Lol, thank you all, I'm glad you enjoyed my story. Yes, I had fun! I'd encourage anyone thinking of showing to get out there and give it a go. I've been encouraged by other's posts on here about their first shows, including buford's (lovely arrangement, btw!). So hopefully others will be encouraged by mine. :-) It was the West Jersey show, Diane. It was a bit larger show than I had expected, and there were so many gorgeous roses, so it was great to take time to study the exhibitions. I wasn't able to make the show this weekend because I was away, unfortunately. Thanks seil for the cutting tips, it's been from your posts that I learned a little about cutting for show. I'll definitely keep the other tips you shared in mind for the next show! I did join a local society the other day, though not the one that ran the show. They seem to be a great group of people, I just wish I lived closer. I haven't loaded them on the computer yet, but I'll try to post some pictures soon for those of you who asked to see them.

I am on natural gas and when I started playing with the air shutter I found that they needed to be almost all the way open to maybe a little closed to get the perfect flame and no lifting. While you really had to close the air shutter almost completely to get a orange/wobbly flame and smoke. I found that the rest of the adjustments gave a blue flame. However, there was lifting or what I will call blending of the flames. For example, on most of the burners, when the port was 50-75% closed, the inner most ring would be a wider fuzzy flame that did look like it was lifting but would meld together. When you got a little shy of full open, I found that this gave the most individual tight flames on each port. While adjusting up and down a quarter turn didn't at first seem to make much of a difference, I noticed lifting on some ports. You also can feel the difference in heat output on high as well. The tighter the flames got and no lifting on all ports, I could feel a noticeable change. I also found that by doing this when its dark out and can turn off/down the lights its much easier to see the flame. Sort of like Trevor's video. What might look like a nice flame can turn out to really be lifting under regular lighting. Although, I adjusted I am not sure if mine is OK or not. I haven't had a chance to re-simmer yet. Thus, not sure if I did it right yet ;).

Such sad stories my heart goes out to all that have suffered through the pain of losing a precious pet. Last July we lost our beloved Joey while he was getting his teeth cleaned at the vets. No chance to say goodbye until after he was gone. We had still had 3 dogs, a 16 yr old maltipoo and her 2 11yr old "pups" to help us through the loss of Joey. You can imagine our devastation when our little girl Jessie only 11yr was diagnosed with a highly invasive aggressive spleen cancer in Nov. She died in my arms only weeks later. Three weeks later her mother 16yrs had to be euthanized after some strokes. We expected to lose her soon due to her age but it was very hard after the other two losses. I told DH I didn't want any more dogs...we still had one left and that was it for me. Never again I was done. Radar, the one dog left, was very special to me. DH missed having the others so much I relented and we bought a havanese pup. This pup was a little hellion and after 3 wks of tormenting my Radar we went back to the breeders and bought the little devils' sister. So now we had the devil and the angel a calm, sweet little girl and they played so well with each other that Radar wasn't being harassed and ambushed at every turn. This was working well for all. One week after getting the second pup I found a lump in Radar's side. We rushed him to the vet.....he had a very large, inoperable tumour on his liver. All we could do was give him meds to hopefully slow down the tumour. He seemed the same happy boy he always was for about 5 wks but things changed and he went downhill almost overnite. We had him euthanized last week. I'm glad we got the second pup when we did cause I know wouldn't have been able to bring another pet into my home after 4 losses in less than 8 months. These were pets that were at the vets for yearly check ups and shots ate premium dog food and we still lost them too soon. Sorry this is so long.

I;m so glad I found this forum today. I lost my beautiful son Brian just over 3 months ago. he died Nov. 22nd 08 it was just after midnight and he was driving his date home when he was hit head on by @#$% showing of his car. Brian was only 18 years old and I am so devastated!!! he had just graduated high school only 5 months earlier. He had everything in the world going for him. His date lindsey is recorvering well, I would say thank god but i no longer believe. my son died saving her life.the police said Brian did everything he could to get off the road without crashing into this huge wooden planter. he could have gone off the road and he might have lived but she surly would have died. the @#$%ing monster still hasn't been arrested and i am so full of rage and sadness. I am married to my high school sweet heart Ricky we have 4 surviving kids Jenny age 26 Rick age 23 Rose age 17 Was 16 when it happened John age 15 was14 when it happened rose and John just had birthdays and all I could think was that one day they will be older than Brian. My husband and I were so heartbroken we couldn't even help plan his funeral. My daughter did everything. and I know she did the best she could but I feel more should have been done. over 600 people came to his wake.It was like a horrible blurry dream. I really can't remember much. It was so over whelming. all these people, alot I didn;t even know all wanted to hug me and express ther condolenses even his kindergarden teacher was there. and I promised Brian I would not embarress him so kept my "game face" on but the whole time I just wanted to scream my head off. Brian was the kind of person who made friends everywhere he went. I'm glad with all my heart he was so loved but I'm still freaked out It was so over whelming. I still can't leave my house. I feel like everyone is staring at me. I know they're not. I never went back to work. It's only been a few months but I feel so bad. I hate laughing i feel so guilty that every time I have a "good day" i just punish myself for the next few days. We buried Brian the day befor thanks giving. His birthday was the day before xmas eve. I wanted him cremated because I can not bear to think of his beautiful face rotting in that box. his father brothers and sisters refused. I have not visited his grave since valentines day and i told my husband i'm never going there again. his grave is covered with dead frozen flowers stuffed animals letters pictures and un opened xmas and birthday presents it looks like a garbage dump. people say the stupidest things like what a nice gadrden he'll have. I can't dig in the soil knowing my little boy is in there. I no longer believe in god My son was such a great kid. he was all boy. If there is a god why my son?!!! why not the @#$% that did this to him. and why isn't he aressted? He had 3 other kids in his car( the @#$%) all including him were in the hospital for weeks one boy(not sure if this is a roumer) is in a wheelchair for life. and all the roumers are so @#$% crazy. I'm sorry this is so long. I have no one to talk to .my so called friends don;t understand. I still can;t talk on the phone. I spend my days all alone crying. I know Brian would not want me to be this way but i just can;t stop. Thanks for listening to a mothers broken heart. Laura i'm sorry if i sound crazy but i am so lost.