Siam to be honest...I had to move it a lot to find the right place. Did not grow very much or tall at all. But it was the first year plant so next winter this one will come in the house and gets to stay alive lol. Let me go find a picture where you can see the yellow skirt that is yellow before it opens and turns white. LUcy

The past week has been peaceful & loving every minute of SD not being here (despite my holiday disappointment with my siblings). SD called DH on Thanksgiving night and interrogated him about what we did, who was there, what we ate, etc. Then, DH and I went shopping at some black Friday sales. I saw an ad for MP3 players for $24.99 (because SD asked for an iPod but DH said she isn't getting one, maybe an MP3). DH informs me he already got her one for $50 a few of days ago. ~nice of him to tell me he started shopping last week~ Then we went to a midnight sale & he decides he needs to buy a laptop. I ask him why, he doesn't have much money nor a use for one. He says the sale is a really good price and besides, SD can use it to do her homework when she needs to. So, he put it on a credit card. I let it go... even though we agreed in counseling not to make any purchases for a year on "luxury" or unnecessary things. I think it's unnecessary when we already have two computers to use. But, whatever. I see that he is determined to fulfill her ridiculous list... he's already gotten her two of three expensive things. (granted the MP3 isn't the iPod she wants so it's not that expensive) Then tonight, he jokingly suggested buying her a phone... not with service, just a phone because she asked for one but said he didn't have to give her one with service. He laughed, I did not. She currently a D and an F in the only two classes reporting grades for the trimester that started two weeks ago. He bought her a portable TV to use at my office because she had her grades up to mostly C's (1 was 69% but the teacher gave her a C) which lasted about a week. So, I am at the point of "I don't give a sh!t" what he does... just don't bother me with having to listen to it when she's flunking or has an attitude. He's been bugging me to help him shop for other things for her... clothes, etc. NO WAY!!! I want nothing to do with shopping for her. He isn't wrapping up the laptop to give her (at least he says that now) so all he has to wrap up is the MP3. I am refusing to help him shop & he is lost. I told him that I am tired of wasting my time finding clothes I think are cute & appropriate for her, only to have her "lose" them or let them sit in her closet until she outgrows them. I told him he should give her gift cards & HE should take her shopping later. lol, it's a challenge for him to take her shopping because he hasn't backed down & let her buy the kind of clothes she wants to wear so he ends up with a headache & hardly anything at the checkout when he takes her. They battled it out a couple of weeks ago when he took her to get winter clothes. I took the baby & went to the other end of the mall... I want nothing to do with it. He found me a couple of hours later when he was too frustrated to go anymore. I relented & picked out a few things for her to try on & while he waited for her to try them on, I left to another area. She didn't like any of it.. it didn't fit.. whatever excuse to not buy them. He was frustrated beyond frustrated (had a horrible headache), after several hours they left with one pair of jeans & two tops. As far as I'm concerned, as long as he's going to bend over backwards for her, I am going to have nothing to do with it & he can continue the headache of trying to please the princess. Not my kid, Not my problem. I got myself a couple of cute outfits & DGS a cute holiday sweater & PJ's. and took him for ice cream while we waited for DH to finish shopping with SD.

Hi Lolly, Welcome back. We are still here, but some of the group is only on FB and some post in both places. Hi Jay, I was thinking of you when I read this and then came here to post it because all of this was so close to you. I knew you'd appreciate reading this article as much as I did. I was thinking about Johnny too, and hoping that someone, somewhere will write about Johnny and Kyle and make sure their stories are told as beautifully as this one. One of the few things that we can do after a fire takes the life of a firefighter is to remember them and to not forget them and also not let the memory of their sacrifice fade. For the last couple of days many firefighters, both OFS and local VFDS, have been fighting a very challenging fire in the Quartz Mountains in Kiowa County. I guess that is several counties south and then slightly west of Leedey? It is called the Flat Top Mountain fire and has been very hard to fight in the rugged terrain. I think it was 70 acres on Monday or Tuesday when I first read about it, and 650 acres this morning, and no one yet has said how much more it has run today, but video on the OFS Facebook page showed the fire running through dry brush and some trees that look like cedar. I was hoping those rocky hills were bare and the fire couldn't run and advance like it has, but apparently the hills weren't bare enough. What is happening in Kiowa country right now could be happening anywhere in this region except, maybe, parts of eastern and northeastern OK that have had really plentiful rainfall lately. Actually, it has been so hot and dry lately that I'm not even sure those places that have had plentiful rainfall are safe because all that rain creates lots of growth and that new growth dries out in the heat and can become more fuel for fires. We all sure need to keep our eyes open. Our beautiful prairies and woodlands become a tinderbox this time of the year. And, in fact, so do our gardens. I'm pretty sure mine would go up in a flash right now because it is dry, dry, dry. Dawn

