & oregano & refrigerate covered overnight. Drain & dehydrate as usual. Delicious. No opinion on notebook vs tablet but I love my new Sony Google TV. Surfing the net & sending emails while I watch TV is great. /tricia