Some of the things are improving a little now that I have been away from the home for a while. It is amazing how much "family stress" can aggrivate conditions. They are still there but some of the stress factors are gone. Arbitration (binding) was yest morning. Now I just have to wait to see what division decisions he makes. Hate knowing I will leave behind the plants that gave me all that harvest since they haven't been cared for and I have been told some were mowed over so they probably won't survive. Ah but I shall do as I did for it....plant what people give me and manage it organically. It will take a long time before the clay soil provides as did the sandy loam I fortified with the compost down here. Putting down new beds in clay soil or for that fact even trying to break clay soil to drop in a seed will be so different from before. But for bird feeding I can plant sunflowers and that will save on bird seed money. Then just rotate what I plant each year until I can no longer get outside. I still will utilize body saving practices as: pipe for planting sticks (pruned or windfall limbs) as walking sticks buckets to sit on crawling (dragging along the walking stick for getting up) making sure plants are zone hardy make sure plants are soil & companion amlicable rely on birds for bug patrol I will (hopefully) have more space in which to garden now but recognize the percentage of land available & garden size I make it has to conform to my ability to handle the clay. Much more back breaking than what I started with before.

"I was kind of surprised that so many owners let their dogs come over and sniff and interact. Cricket was happy about this but I wasn't that pleased to have several dogs come over to her after her experience. She, in turn, wanted to go over and see any other animal that was brought in. Does that mean she is ok about other dogs? Should I be watching for some behavior that would indicate a problem?" Cricket is young yet but still she was attacked and it was a pretty aggressive attack from the wounds she suffered. I would watch her very carefully. If another dog shows any aggression or even alerts, perked ears and direct eye contact, I bet Cricket will react and how she will react is unknown and this can change with maturing too. She could react with aggression or maybe lay down or maybe go between your legs or try to run away. But you will have to be aware of her behavior around other dogs. Cricket's body language will tell you what she is going to do, but you will have to recognize her signals and either comfort her fear or correct her. You must always praise for good behavior, not okay behavior but correct behavior. If she is fearful, not aggessive but just a bit fearful, just pat her head and when she looks up to you for assurance say "Good girl"! And when you have to correct her, say a collar correction and a "NO" and she obeys by stopping whatever she is doing always, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, reward with "Good Girl"! My dogs would rather have 1 "Good girl/boy" then an entire prime rib!! If you, the owner, are afraid of the situation, Cricket is going to pick up your fear and react to that. Again, this can be a touchy situation. It is hard to hide our own feelings as the dog will pick up everything in our body language. For instance, when we lived in the city I walked my dog 3 times a day. It was the weirdest thing but he would grumbled at illegally parked cars and it did not matter if they were in the alley or on the street. I always thought this was so funny that he recognized illegally parked cars until I figured out that he was picking up on my own disgust at the strange cars and the total disregard for our neighborhood! I can tell from the wounds that Cricket was submitting when she was attacked. She was on her back and had turned her hind end towards the other dogs. This is submissive behavior and usually the dominant dog will only sniff then and not attack. Something else was going on during the attack or maybe prior to it and I am just not experienced enough to see it. I have a friend that can tell by the wound what drive the biter was in, but this takes years and years of observation. Another interesting point is that the aggressor usually has head wounds only, as they are going into a fight head first and it is the submissive dog that suffers body wounds usually neck, hind area, feet and stomach. Drives are so interesting and a dog can go from 1 drive to another very fluidly. For instance if you throw a ball and the dog runs after it, this is Prey Drive. But when he returns it to you, as a fetch, this is Pack Drive. Herding is just a fetch, so usually done in Prey Drive, and again when the dog brings the sheep in to the owner, this is Pack Drive. Fight is not hard to understand and any dog no matter how submissive and loving does have Fight Drive, it might be very low, but it is always there. Flight is the one drive, I've seen only a few times, and mostly with a young dog or pup. But any animal fleeing for his life is scared and therefore the behavior is unpredictable and many bites occur during Flight Drive. For instance, I had a friend that I trained with for a time. She had her dog strapped into his seat belt next to her when she came to class. One time, a fire truck passed them and the dog was startled by the siren and lights and bit the owner right on the face. The dog could not flee and so bite out of fear. This was not the dog's fault as he was just scared and did not know what to do. The owner should have had the dog in the car more often so the dog was socialized to traffic situations. And the dog should not have been in the front seat. Each individual dog can vary in the level of pack, prey, fight or flight drive. Personally, I've never had a dog high in fight or flight drive and I don't think I would want a dog high in flight or fight. Cricket will be fine, but I do think you should be aware of her behavior when interacting with other dogs. Personally, because of what happened to my own pup and her dog aggression that I've never been able to work out of her, I am very careful with strange dogs approaching my puppies. Other puppies or young dogs are generally no problem, but mature dogs could cause another negative situation. Don't avoid other dogs, keep your dog on lead and watch carefully the dogs, all the dogs, body language. If you see anything you are hesitant about don't let Cricket make any decisions, put Cricket in a heel and walk away from the situation. The more you work with your dog, especially in obedience, the more confident the dog will be in you and in turn, in himself. Michelle

