Well, here I'm again... Henk and I got a wonderful trip in Oregon and Michigan! We visted some of our forum friends Dave (Glaciers-End), Will (Firefightergarden), Bob Fincham, Jason Hupp and Ken who showed us his picture at the top of this topic. Also we visited Larry Stanley, Jim Boyko, Don Howse, Iseli Nursery and Gary Gee. More pics will be showed soon! Dave, that's a nice small 'DuFlon' (not 'Duflon') Writing this cultivar name is the same way as you will name your Pseudotsuga menziesii witches' broom, 'DuPond'. At Iseli's we saw the biggest 'DuFlon' ever.

Good Friday morning all!!! Crunch,crunch, crunch......really enjoying my celery. Thanks! Thanks for the accolades! I hope I didn't jinx myself for posting it here since I have at least 10Lbs to go.... I have 4 5LB bags of sugar on my counter to remind me of how much I have lost.......... Marci, I had no idea this child was so bad that she needed intervention. Wow, sorry you have had to deal with that but I am glad it's you because she might not get the care she needs otherwise. I hope things go well and I hope you get some rest this weekend. Losing sleep over it is not good for you. Are you able to do some yoga to help you unwind in the evening? Just a few minutes of breathing exercises and a few relaxing postures may help you sleep better. Try these breathing exercises: 2-to-1 breathing This breathing pattern relaxes the body by subtly stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system, thereby inducing a state of relaxation. As you lie in bed, gently slow down the rate of exhalation until you exhale for twice as long as you inhale. You can coax a longer exhalation by contracting the abdomen slightly. Dont try to fill or empty or empty the lungs completely you are simply changing the rhythm of your breath. In the beginning it may help to count to six on the exhalation and three on the inhalation, or four on the exhalation and two on the inhalation (or any other 2-to 1 ratio you find comfortable). Focus on the smoothness and evenness of your breath, gradually eliminating any jerks and pauses. Counting Breaths Using the effortless 2-to-1 pattern described above, lie in bed and pay close attention to you breath. It should flow smoothly, evenly, and continuously. When the pattern is well established, take: * 8 breaths lying on your back * 16 breaths lying on your right side * 32 breaths lying on your left side Very few people complete this exercise. Sweet dreams! Try the 8 poses in the link below. I do the child's pose each night and it helps immensely. Raeanne, I know I can't do anything about it. Ommmmmmmmm but I want to find a comfortable place with her. I know it will all work out just the way it's supposed to! Beside, alot can happen in 9 months!! Maddie, you should try those breathing exercises and yoga poses too Sister! Night sounds very like very painful reading to me. Let us know how it is. I am glad you are writing the note.......it will help you go through the grieving process. BJ, thanks for your words of support. You sisters are all great! Besh, I know, I AM such a loser! Have you watched the Biggest Loser? IT's a great show. Today I am leaving at noon to go to the ride/drive that I host in my town of Hancock, NH for my driving club. It's going to be a splendid weekend which is great. Unfortunately, due to drought, the foliage is mediocre at best right now. Plus we haven't had a hard frost yet which is an essential ingredient to fall color. Sweet Pea will be styling as her cart is back from repair and actually looks brand new! It's much lighter than the old cart which we've had to use so she will be very happy with the lighter load. If I don't get a chance to check in again............I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe weekend.