Nancy, We all seem like we have cold symptoms down here, but it is just the standard spring allergy crap we have every year when the trees are pollinating. I'll be so glad when it is over! The funny thing about frost blankets....when I first read about them in Dr. Sam Cotner's book, which I guess was around the mid to late 1980s, I scoffed at the thought of buying any sort of special textile to cover up plants to protect them from the cold. I thought it was a ridiculous idea, and they were so new (and we didn't have the internet for research) that you couldn't find any info about them from people who actually had used them. To be fair, I lived in zone 8 and we really didn't have that much cold weather after February, so late cold weather really wasn't much of an issue. Then we moved here.....and now I think they are essential. Jennifer, A blanket or sheet would be less damaging. Plastic conducts cold to any plant part that touches it, so I'd only use plastic if it was the only option and if I could wrap it around a cage or stakes or something so that no part of it touched the plants. I don't cover up cool-season anything....only warm-season stuff. Rebecca, I'm glad the tax refund will cover the car repairs. Nancy, I saved the plant shopping for tomorrow. Today the wind was blowing so hard down here as and after the cold front rolled through, and the wind chill was in the 30s, which is not conducive to walking around in outside garden centers looking at plants. We ran a bunch of errands and I hated getting out of the vehicle every time we stopped somewhere. I would have plant shopped (and frozen and then regretted it) but Tim said it was too cold and couldn't we just do it tomorrow, so I said OK. Larry, Hang in there. The cold and the wet soil have to clear up eventually, though it is hard to guess when it will happen. Moni, It sounds like you're staying really busy! Jennifer, I only covered up the tomato plants, and did most of that prep work yesterday. Late this afternoon, I went out to the garden, picked up the fence poles that were lying flat on the ground to hold down the row covers, pulled the row covers over the hoops to completely cover the beds, and then laid fence posts on the southern edges of the row covers to hold them down. I attached the row covers to the hoops on the south side of the beds with zip ties so they wouldn't blow away in the strong late afternoon wind. I was so relieved I had gotten the hoops and row covers in place yesterday when there was substantially less wind because it would have been hard to wrestle with those row covers in today's wind. I don't cover up cool-season stuff or any of the perennials....they all have endured much colder weather than the 32 degrees in the forecast for us for tomorrow morning, so I know they can handle it. Most chickens start laying before they are 6 months old, and a lot start at 5 months, so it seems like Stormy actually is a bit late, but blame that on winter and daylength. I doubt this weekend is the last gasp of cold weather and I just want to get through it, get it over with, and get on with planting more warm-season stuff. Warm season volunteers are sprouting in the garden again, so I know our soil is plenty warm---it has been hitting the 70s by about noon every day so technically I can direct-sow any seeds and expect them to sprout pretty quickly. It is annoying to have to cover up anything, but I had it so much worse before I invested in row covers and started using them. I used to have to gather up every bucket, flower pot, basket, box, etc. that I could find and then I'd through old textiles over them....blankets, quilts, sheets, table cloths, curtains, etc. My garden always looked like an odd redneck yard sale was going on by the time I got everything covered up. Now, at least when I have to cover up plants, the row covers go over the low tunnel hoops and it is easy to put those things out, and then to put them away. And, it no longer looks like I am hosting a yard sale in the garden. This year when I was getting out the heavy Dewitt row covers to use, I came across what was left of my Reemay and Agribon from many years ago...old, shredded, literally falling apart in my hands, so I bagged it up for the trash. It all lasted much longer than its stated life but it all was in poor shape and it was time to dispose of it. I won't miss it---the heavier weight stuff is so much stronger and I won't miss that lighter stuff. Our younger granddaughter is at her dad's house this weekend, but the older one is with us, so we took her shopping and out to eat lunch at her favorite restaurant and then tonight we went to see the movie, "Dumbo", which she absolutely adored. She said she can't wait to go back to see it next weekend with her mom and little sister, which means she really did like it a lot. I am not a huge fan of going and seeing a movie again after I just saw it, but some people like watching them multiple times, and she surely does. The bluebonnets are gorgeous in Texas right now and mine are substantially behind them, but that's okay---mine are still early, it is just that theirs were even earlier. I cannot get over how many trees are leafing out. It is happening in the blink of an eye---except for the pecan trees. Mother Nature rarely fools the pecan trees, and this year is no exception. We'll see if they start leafing out after this weekend cold spell ends, or if they're holding out a bit longer. I cannot believe all our fruit trees are done blooming already and it isn't even April yet. I hope all our plants come through tonight and the next two chilly nights with no damage. Dawn