Sassy is a great beauty, and it wouldn't surprise me if someone has taken her in, whether or not they realized that she already had a home. And I think that the chances are that she is being loved and well-cared for. Cats also know how to find warm sheltered places to sleep, and so on, and Sassy's coat should keep her pretty comfortable. That said, I know I would be a mess if one of my cats disappeared like that! It would be unbearable, so I really sympathize with you. I have had 15 cats in my life and it has been my experience that they generally know where their home is and will hang around near it, even if they haven't been out before. But a female in heat...now a cat in that condition might roam farther, unless a Tom scents her and shows up on the doorstep, so to speak. Spaying will lessen or even remove a cat's desire to roam. Cats, unlike people, are stimulated to ovulate by mating, so if a Tom was hanging around, Sassy should have gotten pregnant pretty quickly, and her "heat" would end shortly thereafter (I forget if it is a matter of hours or a day or two.), and she should have come to her senses and tried to find her way home. It is true that she might get confused by a lot of apartments all looking similar, so by all means do leave familiar-smelling things in your yard. Once, when we were about to move from Japan to the States, I had to give two cats away to a friend, who foolishly just put them on collars and leashes the first day, in an area where they could get outdoors. Well, within hours they had both slipped the collars and disappeared. She called me and I rushed to her house, which was a 29-minute train ride and 15-minute walk away. You can imagine how churned up inside I was, the whole way there. We went around her neighborhood calling the cats' names, but nothing happened. Her family let me sleep that night in a little detached room in their garden. Before I went to bed, one of the cats came to the door of that room and cried to come in, and the other came round, crying at the door in the middle of the night, so we got them both back. In the end, they were left free to come and go at their new home, and they never got "lost" again, but this shows that cats can remember their way around, even in an unfamiliar place. I would expect that Sassy did not stray very far in the beginning, but probably some kind person picked her up and is caring for her. She may get loose from them someday and find her way home. I would not give up on walking around from time to time, calling her name. I agree with what others have said about the fence. If Sassy couldn't get under or through it, she could still have gotten over it. It is amazing how high a cat can jump, especially if the fence is a bit rough and she can get a bit of extra boost by putting her claws against it near the top. Our two cats have been microchipped. They hardly seemed to feel it at all. Vets usually use a sensor to check for microchips on stray cats people bring in, and a number of lost cats are recovered, thanks to that. The sensor actually reads and displays the number on the chip. Having your pet microchipped gives you a lot of peace of mind. Here's hoping you find your girl! Meanwhile, Lucky Girl is lovely, too, and I know she is in good hands with you until her owner can be found, or even if he/she cannot be found.

Tomorrow, gals who have pearls--faux or otherwise--wear the pearls. Or something equally classy. Get them out of the closet and on your body. Doesn't matter if you're wearing t-shirt or little black dress. Just don't apologize when questioned. Males, find a similar ironic M.O. and enjoy it. [I've clipped a few pearl strands together and strung them through my chandelier and pendants to celebrate the end of snow, a decor look copied from some high-end chandeliers currently for sale for prices I can't afford and I'll bet their pearls are fake. It's been a hoot since I did this--looks intentional and rather fabulous.] ___ Breezy -- Go walk some fabric stores and get your decorator hormones a-flowing. There's lots of special unique memorable stuff. ___ Recently I've found a number of sources for counter-height benches which might be helpful for some who are looking for a seating solution. Type in on search engine for examples. Breezy, there are also some very attractive benches for kitchen nooks, both tall and short. The glory of a bench is that it offers more long-term flexibility than built-in seating and can still be reuppholstered as needed if you get an upholstered bench. My father, although a carpenter who created many nook seating units for 50s kitchens, had a freedstanding bench in his own kitchen. Allowed him to push the table right over the seat of bench after the kids moved out. More flexible, less permanent. And in your kitchen the bench and table could be moved to a different position whe you need to allow a kitchen worker to work facing kitchen at island. Just be sure to include a toekick there. ___ O.T. BeckySharp, thanks for link to the plate hangers. These gizmos might be a godsend for someone with lighter pieces. I am afraid my stuff has more heft than these discs could hold. But...look at the large pewter pieces in the kitchen Boxer posted above. (Thanks, Boxer! Now find one for an 8-foot ceiling--there's a challenge!) These trays in photo are hefty babies and they're suspended with very large plate-holder style grasping hook apparatus. This is what I need to locate. Get this: My newest and most monstrous silverplate (a hunter's wife's revenge) piece is 2.5 ft by 1.5 feet and has a back made of a single board, a tray that may date from Queen Victoria's early reign (but then again, maybe not). Hefff-ty! I may have to just put it on top of new bookcase in custom groove and call it done. Unique and memorable perhaps but the specialness veers off into truly loony. This is not a decorating muse to follow, folks, it is a disease.