fixizin, Unemployment will not improve until after we've bottomed. It's a lagging indicator. Most banks already have clarity in their balance sheets. I so wish people on this forum would stop referring to "banks" as if, somehow, they are all just divisions of each other. Most, as in the vast majority, have healthy balance sheets. They are lending. They don't understand all the talk about "tight credit" because their originators & underwriters are chugging right along. In April, so far, purchase money mortgage applications are running ahead of refinances. Well, it's true. We are close to the "elephant". DH is still sitting on that darn Advisory Board. We'll both be glad when his term is over. In the meantime, he receives whatever national numbers are available as soon as they are available. I'm not allowed to tell you who is purchasing the jumbos DH's staff is originating. I can say that these investors are NOT using taxpayer funds. Rate Risk: DH does NOT BORROW from the Fed Window. They rely on deposits from their customers. If rates rise & they have to start paying 5.5% on CDs & their loan portfolio was paying 5.25% (these numbers are just for example)...they could not pay the light bill. The Fed rates have some relevance but very little. DH does LEND overnight funds through the Fed but that's not the issue. The issue is just simply what they have to pay for funds versus what they can earn. They work on a very narrow margin. Remember, if a bank earns 1% ROA they have done very well. I'm back to my earlier comments about most banks still operating like they always have...there's no "Sugar Daddy" involved. We are not the only ones seeing improving trend lines near the epicenter as evidenced by the article linked below, dated today. This article basically repeats what I said here two weeks ago. There will NOT be a "This is the Bottom" public announcement over the loudspeakers. If you call it within 5%...that's darn good. Recoveries are not straight up. They also don't happen over the entire country at the strike of midnight on the same day. It's more of a wave motion. Stress Testing: Gawd, how I wish the Feds would not have suddenly thrown this term on the public! Now, everybody seems to think it's something new & sinister. DH stress tests his interest rate risk monthly & always has (and always will). Credit risk is tested more like quarterly with mini-runs in between. The TARP banks being stressed now by the Feds are beefed up versions of normal stress testing, we're presuming since DH isn't a TARP institution he's not receiving direct info on the testing. Credit risk has been increasing...there's no doubt about that. I noted earlier that this increase is being reflected by late payments. But, the "Over 30 Days" delinquencies are holding steady. DH has been doing frequent media interviews (TV, radio talk shows, print, etc.). There's a "tone" difference in Q&A noticeable back in early March. The fear factor seems to be subsiding. Less fear should translate into better decision-making both public & corporate. For about six months the country was practically frozen from fear. That seems to have broken with folks knuckling down & restructuring. I'm not saying there's not going to be bad news that's yet to come. What I'm saying is that we are very nearly through the worst of this mess. Recovery is hard to define? I'm not really even thinking about recovery. I'm focused on where the elevator's at! You've heard practically nothing from me in the past six months because the fog was so thick I didn't have any faith even in what DID seem visible. Now, I'm optomistic. We're going to be fine...different, but fine. Six months ago, I was truly worried about a rolling collapse of the financial system. That's not going to happen. We've got thousands of perfectly healthy financial institutions that want to lend. I'm also not saying that the money-center banks will come out of this looking the same as going in...I fully expect to see new leaders. Some bankers made very bad decisions. Very bad & they will pay for those decisions. They already have. Personally, I'd like to see the Feds give some assistance to smaller institutions to take up the slack. But, if DH is any indicator...he doesn't want the Feds anywhere near his office! :) /t

I would like to thank Mtn for asking two owners here a question regarding what owners expect/want from their guests. That is a very rare thing. There is a lot of pressure on owners to deliver, including perfection, for people who have very different standards, so one guest might find a dust bunny and be horrified and write a negative review while another isn't fazed by little things. I think it is important for both sides to have an attitude that, this is a relationship, it is not a one-way thing: Guests are not simply wallets for owners; owners have a responsibility to provide a clean, safe, accurately described rental; and owners are not programmable robots who can predict and meet every expectation of guests. We deal with A LOT of different personalities, ranging from totally cool and wonderful to profoundly difficult. I constantly ask myself what I can do to make my guests' vacation more pleasant, easier, etc. We appreciate it when guests ask us what they can do to make our job easier as well. I'm amazed at how so many renters nod when warned of something or asked to refrain from something...and then go and do it anyway. We have serious and often legal reasons for capacity limits, in my case asking that guests NOT launder the linens and towels (or at least not put them in the dryer to dry, thereby setting stains. I work really hard at keeping my linens and towels sanitary and spotless. Only way to do that is to line dry them), etc. I had a difficult guest tell me after the fact that 'the kitchen was cluttered'. For one thing, that is nonsense. My kitchen is very well organized. The counters are clear of everything but the coffee maker and dish drain and the container next to the stove holding cooking utensils when guests arrive. How is that cluttered? What the kitchen is is small, which is why I have TWO pictures of the kitchen on the Web site, so that people can see that it is small, from both angles, and be very aware of that fact. So you can see, no matter what you do out of consideration, there are always some people you just cannot make happy and always have to gripe. What in have been told in reading reviews is to look for patterns. That makes sense to me. If one person has a gripe, I wouldn't put much credence into it. But if five have the same complaint, that would indicate that it is an issue. Same with positives. One person saying the place is awesome is rather meaningless. Look for patterns, and look for comments having to do with how the owner/PM was to deal with, how responsive they were to issues that arise, etc. But guests also need to be responsive and care about how they are impacting someone else's property.