We got our rain! Looks like a pretty good amount. Everything is thoroughly soaked. Amazing how much good the rain can do for plants. Glenda, You have had much cooler night temps then we have had. It has been in the high 90s during the day and high 80s at night. At 1 o'clock in the morning the temps would still be in the mid to upper 80s. Awful. Cameron, I am so sorry about your weather. I know the last time I flew to SC to see my daughter, I couldn't believe how brown everything was from Atlanta to SC. It was an olive green. I have never seen the South like that. The lakes were down really far and some almost dried up! I could see columns of smoke rising from the fires burning here and there all over. This must be the fourth or fifth year for you guys to be in drought conditions, huh? Man! We had a ten year drought and it was devastating. Nearly broke the banks because the farmers had no crops and the ranchers were having to sell off their livestock because there there was no hay to feed them. All the cattle ponds had dried up. This year, all the rain and precip. we got in winter and this spring really made the difference. The trees were able to get moisture further down in the ground, so the plants closer to the surface are not having to compete with them for whatever there is near the surface. I have had to water every day through this Heat Wave, but everything is doing pretty good, considering this early hot weather. The only exception being the veggie garden - insects ruined my cool weather crops. But even the areas further out where I never water look good. The garden phlox are the first to indicate drought. When they shrivel up, I know we are in drought. It's still very overcast and gray out, so we might get more rain. Hope this heat wave and drought ends for everyone... and moves on up to Washington where they could use a little heat and drying out. BTW, has anyone heard from MeMo lately. She blew out her knee(s?) trying to move plants and do things she shouldn't be doing by herself. She doesn't have one person to help her when or how she needs it the most. Wondering if she is in the hospital. Oh dear! I am just heartsick for her over her beautiful cottage garden plans. She worked so hard at designing it and digging those beds and her veggie garden. Then digging up her plants out on the ranch and transplanting them, mulching them, babying them along, only to be told it would all have to be dug out. And to make matters worse, this all happened right when the heat wave hit. Good grief! I would have been devastated. I worry about her. ~Annie

I think gift giving divides into what I call order takers and dream fillers. Order takers want to provide something that the recipient specifically wants or needs, and that completes the 'transaction'. A subset of order takers just need to check off a gift from the list, and as long as it is an object or GC, check it done. For an order taker, gift cards are a godsend. No more running hither and yon trying to find X or Y, just pick up the card, load it and boom, mission accomplished. Dream fillers want to provide a gift that, as the saying goes, the recipient didn't know s/he wanted until it appeared. For dream fillers, the downside is trying to get into the minds of people to suss out just the perfect item. Not an easy task! For a dream filler, gift cards or cash completely negate the goal, and to boot they kill the dream by making it crystal clear just how much was spent on fulfilling the 'dream'. I used to be a dream filler--it was my perpetual goal to get the PERFECT gift for those on my list. However, as I've gotten older I have come to realize that as with much else in life you can't control or force anyone to feel, do or enjoy gifts no matter how carefully you try to pick something special. And of course gift cards as a product have exploded; you can literally give them for every and any product or service. What I do now is try to combine order taking and dream filling. So, for Christmas I paired a package of sugar free chocolate bars I special ordered for my diabetic dad with a GC for a movie theater. He and my stepmother will be facing an extended period of medical treatment out of town and my 'dream' is that they can have a night out at the movies as a respite, where he can snack on treats that aren't bad for him. I gave my sisters, all of whom like me are avid readers, each a pair of book-themed novelty socks packaged with an Amazon GC. Dream: they can order something they enjoy reading and peruse it wearing snazzy socks. Okay, that one is pretty light hearted dream filling but still, it's at least a start! And that's how I try to combine the practicality of gift cards with at least some attempt at creativity and personalization. Ann

Time with family is certainly the best gift. Sounds like a super-wonderful, memorable day, Sue. Happy birthday, whenever it is. Thank you for sharing your day. Going off-topic a little, hope it's ok... I spent a week taking care of my 5-year old grandson in the afternoons. I had my coloring books, and he wanted to do a page, so we picked the easiest one for him (a ladybug). He worked so hard to stay in the lines and did a pretty good job. It was such a peaceful time coloring together, just chatting about anything, asking each other what color do you think this should be, and so on. It was a really lovely time. Since then I've noticed his coloring in general is much better, and he pays attention to his colors (no green skin) like he didn't do so much before. I'm sure the coloring will benefit Alyssa as well, to say nothing of the time spent with loving family.

Terrilynn: I found it on Amazon then, and just found it again for you. It’s called “The best college dorm safe V5.0” for $249.99. There were many less expensive ones, but those could realistically be picked up and carried off by some thief. I wanted a small personal safe that she could physically attach to the underside of her bed, etc. The added expense, in my mind, was worth it to safely hold her passport, drivers license (freshman year =no car), good jewelry, etc. And, when her sorority house caught fire during her sophomore year, that safe kept everything in it from being destroyed. Just then, it earned every cent we payed for it!