Sorry I'm so late checking in on Kristin's progress, Andrea! I'm just glad that it's good news I'm reading! Went out of town for 2 nights, and I've been worried sick. Yeah, a red hat would be great! She could join us in the Red Hat Society. :) Best wishes for a quick recovery and a prescription for codeine. LOL Brenda

Hi again! Karl, you make some very good points about fertilizing. I am probably not doing enough or not enough of the right things. I have been fairly successful growing them . I have a small rose bed which my sweet husband dug up for me replacing all of our hard clay soil with organic loose soil. I add nutrients each time I plant a new rose. Here in Pa. I give them about 3 years to show me what they've got and if I am not happy with them they are replaced. I know that is severe but I am 53 years young and there are so many beautiful roses to try out there! I do weed and water and mulch and dead-head. I spend a lot of time with my roses. It gives me great pleasure. I am going to take your advice and fertilize one last time with Vigoro All Purpose as Mike suggested or perhaps Miracle Grow. I tried the fish emulsion a couple years ago --YIKES! We live in a very rural area and after I put that on all of my roses something dug them all up overnight!! They must have liked the smell. My husband and I could only figure that it was a raccoon or possuum? I was so upset that I swore off of that stuff for good! Mike again thanks I didn't realize that those products were merely tonics. Ramblin Rose I am glad you like my forum name. I try to live in that rosey state of mind each day BUT some days it sure ain't easy! :) Lastly ,Diane thanks for the encouraging words! You guys are all great to help me out!

Mourning cloaks? Now I'd love to raise some of those, Tiffy, but I've only gotten one visit from one, and that was years ago - it was a very worn looking individual, surely on its last legs. I'm on the southern boundary of their range, so it probably came a long way. That burgundy or eggplant coloring on their wings with the gold rims is gorgeous! Hopefully, the monarchs will find your milkweed. I've got a lot of milkweed this year in my garden. I decided to go ahead and plant more, because the A. curassavica is so easy to grow, it comes back every spring, and it flowers all summer and fall with flowers that are as nearly as popular with the butterflies as lantana and butterfly bush. I'm hoping to get some monarchs in late summer or early fall - that's the only time I get eggs and cats. I just see a few individuals in the spring, flying through. I keep finding more giant swallowtail eggs, but a few of them look like duds, I'm not sure. I've also found a few more black swallowtail eggs, also more gulf frit eggs. Something weird happened yesterday with gulf frit eggs. I walked through the gate on my picket fence to go into the house, because it was about to rain. I saw a gulf frit flying away from a passionvine just as I was going through the gate, so I checked it out, and she'd laid three eggs. Just then, a downpour of rain came, didn't last too long, followed by light rain. After the rain, two of the eggs were gone! This is the first time I've ever seen eggs washed off a leaf. I assume that, since she had apparently just laid them, the 'stick-em' hadn't had time to do its job. There were a few other eggs on other vines that I'd seen earlier that stayed put, thank goodness. The little gulf frits I'm raising are getting less little every day - their growth rate is amazing, so much faster than swallowtails! It rained a little again today, and there's a good chance for more tomorrow, so the drought is better, but, as we've discussed before, I'm not seeing the butterflies like I did when it wasn't raining. They couldn't have all suddenly left, so I guess they're just hanging out somewhere waiting for fair weather! :) Sherry

I'm still relatively new at this so I can't help much either, Anne. Wish I could. I'm so glad to hear how well your sister is doing! Especially considering just how frightened she was prior to her surgery, this must just be the biggest relief for her. My DH and DS were my caretakers, and I have to tell you I don't know how I would have made it without them. Marjorie has been so fortunate that you were able and willing to take care of her. ((HUGS)) to you for being such a good sister! I did have the chest x-ray but it was after the bi-lateral mastectomies. They did it as a base-line for future comparisons. When I had my surgery, they took two lymph nodes to test and explained that the cancer cells would travel to these Sentinal Nodes first, before getting into my bloodstream to move on to another part of the body. Since these nodes were clean, with no cancer cells, that was a positive indication that the cancer had not started to metastasize. My tumor wasn't huge, but they still were recommending Chemo for me until I had the special test done on the tumor, which placed my chances of recurrance in the LOW category. That was the determining factor and the only way I escaped with no Chemo. I'm also taking the Femora, having some minor side effects but nothing I can't handle. I did read that it's best to take it during/immediately following the evening meal and that has worked well for me. After I get through all these follow-up visits with the surgeon, plastic surgeon and oncologist, I know I'll be having annual checkups but they haven't explained what all these will entail. I did read somewhere that the mammograms will be replaced by either ultra-sound or MRI, depending on the doctor's preference.