Susan. 74..hey you're still a young chick..:) TKR, you've got it. You must have ESP, lol. Truthfully, I firmly believe it's more of an insurance issue than age. As soon as one of three MRI's were diagnosed, my doc said it was kneed'ed, lol, pun intended, even if corny. The specialist agreed. Suddenly, I'm too young... I had two, unsuccessful surgeries, 'not TKR, however, the same area,' 2000 and 2010. Don't plan on a third. After the doc gave me the news, I asked if there were other options. His reply, 'yep, live on pain meds!' He wasn't the first doc who came to this conclusion. When is your surgery scheduled? Have you done research? All I can say is prepare for horizontal hobbies. Seriously. Since you enjoy reading, stock up on books. Writing, keep several note-pads, paper, pencils, markers, and a laptop handy. Sewing/knitting, whatever..keep items nearby. I've read some people are ordered to total bedrest, as long as 10 months! For me, lying in bed for one-month is impossible. Not with 4 birds, 2 dogs, and 350-400 plants. 'My son is grown, Susan..no other children.' My BIL had TKR done last year..he said he never felt better, wish it was done sooner. I wish you the best of luck and good health. You'll be in my prayers. No inclination or time. Besides, I cannot tolerate rejection...after opening an envelope, unfolding a clean, type-written sheet of paper, then reading, 'Thank You, but,' I gave up. Don't get me wrong. I have plenty ideas, 'but,' :) Susan, after all you've accomplished, your foot is in the door..now all you have to do is open, and step inside. A novel is nothing more than several short stories blended together. A bunch of adjectives, nouns, pronouns, etc... :) Who knows, after surgery you might conjure the perfect, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven King, or Grimms'. You wouldn't feel comfortable in my house since you're a minimalist in decor..lol. The only rooms without plants..a back bathroom...reason, no window..bird room, reason, birds like munching greens, and closets, obvious reasons. It's funny you said your 28-yr-old friend is a virture, regarding your book. Lately, several authors mention and describe numerous plants unrelated to the story. Have you read Wendy Staub, Nora Roberts, Lisa Jackson or Sue Grafton? If you enjoy mystery/suspense, you'll like the above authors. Of all four, Staub really gets into plants. Over the years, a few people have been to GW inquiring plant info. Said they wanted to learn, add to their MS. Wonder if these people were published.. Susan, I enjoy talking to you, too, and wish you the best. Keep me posted about surgery. Or any other topic you wish to discuss. Toni

jeanner: Yes, that's my top pond in the fourth pic down. Here are some pics of my water lillies in the top pond. These were taken over the weekend. The most blooms I have ever had open at one time: 9: These were taken at around 9 a.m. before all the lillies opened. These were taken around noon after they all opened. Here is one of the many pond spiders that live at the edge of my pond. I absolutely hate, hate, HATE spiders. I was shaking so bad when I took these pics some of them are blurry. Was trying to get my floating duck and ducklings unstuck with a stick when I hit the web and noticed it. Wonder how they get that web spun from one floating planter to the next without going into the water. This spider is so colorful I couldn't resist. After I took the pics I was shaking so bad I had to go ay down after I hurled. I still get the creeps looking at it. My son can't believe I did this either. What we won't do for our ponds!!!! Lol Enjoy. Jenny

This past weekend my son and his wife came down. As I was showing them around in the garden and orchard, we got fussed at by the killdeer pair. We must have gotten near their nest. One was close to us yelling, and the other one was over a bit doing the wing thing. We had just seen the one who was fussing and as I was explaining to them about the wing thing, my son said look, and the other one was doing the wing thing. It was very interesting to say the least, and impressed my son and his wife!

I haven't had the heart to wake it up to take a better picture. I've never seen it's head, it's always curled up when I see it. I'll have to keep looking. Eric