We were planning a 10th renewal; dressed up again; but this time for family. I have gowns picked out; have not tried them on yet. We were going to do similar to what we did before; go back down to Florida; but we weren't sure where to have it since Cypress Gardens closed. The gowns I have picked out are similar to what I wore lace/beading but a different bodice. It's nothing poofy; a nice A line. My son & daughter would be involved; probably his brother. We're not speaking to his son right now; but if they patch it up; then he & his little girl who will be a tween by then lol I love good silk flowers so that I can save them- my bouquet from 10 years ago looks great still & IMO it's not dated.. If I did it again; it would probably be real peony; roses of course; maybe lilac. I like the new style bouquets where they bunch different groups of flowers; so you have 5 peony; then a bunch of roses; then what ever else Right now we're not in financial shape to renew; maybe next year for our 11th; or we could do 2014 when we're together 15 years. We really wanted to do it this year so that his gram could be there; it's the whole reason we'd go back to FL. She was in no shape to come to the original wedding

Cars you have block heaters in them when you live in severe cold weather. If you have a garage you park it in that. If not, then you plug it in all night and then the fun begins where you go in and open a very stiff cold door and start the car to get it heating and go out and start scraping the windows. Oh, but when you work, not all places have spots that you can plug your car in and so all day it would sit there and you go out and pray that it would start up for you. Or sometimes all night long or evening, depending on shift you are working. We had a heated garage in last place we lived in as we had two big dogs and my mom wouldn't let them stay in at night, they could come into kitchen during the day. They had 3 old mattresses to sleep on, they actually had a great place out there. yes, there are unfortunately people that leave their pets outside or they are permanent outside pets. Some kinds of dogs are meant for outside so they will grow really thick heavy coats and if brought inside will sweat and pant and pant and pant tons. We would see our neighbour have one dog inside and the other dog outside. It really pained us that they did that. Pets can survive to a certain extent. But no, they can't that cold out, cats especially. Pipes you cover them up, wrap the outside taps up. You do feel the cold in your house and heat is up and fireplaces are burning away. I remember standing on our floor heaters when growing up and the heat would come up my nightie and talk about nice and warm. Oh, so nice. Our dog used to go right on top with his belly and get warm, he was a toy manchester dog. When we put him out to do his business, he would run fast and run fast back inside screaming in pain as his ears would freeze. My mom tried to tie a scarf on him but he still suffered. It was terrible hearing him in such pain.

Sorry, sorry for not getting back sooner. I taught 4th graders today. The culvert in the pictures is about 1500 feet long and thousands of pounds. The diameter is only 8 inches but it took both arms and both legs for me to lift any section of culvert off the ground. We actually had TWO 1500 feet pieces of culvert to wind up that day. The spindle in the picture holds one length of tube and sits in a pasture on the other side of the fence. When I saw the culvert all twisted up in the ditch I knew the tornado hopped over our house, only destroying part of our tree line and most of the chairs and plants on my deck. We were extremely lucky. Several of our neighbors were not so lucky. One a couple, a few miles west of us lost their entire house. My FIL, lost a couple of very large irrigation pivots but they were eventually replaced. The culvert was a pain to pick up but not anything to complain about considering what others faced after this early summer tornado. I called my dh to ask him about the pipe this afternoon, hoping I could fill you all in a bit better. Well, he was on his back putting a clutch in his truck,,,so the mini version for its use is conservation. Our neighbor who owns a construction company had been using this tube for quite some time. My dh and his farming family have to deal with so much erosion every year, they thought this would be a good answer to many of their problems. Pipe like this can be cut into whatever length needed with only a big sharp knife. As Stacy said, we have so many dry streams that turn into small rivers, our ponds overflow. The tubes can be put into dams which take the excess water from high levels on one side to a lower, safer level somewhere on the other side. Field water ways can drain into the tubes which also lead to places elsewhere, most of the time, down a winding hill. Across from our house we have a pond & dam with another larger overflow lake on the other side. On every side of our land the water flows into that small lake, saving a lower part of our town (a few miles away )from flooding. That's it as far as I know.

When I first got an e-mail account I wanted my name to be part of a rose, since I'm a major rose nut. The only rosy word I could find was petaloid, which is a partially formed petal often found in the center of a rose bloom. I used the same name here on GW. Minnie, a rose hybridizer has a secretary named Gladys and he named a rose variety he bred after her, "Happy Butt" -- you should get one! I'll put a link below: Here is a link that might be useful: rose named Happy Butt