You guys knew I would be back in a short amount of time. :-) You are the best! Whoosh....I am just so glad the roots didn't freeze and that my mother caught it in the knick of time. I guess there are some advantages to caring for our moms when in need, right? She called me as soon as she noticed and I think I broke the speed barrier to get home and get the heat going. Thank God I have her at home watching things for me while I am away! She even zips and unzips my hot house when it gets to hot in there, like 95 degrees, until I get home. I also just realized that in my attempt to warm it up in there this am, I totally forgot to water them, so she will do that too in a half hour thank God..:-) I bought her a huge coffee and I am going to take her out to eat for that. She is always keeping an eye on the temps for me..:-) By the way Jodik, she wnat you to know she cares for you so and prays for Larry to keep getting better and for you to stay as healthy as you can be despite your sickness. You are loved by us here! Mike...Thanks for the encouragement man! I bet your trees are just awesome about now in your mix, at your hands mercy, without the mites and longer days. Yahoo. Mike

There are lots of reasons to smile in this world and most of us take great pleasure in the things that happen in our little corners of the world. I know I do. The things that not only make me smile but really get to the very soul of my being, is when good things happen to people I know and love. Maryanne, your news has made my day. I know that you have been climbing the mountain for a long time,GF, now you are on top and it's time to try out those wings. :0)

Good god, the woman just won a Nobel Prize. Thank goodness she spends her time writing and not obsessing about remodeling a kitchen! Consider how many hours, days, weeks, and months it takes to re-do a kitchen....especially if we treat every decision as if our very lives depend upon it. Our lives really do not depend upon our countertops and outlet covers. Hers is a life well spent, and her vocation has been a gift to the world. I am very glad this picture was posted. It reminds me why my kitchen isn't perfect. I really preferred to be out in the garden to spending my days at Home Depot and my nights on-line. When I got home from work, I really needed to be in the garden solving other kinds of problems: weeds more than windows, for instance. It provided me with solace and a kind of beauty more lasting and rewarding than any part of the kitchen I have now. My kitchen is handsome, but not perfect. All these years gardening taught me gardens are never finished, I don't have control over every thing that happens, beauty changes, and nothing lasts. I suspect some of this knowledge led to discovering that I simply didn't have the energy or interest needed to get that "perfect" kitchen. I didn't mean to make this all about me. But that picture of a normal kitchen and that beautiful slightly disheveled woman on this particular GW forum is "food for thought." Thanks again,Rosie. This was the best part of a long day. This post was edited by idabean on Fri, Oct 11, 13 at 23:38

I wonder if there's any problem with the "live plants" label in California? I moved to CA back in the early 80's and took a car full of plants with me - we had two cars, towing one behind the other. The back car was full of plants and it was summer, so I put aluminum foil on the windows to reflect the sun, hoping to keep it cooler in the car. When we crossed the border, it was about 2 a.m. and there was a stop to check for fruit. I thought that was weird, and we gave them a couple oranges we had in the car. Well, later on, someone told me that if they had known the car was full of plants, they would have confiscated them as well. So I guess I've always wondered if there was some California law (and perhaps in other states) that prohibits plants from coming in... Denise in Omaha