Happy Wednesday to one and all. Count me amongst those who has a true distain for dishwashers. I use the one that came with the house to store Pyrex and other breakable cookware. My mom uses hers to store potato chips and other snacks that can get squished. There's just something soothing about warm soapy water. Yes, I do use a dryer but only because I really don't like staticy clothes. V -- the dogs will understand if you show them pics of the kissee :-) But will DH???? LOL Anyway, have fun at the next round. Herchera addictions aren't since there's nothing bad about multitudes of easy to care for plants with amazing foliage all about gardens. Love the hat, 'bug. Reed looks a bit overwhelmed :-) Saucy: I almost cried when I saw the inside pics of your house, since the one I grew up in must've been an almost duplicate floorplan. What kids wouldn't love growing up in a house like that?? Kathy: Congrats, congrats, congrats!! Good heads up to the contractor -- the good ones will respect plants they know are there. Rich has been TRAINED to ask if there's anything he should be careful with before ripping in. If I'm remembering correctly, there is an arbor that your DH built for you and you had a duplicate built in the front?? Are you taking either with you?? Forgive me if my memory is lapsing. HOOOOOZAAAAAAH CHELONE!!! The loser electrician should've been outta there long ago. I needed to hire one this week (go figure :-) and I made him put in writing that he would complete the work in one day since it isn't Rich's usual guy. He was beyond awesome. There are good ones out there... Though I'm loving the idea of you using the salon for economic purposes, I thoroughly understand the hesitancy to do it Right Now. But, with V's wicker and some things I have floating around and Kathy moving to a new house, there's probably three jobs already lined up :-) Michelle: Wow!! I would've guessed that you were a gardener long before living on the farm. Thought of you while watching a History Channel production on technology in farming. How cool is some of this stuff!! The software I saw was for exactly applying fertilizer to reduce waste and runoff. No more mules and scrapers, huh? PM - I saw the same moon this morning and stopped in my tracks just to look. Thanks for making the vision permanent. Denise: Can folks who do what you do for a career write books? I'll bet you have some fabulous stories. A very good girlfriend (GardenXCat on forums) is an upper level legal assistant type and has gotten story telling without breaching confidentiality down to a science. A lot of garden forays have been moving laugh fests at what people come up with for excuses... How is DS doing in NY? Marian: I was trying to describe your red cliffs to someone because they just amaze me so. Would you mind reposting the pic of them? T: VaVaVaVoom!! You've got to feel 1,000,000 times better than you did a year ago. What do you do to get your little darlings to wake up laughing? Very cool. Given the "it's not a recession, yet" state of affairs (tell that to several top-shelf contractors who don't have work right now) we have a very strict garden budget this year. Please weigh in on this thought: For a few years we have been looking at a Newport-style arbor in white. It's something that Rich Could build, but works out to be only 50% actual $$ savings and would take up time when he could be earning money. So .... I'm thinking wrought iron or something similar. It definitely would be truer to the style of the house, would be far less bulky, but I don't know about upkeep. Thoughts? HI to everyone.. Martie

It's been such a busy spring, I'm sorry to see it end... but I'm delighted to welcome summer: The first of my cherry tomatoes will be ripening any day. After that, it'll be a produce blur. The lightening bugs are impatient, and have been putting on dazzling shows for the past week. Spain was an absolute delight, and I really mean to post photos and a description of our trip. It's just that I was absent during "planting week" so have spent weeks catching up, and am now in "hammock time." Our front patio addition turned out ridiculously well. It really did turn out like I hoped. We added a low cocktail table with a central fire pit powered by a hidden LP tank, and neighbors have been drawn to it like, well, the moths have. Most weekend and many week nights have ended with Steve and me enjoying the fire, and then neighbors inviting themselves and their friends over. I enjoy the feeling of community and am happy to mix drinks and set out nibbles for them. The sunflower fort I built with the four year old across the street is now about a foot high. It'll be 10 feet or taller by summer's end. He keeps coming over to survey the progress and see what else is growing in my garden. I'm keeping him apprised of the progress of my baby cukes and tomatoes and he tastes and smells my herbs every chance he gets. He's never seen veggies grow before and seems fascinated by the process. I've even walked in on him giving tours of my garden to other kids. Since his parents aren't gardeners (though his grandparents are) it tickles me beyond measure to "corrupt" him in this way. One of my coworkers lost her job this month. Her position is being eliminated due to budget realities at the end of the month, and both she and my management seem to be relying on me to mentor her through the transition. She's been working for this non-profit for the seven-year entirety of her adult career, is clinically depressed, and is not coping well, so it's been a heartbreaking challenge. Today she came over so we could take our dogs (she has a greyhound) to the park and then work on her resume. After some riotous play, I ended up jumping into a lake after her greyhound who decided to jump off a dock (to follow Izzy) and see if she could swim (none can... they lack the fat that makes other dogs buoyant). We laughed hard and then we came back to my house to tackle her resume together. What started out as a sad document that drastically undersold her, turned into an honest and impressive chronical of her skills and achievements. I know it'll serve her well, and I could see her become visibly lifted in the process. It felt so good to be able to do something productive in the midst of what seems to be senseless suffering, and I was grateful for her trust in me. After she left, I drove to my twice-weekly ESL tutoring appointment and savored the progress we've been making over the past few months. I wonder if teaching English as a Second Language could be a fulfilling second career for me... one that would enable me to see the world, and continue meeting new people as I get older... which is especially important given the statistical realities of having a husband 15 years my senior... Hmmmm. So far, so good. Oh, I nearly killed myself the other morning. Seriously! It took me 30-45 minutes to realize that the "weird eggy smell" in my kitchen, my sudden headache, spaciness and "brain tickles," my insistently barking dog (a la "Timmy is in the well"), and that "hissing noise" I couldn't locate all had everything to do with the gas burner I extinguished in an expresso brewing mishap but failed to shut off. I finally figured it out when the auditory hallucinations ramped up and I began focusing on what I suddenly realized was the sound of the burner emitting a steady stream of gas. Thank goodness I don't smoke! Needless to say, Steve was a bit miffed when I relayed the harrowing saga to him while he was away on his business trip! I bought a non-stove top espresso maker today because he vowed to throw away my stove top model the moment he returns tonight. Other than that and some life and death familial health sagas that promise to play themselves out this summer, nothing much is going on. I welcome the new season and each and every day thereafter I'm lucky enough to walk this earth...

