As my mother went deaf, what she missed most in this order was music, and the sounds of birds. Music, and she always had some on in the background, became muddled noise. She could, however, hear my Irish whistle and my daughter's violin and so often asked us to play for her. She could hear her little terrier's bark and that became her link to telephones and knocks on the door. She was a very pliable woman for a nonagenarian and adapted as best she could. With cataract surgery and a very good optomistrist, she became adept at subtitles and thankfully the entertainment medium opened up for her again. But, she sorely missed hearing the world around her and I mourned for her loss of it.

Bravo for your use of solar power. I'm sure you know how many sailors are now using partial solar power on long cruises. Steve in Baltimore County.

Hey Jeff...You're not alone! I was just listening to Jim Croce's song..."New York's Not My Home...da da da I gotta get out of here..." I really need to be grounded in agriculture amidst the city here and my small farm animals are essential to my sanity. Sometimes one needs a trip to a cornfield/barn/rural spot just to remind us of the better things in life beyond our doorstep :)

WoW! The gang's all here! And it sounds like everyone is still very busy. I to have DH home all day, but rather than trying to manage everything, he just sits in his chair and of course I don't get anything done with him sitting there so I find "something" for him to do and he just looks at me and asks, "Why don't you just ask me to leave the house so you can get stuff done?" He has been retired for 19 years now so I am used to him being around but it was a big challenge in the beginning. I like my quiet time! Our Pond....I love our pond and until the flood it was really not much work at all and all of the water lilies and other flowering plant are so beautiful and the fish become friends. After the "high water event" we though "doing this" several times would fix the problem of silt...they didn't so we did what we should have done in the first place, remove everything and start from scratch. The large rocks were the hardest. It's like building a rock wall - everything has to fit together and for some reason I do better at this than DH so I pointed at a rock and he moved it and like a little bird making her nest I would turn it 5 times and put it back the way it was the first time. It is now beautiful again but no sipping drinks...it's raining! Luvs...don't you just love block garage sales? We used to have a 3 mile long garage sale here on our road, all of about 20 homes. It was always so much fun. Maybe it will happen again in a year or two. Anj...how is DH doing? Much better I hope! And about your having a water feature....they are well worth the effort and if you don't have fish they are so easy. We built our pond in '04 and have had so many hours of enjoyment. Punk, so much work and now taking on your brothers new home...and the pressure we put on ourselves when we have company, so take a vacations already! Don't you all just love the fall season! It is my favorite time of the year as far as colors. Our tree leaves aren't very "colorful" when they change, mostly they just get yellow and drop off the trees. Thank goodness for all of the artificial stuff! And now the gourds and pumpkins look so real. Like you Luv, I start with fall and just add Halloween things and remove them and add Thanksgiving things. And with more children in the area I need to make up some crafty treats to give out even though most kids go off to town to Trick or Treat, so I drop off their goodies. Well, we didn't get the deck and porch stained...but it is covered in hopes of a couple of dry days. So now we are putting up new insulation under the house. I don't think we will every get everything done! So our selling and moving is still on the back burner. Houses here are not selling at all, but then would you like to buy a house that flooded two years ago? Neither does anyone else. But time will help. Off to work on the Problem Santa while DH is in town. I finally figured out that someone used acrylics over some kind of oils over acrylics...messsy! Had to use paint remover to get it all off...should have just cut a new face but I have this streak, something about being stubborn. Take Care! Belle