Marlene, you have been in my thoughts and prayers also, even though I haven't posted either. Even if you can legally take down the gates, I wouldn't touch them. I would ask the court to order him to take them down himself, since he bought the materials and built them, he should have to go out and take them down. The court should order them to be taken down by a specific date so that if he doesn't comply you can call the police and either force him to do it or face being arrested for failure to comply with a court order. Your lawyer should ask the judge to enter this order, so that you don't have to go out and expose yourselves to this maniac. I had a nasty neighbor years ago who I always just thought was a jerk who come over and stole our concord grapes off the vines. Even when I cought him doing it he laughed and said the former owners said that he could have them and since she had planted th vine, it was her decision. His stupidity left me speechless. We put a lock on our gate, but the vine was close enough to the fence that he could reach across and take the grapes, which he did the following year. Moments after I witnessed him stealing the grapes for the third year in a row, I went over and demanded he give them back to me. He responded that he and his wife had already eaten them. I knew he was lying, but when his wife meekly confirmed the lie, I knew by the way he looked at her and the way that she cowered that she was a battered spouse. Watch your neighbor if he has any family and see how they look at him and how they react when he speaks to them. The signs will be obvious if you're looking for them. A couple we visited once were having a disagreement and he turned around suddenly to look at her and held up his hand. She flinched in such a way that we knew that she was used to being struck by him. Watch what this man does with his hands while he's talking and you will know if he is violent. Cheryl

The best news,just as we all hoped! Dexascan is a piece of cake - I used to do them when I worked in the Rheumatology office. Bone-building drugs may be prescribed, but they work slowly, so 6 weeks one way or the other won't make a huge difference. There are lots of reasons you can have osteopenia or osteoporosis - drug therapies, both chemo and steroids, being too thin (being under 127 pounds is a marker for risk), family history, early menopause, low calcium and Vitamin D, and the list goes on. For now, take care of yourself, be a good girl and do what the docs tell you to do. We'll all be here, thinking of you and cheering you on until those crutches are tucked away in the closet.

I hope she gets the care she needs. It's very scary as a parent to hear these stories. Even if your kid isn't on the social media, the other kids are and "talking" behind her back and she knows something is going on. Schools need to stiffen the penalties for cyber-bullying as much as physical bullying - I don't know, maybe the state has to get involved, if it takes charging kids with a misdemeanor, or issuing restraining orders to prevent driving another kid to suicide then that's what it takes! DS is 15, has always been a thoughtful, sensitive, private kid with a few close friends, not into the "popular" activities but seems to be happy, is definitely busy with Scouts, track, and church. I don't know what other kids may be saying about him, but at least he doesn't know either - or doesn't care. He is going to camp counselor training in a few weeks, and then to National Youth Leadership training for Scouts, hopefully next summer he will get a job at the Scout camp. OK, I'm bragging I guess but I think he's a good role model, and I *think* he's not at risk for depression. DD is 5 years younger and starting puberty - she has 2 very close friends, and watching others coming up to her after school concert she seems to be "popular" but again doesn't have the same interests as many her age (she's also almost a year older than everyone else in her grade, both kids are Nov birthdays and we decided to start DD later than DS since he had been in daycare/preschool and was an early reader, she was a late talker/potty trainer). She's more sensitive to peer pressure - I suppose girls usually are? I wouldn't pull her out to HS unless I thought there was a serious problem, I want to wait to see if she keeps/makes friends in middle school. I hope that keeping her in Scouts will help - if the leaders can keep a group of girls aware of the problems that bullying can cause, and keep them believing in their own value in spite of other people (peers, even some siblings and parents I know of) telling them otherwise. Girl Scouts just doesn't seem to be as organized as Boy Scouts though, and not too many girls seem to keep up with it through middle and high school, from what I can tell by the size of the troops in our town. But "mean girls" start early - DD ran into one her first day of kindergarten. Add a mean teacher, and in 1st grade she was begging me to HS her! At least 2nd - 4th she has regained her love of school, is actually disappointed to have only a few days left this year.

It's hard to imagine how this could have happened and the aftermath looked horrific. Such a sweet-looking town.