De-lurking here to say it's not just you! We had a strange spring with wild weather swings (up to 40F from daytime to night), and I have to say...this is the crappiest rose season I've had in 8 years. Very abundant number of buds--probably the most ever--but the quality of the individual flowers just stinks. Like the worst thrips damage ever, but each and every rose has it. Some roses had stunted/balled/withered buds, others had blackened petal edges, still others didn't bother with blooms. My Queen Elizabeths, easily the most prolific roses in my garden, haven't bloomed yet. There are some old, established bushes that hardly went beyond their pruned size and only spewed a few deformed buds. Thrips are normally a problem on my light colored roses, but this blight is affecting every color. The later developing buds are better--if on the small side. It's the roses that developed first (late April to early May, which is quite late for us) that were the worst. Surprisingly, the roses that seemed to shrug it off best were some of my David Austins--Jude, the Dark Lady, and a few others. But some of the DA's (Abraham Darby) and other shrub roses and climbers (like Sombreuil) were just horrific. My mom came over and said "you know, if you just look at the roses from the house, they're not so bad." Sigh. And we had such a lovely, rainy winter (for us) that I was sure the rose flush was going to be awesome. And the numbers were truly impressive--hundreds of buds on some of my small (3 ft) bushes, which is the best I've seen. But again, the actual quality of the buds was the worst I've ever seen. Some tried and true winners from my garden were hard pruned just because I couldn't bear to look at their browned/blackened/crinkly/balled horrible little blooms. These included: memorial Day, Queen Elizabeth, Sheer Bliss, Peace (sob), Marilyn Monroe, Daybreaker, New Zealand, Just Joey, blue Nile, Evelyn, Abe Darby, Charles Darwin, Autumn Sunset, Golden Something(normally gorgeous downturned sunny yellow blooms, but this time they didn't even open!),Chicago Peace, Tamora, Pink Peace, Mirandy, Mary Rose, Secret (double sob), McCartney Rose, Tiffany....I could go on, but I'm feeling kind of nauseous. To put it in different terms: I have over 160 rose bushes with few repeats, and this year I have only brought six cut blooms into the house. SIX. But who can really blame the poor roses? Last week we hit 100 degrees on Monday, and on Thursday the high was 54 with rain (snow in Flagstaff, poor buggers). What is a plant to do in these conditions? Apparently, they sulk. Now it's getting to be blistering hot again, with humidity in the single digits. Spider Mite season. I won't likely see a good bloom until September, and then the deer and javelinas will be moving in for their Autumn feast. I'm thinking of getting into daffodils. At least the lilies, Shasta daisies, coreopsis, and cannas are doing well. And the glads look like they might actually open this year (last year they were all duds). I'm off to sulk myself. Heather

If you asked me what I worry about I would have many things. But when you ask about things I worry too much about I would have too say nothing. I deal with most things head on. If I have something worrying me it is usually only until I can do something about it. If there is nothing I can do about something I don't waste time worrying. Now I do get mad however. I am angry about the direction this country is taking. I am mad that my kids will be left to pick up the pieces. I am mad that their personal liberties are being taken away one by one and all that they work so hard for will be given to those that sit on their butts.

Ah, thanks Glenda! I'm not really worried anymore. They just showed something on CNN about Montego Bay being safe. AND, I'm know the cruise lines won't let them off the ship if there is danger. I know he's having the time of his life!

Could have been hand raised. Lots of raccoons that are hand raised don't make it in the wild. For one thing, they are usually released where there are already plenty of raccoons living, and they are chased away. No place for them to go, and always on the run. Some people start to raise a baby raccoon and find out how much trouble it is, or it bites them, and they take it out in the woods and let it go. They think because it is a wild animal, it will do okay, but they don't. It is like dumping out a puppy. They have no idea where to go or where to find food. Some rehabbers will release them where they can leave food out for them....that's called a "soft release". They need that while they try to make an adjustment. Raccoons stay with their siblings or sometimes close to their mothers for the first year of their life, so it is always best that they be released with another one that they have a bond with. I have a short tailed raccoon here too. I call him "Puff". I have been trying to get a picture of him, but can't tell him from the others unless he has his backside turned to me. All I know about him is that he is a member of the "gang" that arrive every evening about 6 and commandeers the cat food bowls...before moving on to the other food that I leave out for them. There was also a big armadillo here that was missing part of his tail, but I haven't seen him for quite awhile. One of the armadillos that I raised last year is still here every night tho. I don't know if it is Henry or Edsel, but it's one of them. He is working on re-landscaping my yard. I finally got the soil improved here by adding lots of mulch, and it is full of earthworms. It was rock hard clay when I started. It seems to be to his liking. I raised him on nightcrawlers that I had to buy by the dozen.