Bad spelling doesn't irritate me, it just stands out visually. I'm terrible at math but good with spelling. I get numbers wrong in ways that are embarrassing. Things like writing the wrong year on a check which I do all the time or leaving out zeros when talking about square feet or amounts of money when I get the numbers not just wrong but drastically wrong. I don't usually remember numbers like phone numbers etc. because I can't seem to keep numbers in my head but a word that is spelled wrong almost always jumps off the page. I don't consider using botanical names as necessarily pretentious but I don't feel the need to memorize them and I do find the common names more interesting personally speaking. Actually, when talking to most people about plants, the common name is more often than not better for conversational purposes unless the other person is a plant geek or asks for a name because they want to get the plant, then its appropriate to be specific and if necessary, look it up. I mean, if someone came to casually look at my garden and was asking what this plant is or that plant is I do think it would sound grossly pretentious to start spouting off a lot of long winded botanical names which would leave most people not knowing anymore than they did before they asked and probably they'd wish they'd never asked in the first place. This post was edited by TexasRanger10 on Tue, Nov 11, 14 at 4:32

gardens dress accordingly .. and go play in the dirt ... whats this nonsense about too dirty .. if you dont have mud in your eyebrows.. in your hair.. and gritting in your teeth.. you are a gardener.. btw ... this is the type of thing i would do at the very last.. just before heading into to the laundry room to throw everything i was wearing in the washer ... and then up to the shower ... its not the job you want to do first .. lol .. of course.. i only lander the garden clothes.. when they stand up in the corner by themselves because there is so much dirt encrusted on them .. lol .. when too encrusted.. its hard to bend your knees.. lol ... ken

G.M., I always share recipes. It's not like it's going to hurt me if someone else makes the same thing. It is a recipe I found on the internet, but then I had to change it up just a little bit. It gives roast a bit of a different flavor, and we just love it. Here's it is: one 6-lb. roast 4 T. butter or margarine 2 medium onions, chopped 16 oz. sour cream 32 oz. chicken stock or chicken broth 3 T. dill weed 1 and 1/2 t. seasoned salt 1 t. red pepper flakes Pour the chicken stock, sour cream, dill weed, seasoned salt and red pepper flakes into a crock pot, and stir together. Cover the crock pot and turn it on. Let the broth ingredients begin heating up. Melt the butter or margarine in a dutch oven on top of the stove and then brown the roast on all sides. While it is browning, chop up the onions. Remove the roast from the dutch oven and place it in the crockpot. Saute' the onions in the dutch oven until they are lightly browned. Pour the onions/butter mixture into the crockpot and stir well. Set the crockpot on low if you want to cook the roast all day, or on high if you want to cook it for a half-day. Cook, serve, enjoy. The longer it cooks, the more the liquid cooks down and thickens. Sometimes, if I only cook it for 6 hours, the liquid is a little runnier....more like au just when I want it a little thicker like gravy. So, to remedy that, I pour about 80 percent of the liquid into a saucepan and simmer it on the stove for a while to evaporate more moisture. Then I pour it back into the crockpot and stir everything together again. (Usually, while I am doing that I am preparing the side dishes.) If I cook it all day on low, the moisture usually has cooked out and the broth is thickened up the way we like it. A roast this size makes the four of us a couple of big meals, and there is usually some meat left for sandwiches. I like to make open-faced sandwiches like the open-faced roast beef sandwiches at Cracker Barrel. Just chop up some of the leftover roast beef and heat it and the sauce. Serve over thick slices of sourdough bread. Yummy! And the tomato plants.....well, the ones I have more or less match what I thought I was raising. I have to finish the comparison tomorrow, as I got distracted by a movie DH was watching and sort of stopped in the middle. There are a few tomato plants that weren't on the original list, which isn't unusual. Often, after starting my seeds in late January, I come across a variety that sounds delicious and decide to start "a few more tomatoes". LOL And, of course, sometimes a few seeds don't sprout, or sprout and die, or sprout and get eaten by the deer or rabbits when I leave the flats sitting outside at night. (sign) Tomorrow, I'll let you know how much the list changed. I know I did add Ramapo F-1, which is back on the commercial market for the first time in quite a while. I ordered seeds from the New Jersey Agriculture Extension Service at Rutgers University (in January, I think) and they didn't arrive until March 10. I started them right away, and they are now about 3" tall and have 2 to 4 true leaves, so they'll have to grow a little before they go into the ground. Still, with the very warm weather we're having, I think they'll reach planting size pretty quickly. Sometimes I think back to how easy it used to be before I started raising my own from seed, and think that life was so much simpler then. (smile) But, I do love the huge variety of colors and flavors, so I don't really mind. I want to plant a lot Monday, so I'm free to run down to Ft. Worth the rest of the week to see Mom in the hospital, especially if they start the tests Monday. I think the oncologist is going to try to diagnose the probable cancer without extracting bone marrow (due to her age and lower bone density), so it may take a few extra days to get a definite idea of what is going on. We also have the annual Fire Dept. awards dinner Saturday, and have to do some running around one day this week to pick up plaques and other awards and stuff and get ready for that. I hope for a rain-free Monday so I can plant, plant, plant, since the weather seems good in the extended forecast, and it may be the only day I have "free" this week. (At least the recent rainfall has kept down the number of grass fires, so I'm not having to drop everything and go!) Dawn

I set up an appointment to meet with a guy regarding new windows. He required my husband to be home. I told him nevermind- my husband works alot, and when he isn't working we spend time together as a family..... I don't waste his time with quotes. I've heard this is a ploy, they want you to sign right away.... they want to make sure the breadwinner is home so they get a quick ok. I always ask before making appointments regarding big issues if they require my husband to be here. If their answer is yes, I call the next person. I am quite capable of making decisions on my own (I obviously talk with my husband before hiring anyone). I called some guy to give me a quote to haul some construction debris. This guy shows up at my door chomping on a cheese stick (I thought it was rude, and didn't he care if he had cheese breath? YUK) and as we walk to the side of the house, I see he has a NICE truck..... I immediately knew his price was going to be high. Sure enough, he wanted twice as much as anyone else. He can buy ALOT of string cheese with that mark-up!!!!