uH oH...My Grandson loves chapstick too....Nawww... I don't have a cat and I do apply it to his lips myself..LOL But I loved that story..I had to read it outloud to the girls at the office and we all laughed till there were tears Thanks for sharing that! Dena

Thank you for all your kind words. This was my first year without him and every holiday has been bittersweet. I am one of five and the only girl. At 47 yrs. old I was still Daddy's girl. I miss him so much he was such a wonderful man. You are all right this was truly a gift from the heart that I will treasure forever. Every time I hear it gently chime it makes me smile. Thanks for letting me share it with you. OOfasis here is a link that may help you with your clock. Here is a link that might be useful: The Clock Guy

Give it consistent water and it should come back. For those who live in hot/dry climates I would recommend moving the tree into a spot with less sun to help prevent it from drying out. However, this may not be necessary in cool and humid climates. The fact that your tree turned all brown after only week and a half leads me to suspect the climate conditions where you are might have been a little drier or more hot and sunny than usual. One option, if you think it is probably going to be another few months before you are ready to plant the tree, is to simply move the tree to a slightly larger container. This would allow a little more space for the roots to grow, and be able to provide more water to the tree. This is not an immediate fix, however; it will take a few weeks for the roots to grow out, and whenever you replant a tree there can be a little transplant shock, so it would probably be better not to move unless it is not going to go into the ground for another few months. Also, although it needs consistent water, do not completely drown the tree either. If the roots are continually sitting in water, that is not good for the tree either. Ideally the soil should be kept fairly moist. When the tree has recovered, you do not have to keep the soil constantly moist any longer, indeed it is probably a good idea not to, to give the tree a short timespan of a few days where the soil is dry periodically. This can help avoid root rot, and help the roots go deeper so the young tree will not become as dependent on frequent watering. Since it is so late into the growing season right now, if the tree does put out new leaves this year, you might want to give the tree a little shelter in early winter to try to extend the growing season a little. It would be a little pointless for the tree to put out new foliage, only to have it die back in the winter 2 months later. Personally, I would not expect the tree to make any dramatic comeback until next Spring.

to: Annie Delghnaugh You mentioned that maybe folks endured more in the past. The frontier was very hard on women especially at birthing time afterward. I did not tell all of Phoebe Mccoy's story. Phoebe's mother, after loosing her first husband during a voyage he took back to Scotland. His ship was never heard of again and presumed lost the Altantic ocean Phoebe' mother married again (after 7 years) in Kentucky to an older man and they followed the Franklins to TN. She was 39 at her second marriage and bore 4 more children - Whoa. He died and she married for a 3rd time and outlived that man also. Phoebe married John Brown in TN and with young children, moved to southern Illinois. Family legend says that they walked a considerable part of that journey carrying a 2 yr old boy. When in snake infested locations, they wrapped their draft animal's legs in burlap to protect from snake bite. There's no way of substantiating how much of this legend is true. We do know that the little boy was 2 yr old and that legging wraps was a precaution. During that period, schooling was spotty especially for males engaged in farming. I estimate that at least half of my male ancestors were illiterate from the proliferation of "X" s with witness signatures on legal papers. A man's main tools for establishing a homestead was an axe, adz, splitting wedges, saw, and rifle. If lucky, he also had wood boring augers and a grinding wheel. When building a crude cabin, he used marks on his axe handle for measuring. The woman of the house was expected to make meals from meager supplies. She might have a bag of corn meal, salt, pepper, grease saved from prior meat fryings, and honey. There could have been cured meats or fresh game or fish. After a homestead was established, she might have a garden, but it was fight to keep the local animals from eating it. One had to be in good health to survive. People did suffer due to lack of dental and medical doctors. After a rudimentary village was established, there might be a dentist or doctor available, but most farmers did not have the money to pay for their services. The tendency was to tough it out until you got better or were in an emergency condition.