Hi Tom - I talked to my brothers yesterday and they told me they were prepared, I will call back tonight to see how they are doing and if they have power in their houses. I can only pray for them, it is really not fair after the bad winter that they had. And talking about the garden, I am keeping very busy most of the time using and giving away crops, yesterday was the day for the collards, the eggplant and the avocados. I am really surprised that people who were born and raised in Florida are new to the best crops that we home gardeners can produce, like everyone is saying praises about the Brogdon avocados, and the question that I get when I give the green glaze collards, "are these collards? but they are so pretty! no sign of bugs or ugly like in the stores, the neighbor that I gave even smelled them,lol And the friend that I gave the eggplants said, I cook the whole bunch and they were not bitter or anything, they were great! In the fall I don't grow as many squash or cucumber plants because of the nematodes being active and number of bugs when is hot. I grow only the compact summer squash and a couple of winter squash, they are doing well in the containers. Tomatoes are getting big and struggling with the heat, you are probably hotter than me, I can see the tomatoes not liking the high temperatures, some do better than others for me when is so hot. Started seedlings for collards, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, some herbs And some views from the garden, eggplants and butterbeans Bush green beans The mini orchard Hi Luther Nice pictures like always! Sorry that you did not get a lot of sweet potatoes, maybe the soil was too rich. I have mine all around the garden where I only amended with used container soil. And Luther I have to tell you that yesterday I was working in the garden and Willy said the same thing "I don't know how you doing, but you never sit down" lol Your set up for the tomatoes is really high class like in the growers systems.:) I just learned a new thing from the community gardens, they bought some cheap wood sticks 2x1 for under a dollar and cut in half, they are 10 foot long but they are sturdier, so I got some this morning for the tomatoes that I have all over the garden now, like this one. Silvia

I installed a new thermostat (Honeywell Focus Pro 600 #TH6110D1005) last night, but before I did I ran the furnace on the old Honeywell stat to see what happened... Here's what happened: Got home. Stat read 63 degree house temp. Set the heat at 73 degrees and furnace fired up. Took about 9 minutes to get to 64 degrees. Approximately 20 minutes later, with the temp at 66 degrees, furnace shut off. Blower ran for approximately 2:30 then the furnace was completely off. Furnace fired up approximately 2 minutes later. Furnace ran for approximately 29 minutes then turned off. Temp was 71 degrees. Blower ran for approximately 2 minutes then furnace was completely off. Furnace fired up about 1 minute 15 seconds later. Furnace ran for approximately 10 minutes and then turned off. Temp at 71 degrees. Blower ran for approximately 2 mim 30 seconds then furnace was completely off. Furnace fired back up approximately 1 minute later. 73 degrees obtained some time later. (lost track of how long it ran to get from 71 degrees to 73.) Each time the furnace shut down, I went downstairs and checked the peephole on the furnace to see if the little red light was blinking any codes. It wasn't. So I then changed the stat and hopefully that will fix it. If not, then the installer will be coming out. anyone have any thoughts on my problem?? thanks. mike

You all bring up great points. This is a totally voluntary weight loss challenge – informal invitations are emailed out to 3 departments comprised of about 80 people. It is not officially sanctioned by the company, but not discouraged. We have had various versions of the challenge the last 4 years, and we have found out some things that work, and some that definitely do not – regarding participation. 1st, we needed a $20.00 motivation fee and prizes. Most will not stay involved if they have nothing monetary to lose or gain. Giving it to charity did not work - got the same participation drop out rate as not having a motivation fee. Winner-take-all caused some to drop out if they knew one person was really successful – so then we had 1st, 2nd, & 3rd prizes at the end (splitting the motivation fee proportionally 1/2, 1/3, 1/6.) Furthermore, to sweeten the pot, we had an anonymous donor grant a $5 weekly bonus to the person who lost the best percentage each week. That way, you may not win one of the top three, but you could win a couple of weekly bonuses. Surprisingly, the finalist winners rarely won most of the weekly bonuses, because they were the slow and steady losers, not the quick up and down ones. 2nd, having journals, counting steps, recording exercise minutes or any other form of “measurements” did not work. There were lots of hard feelings about them – some accusations of “fudging” or being too personal. Some people were WAY too competitive – and that also caused hard feelings. We had people chose to lose the way they wished by reducing calories, increasing exercise, or both. We have only one person officially record weights, so no else would know anybody else’s actual weight. We just announce the top finalist’s losses – not current weight. 3rd, we found 4-6 weeks to be too short of a time, and some ladies did silly things to win. 12 weeks was too long and we had a lot of dropouts. 8-10 weeks seems to be the sweet spot time wise – too long for “crash dieters” and short enough not to “burn out”. Now we try to have a 10 week diet challenge, then a 6 week maintenance challenge before another 10 week weight loss challenge. (The maintenance challenge is to kick in $20 and you get double back if you do not gain anything in 6 weeks – normally held over a holiday season.) 4th, we haven’t had many men compete, so that has not been a big problem (of them losing faster). Since we have a wide range of weights (135 – 340), we have tried various versions of % loss or total loss. Last time it was the weekly % bonuses coupled with prizes for the top three total weight lost. This time the main organizers wanted it to be total percentage for the final three prizes. I think this does favor the thinner ones, but I was just asking all your opinions in the hopes to fine tune this continuing completion in the future. Personally, I have lost 35 pounds last year in several of the competitions -- and I hope to do more in the next one. They do keep me motivated. Thanks for your thoughts.

Annie, you are right... and that was my thinking in ordering it even after I discovered that the daisy dress now fits. However, where it is a little too big now is in the bodice.. for a surplice dress that means some gaping. At my current weight, i can tack it or pin it... but as I lose more weight (knock on wood), i imagine I will lose more through the bust and back which could make the gapping more than a pin can manage. IDK. I do have wide shoulders and a large rib cage -- meaning the bones, not the fat on top lol.. so it may not be too bad. I think the waist/hips etc will be fine and very adaptable-- though the waist and tie are sewn in vs an elastic band. This is part of what makes it attractive IMO.. it looks more presentable AND it cinches in more than an expandable elastic band. I tried it on yesterday "as I was".. hair in a ponytail, slippers and (ahem) no bra. I thought it looked flattering and nice even then. I will try it on this weekend with proper undergarments and shoes and see what I think. It isn't terribly expensive so if it looks great when done up, I will likely keep it. I think it could work for a lot of occasions ... and since my weight loss is slow/steady, I would imagine it would work for awhile without alterations-- but weight loss is a funny thing. You can't always predict what will change. (Also, I will continue to watch to see if the smaller size comes back in stock) Thanks all for your thoughts, encouragement and recommendations!