I'm wondering what became of the dog? I took Blue (the chicken killer) to the HS and paid a fee for being out of their county. They told me they would not put him down and they shipped animals all over trying to get them seen and adopted. He would make someone a nice dog, very affectionate and loyal. They did make a notation about not placing him with small animals and actually his actions disqualified him from a local program where they retrain labs and goldens for the disabled. They called it "small animal aggression." Blue was fine with the cats until they ran from him (which was always since he never walked anywhere, always a dead run). He wouldn't just attack them but it was coming, I could see. I never knew how traumatized the cats were, staying in the garage all the time. Our oldest cat, Tigger, was very frail and ill looking and I figured it was his 15 yrs of age catching up with him. This spring since Blue is gone, Tigger is again beautiful and healthy and enjoying the outside. I have 7 little hens that escape the pen and free range each day, they are just small enough to squeeze under the corner of the pen. I so enjoy seeing them around the house and sneaking into the garage! I say sneak because they know they aren't supposed to be in there but I usually leave the back door open for airing the place out and they go in and eat the cat food, LOL! I have 5 guineas in a pen in the barn and plan to let them out in a few weeks. I could never have enjoyed all my critters with Blue around. Heck, I probably wouldn't have been able to even garden since he was just so distructive. I have been wondering how you dealt with your problem dog. Judyag, were your Great Pyrenees already grown? I have just heard such good things about these creatures! I would like to look into getting one or similar guard type dog for our place. Lori

Michelle, your potager is great. I thought of you yesterday afternoon as the helpmeet brought in the first wave of tomatoes, lamenting that if we don't get some sun the poor things are going to fold their little tents and give up. Lettuce, cabbage, and brussel sprouts seems to be holding their own, however. :) And I love the urn above; esp. the big, fuzzy Salvia argentea which tickles my fondness for big, bold foliage. Very pretty. I smiled at the bowling ball, amazed by its size... consider that the Compound is in the heart of candlepin bowling, lol. Nice to "read" you, Norma. I figure people are just busy when they submerge for a spell. I know that feeling of being just too far behind to try to catch up; even vacationing I'm still soaking up tidbits I've managed to miss. Like the miscarriage, Martie... perhaps time will ease the loss. You mentioned Abigail Adams; have you read "Dearest Friend" (I've not)? Also, there is a fun book by Irving Stone called, "Those Who Love" that is about John and Abigail Adams. I liked that one, a nice light read. Battened hatches were of no consequence last night. A loud crack of thunder launched poor Spencer from his happy place next to Mummy and sent him scratching around the corner to a safe place. Poor thing was out like a light and it scared the livin' daylights out of him. Vera appeared some time later and wriggled her way under the covers for a cozy sleeping spot. Nolon's camping site for Callie reminded me of something my father would have done. He was forever creating little hangouts for the cats and when he summoned us to witness the cuteness he would proudly proclaim, "look at that cat! isn't he smart to find such a great place to nap?". My brother is the same way, so is the helpmeet. Never waste your time on men who don't like cats, is what I say. The Passiflors are great, you guys. I always note them in garden centers but as a rule I tend to walk past most annuals. It will be fun to see Deanne's reemerge next spring and attain house eating proportions. We put in two hours yesterday morning splitting wood. We made a pretty good dent in the unsplit pile, too. The weather is looking pretty wet today, but if it isn't raining we will go out and put in some more time. I think the pallets are going to be picked up on Wednesday and then we will level and set them in a sunny area and begin stacking the wood to dry. Thinking about getting it done is much worse than actually going out there and doing it. The wood we're splitting now will be for next season and quite possibly several after that. If that ain't a New England vacation, I don't know what is. I managed to get the lawn mown, too. It didn't rain yesterday (some "birdsweat" but nothing major) but the grass was still pretty damp so I opted to mow high and mulch the clippings. Looks better and I'll be sittin' pretty to get it mown again in a few days. Then it was on to more weeding, this time around the pond. My goal was to clear out the weeds enough to identify the Cinnamon ferns, the native Eupatorium, and a shrubby thing that has lemon-y scented leaves (the leaves look vaguely like those of the Magnolia stellata). I accomplished that much and have laid bare the dreadful blackberry brambles (vicious) and uncovered a stealthy move by our resident Poison Ivy population to colonize another spot. Methinks some quality time with some Agent Orange type thing may be in the helpmeet's vacation plans. ;) I believe replacement coffee is on deck. I did something terribly wrong with the first pot, it was pitiful. So bad, in fact, it went down the drain post haste. I have watched some of the Olympics (loved the 2008 drummers!), I like the diving, some of the gymnastics (I'm not buyin' the ages of some of the Chinese gymnasts, sorry!), the swimming. But beach volley ball? (c'mon). I'm accustomed to never seeing the events that I really like (Dressage and Driving), so much of the 'pics means very little to me. But the all night broadcast beats the hell out of infomercials or Poker (how dumb is that?) for an insomniac. Saucy has evolved to papparazzi... it must be the camera. :)

I am near you - about 3 hours from Galveston in east Texas. I love my Tess. I have her on a huge fan shaped trellis - she has very healthy foliage and lots of nice blooms. Two of my favorite Austins are Carding Mill and Abe Darby. Wollerton Old Hall, new for me last year, does get really big, don't find the blooms fragrant like Austin says, but they are pretty. Sophy's Rose is a really good one - healthy foliage, lots of big pretty deep pink blooms. Bishop's Castle is good. Lady of Shallot looks to be big. I have quite a few new ones that are healthy and growing - they will do better next year. Great big for me are James Galway and Scepter d'Isle - like them a lot. I have Lady Emma and Munstead Wood planted where they get full sun until 2pm - hope they like it there. I really like Ambridge Rose too. Love the blooms on Jude......mine is very small though. I am getting another Young Lycadis - my chickens were scratching in that bed and killed it. The color is a different, brighter looking pink that I really like. Englands Rose was new for me last year - it started off looking and blooming fantastically.....then it starting dawdling around. Am hoping it will get going again in the spring - it was really nice. I want to try Princess Alexandra of Kent - have heard good things about it. Do any of you all plan to try the new Austins? I want Boscobel, The Lark Ascending.......not sure about the others. caldonbeck, the photos are fabulous! Judith

Not able to do too much in my current situation but---this thread reminded me that we (mostly my husband) did many things that were huge savings, He was knowledgeable about almost everything to do with keeping up a house. For instance-he completely rewired our home. The inspector said it was the best job of wiring he had seen. He also re-did our kitchen from top to bottom, built me a pantry I thought I didn't want, but learned to love. I was spoiled because everything in our home "worked" the way it should. He learned these skills from his father who was a civil engineer whose specialty was building bridges. Their big family moved often, usually to an old house needing work. My husband was in the Physics department of the Air Force Institute of Technology where these skills also came in handy.