I've had birds for many years and currently have a pair of cockatiels. It's always amazed me as to how they communicate with each other and share the parenting duties while breeding a clutch of eggs. Most birds are social and very flock dependent. Without any romanticism involved, they definitely mourn the loss of their mate. Some die from the loneliness afterward. While wild birds may be less attached to their mate and have stronger instincts for survival, their bodies still experience normal hormonal changes when breeding that make them more attached to their mate & their young. That poor male is surely very confused over his missing family. I've lived in several areas that had many different animals that caused havoc with pets and people, alligators and snakes in the south, coyotes in California, and raccoons and deer here in Michigan. When ever someone complains about them causing trouble I have only one thought and that's that they were here first and it's part of living in the area that we choose to live in. I wonder what they think when they almost get hit by our cars, or can't find food because a builder has bulldozed their forest down.

Funkyart - that's so awesome - thanks! We like (and she loves) when she stays w/ us becuase DH loves to take her into the city to the museums (his uncle gives tours at one so she always gets to see things behind the scenes w/ him), libraries and such. She also then spends a day here and there w/ our adult cousin and his girlfriend (they both live and teach in the city) going to off beat little places and eateries, then she spends time w/ our aunt and uncle (who do not have grandchildren yet) exposing her to many other activities. jlc - I can't imagine her ever having a 'normal' relationship w/ her mom/ DS. I don't think that DS 'gets' that and always tried to force her into a little perfect family 'mold' and then would get angry when that didn't work. When she told me that all of the yrs. of counseling only involved DN I was floored. I told her that while counseling had to happen seperately for DN that I also felt that it was important for counseling to happen between the 2 of them and/or family. Couldn't believe that hadn't been happening all of those yrs. She got a irritated when I told her that it wasn't just DN w/ problems - it was also a relationship problem and relationships consist of more than 1 person. It hapened to be perfect timing w/ the RAD DX as DH and I had listened to a "This American Life" pod cast on RAD w/ 2 separate families w/ children w/ RAD and what they went through. One family had a breakthrough and the child remained in a family unit, the other family not as lucky. I should def. find the pod cast again and have DS, BIL, Grandma and Pop Pop listen to it. Eagle Ranch actually wouldn't take DN. They seem to have it together and really seriously tak a look at an entire situation before accepting a child. They told DS that this was an issue that stems between the 2 of them at the core and that ER would not be the situation to deal w/ that in the fact that taking her to live w/ strangers would be even more detrimental to her. Grandma and Pop Pop have a friend who is a social worker and has gotten her hooked up w/ things. Firstly health insurance and if she stays beyond the summer counseling will start again. One of the fortunate things is that DN has already lived w/ Grandma and Pop Pop at the end of the school year last year and attended school there already. They live very far out and the entire school only has 61 kids so she knows the teachers already (they loved her) and most of the kids. She alredy has some friends there from before. She has always spent a few wks. each Summer w/ Grandma and POp Pop and knows the area quite well. The previous counselors that she was seeiong in the state that she lives in were state appointed counselors and at times would cancel an appt. after DS had driven 2 hrs. to get there. That particular one didn't seem too terribly invested in the whole situation. My Mom (Grandma) told me that DN said that she didn't think that she would ever be happy in that house (her own home). Broke my heart! Right now she spends a lot of time fishing and talking w/ Pop Pop, gardening w/ Grandma and helping her in the shop (more talking), spending time doing water aerobics w/ Pop Pop at the Sr.s center and making friends w/ all of the Sr.'s there as well as time w/ friends.