This is an exceptional year here as far as temps go. Most days are above 105, and have been for over a month with no rain for over 60 days.. It's hard to tell what is dead, and what is dormant, in spite of the watering. A lot of the ferns go dormant, as do the astilbes, and will put on new growth when the fall rains come (if they do at all) but anything that puts on new growth now, if that growth dies, the plant will be a goner. I've already lost some plants for sure that way. Not sure about the hostas, I think some of the younger ones are truly fried, and not just dormant. Most of the older ones will be ok. Dicentras should be fine, they all go dormant in dry years. It isn't the drought that concerns me so much, it's the extreme heat. Most plants can live through drought. But not if they are cooked.

DD, I took so long posting earlier that I missed your post. Sorry. Alfred actually said that he believes that he was supposed to leave that job before he got hurt, but he dragged his feet because he really didn't believe he could find another job with a salary near his at his age with only a high school education. He is such a dear, sweet, humble man that he really doesn't realize just how valuable he would be to any company that he worked for. I've never met any man other than my Daddy who is as honest, hardworking, faithful, and dependable as he is. I believe he won't be as afraid to take the steps that he needs to take from now on. I don't know what the future holds for us, but I'm looking forward to it. And I will always appreciate your prayers and support. Kathleen, LOL!! I love that "Best Dishes"!! If I could find the deals that you do I would have the "Best Dishes"!! Thank you, Magpie. He's come a long way. Luvs, I never dreamed he would work again either. He's definately my "Miracle Man"! I remember how hard it was to just sit and watch him suffer, day in and day out, afraid to leave him for even a minute. And I wouldn't unless our son, daughter, or pastor was there. Then I would run take a shower as quick as I could and rush back hoping that nothing had happened to him while I was gone. Now, after almost 10 months of just sitting around with him I've gotten so lazy!! We have to remember he got physical therapy. I didn't get a physical therapist to get me back into shape!! LOL! I've got to push myself to change these lazy habits to busy habits! Easier said than done! Thank you, PD. I know Alfred was hurt before you joined our "family", but I'm glad you're here now in our cheering section! Thanks, Susan. He "IS" living proof. His poor abdomen, sides, and back look like he ended on the wrong side of some knives and ice picks in a bad fight. He told me one time he was sorry for not being more careful and getting "butchered up". I was quick to reassure him that his scars were a reminder of how good God was to bring him through impossible odds, and how hard he fought to stay with me. I love him more now than I did before the accident. I almost lost him and I treasure him, faults and all! Thank you so much, Karen. You certainly know from experience everything we've gone through. That's what makes your prayers and encouragement so special to me. Thanks, Yacht. I'm glad to hear you and your's are feeling better. It's been rough sailing for you too, lately. One thing is for sure, you can't be lazy chasing after that DGS full-time the way you do. I'm so glad I found this forum when I did. What a loving, caring, and sharing family. I'm so Blessed to be a part of it. Betty

I also posted my question about my Dyson on the Cleaning Tips forum and thought I would share their responses. Apparently, the Dyson was not a good choice for my friese carpet (or any longer length carpet) because it does not have a height adjustor for the roller brush. It does self-adjust, but it does not adjust as high as it should for longer carpet fibers. That would explain why it is very hard to push on my friese but not on the shorter carpet in our bedrooms. Having the roller brush at a lower height also decreases the effectiveness of the vacuum on longer length carpet, because the roller brush cannot fully move the carpet fibers around to release the dirt between them. Also, the Dyson roller brush can be too aggressive for area rugs - but this can be solved by using the rug/floor attachment. It was suggested that Simplicity, Riccar, Miele, or Sebo vacuums might be a better choice for my floors. Hope this info. might help others choose their vacuum.

Thanks so much to all who took the time to read and comment on my post, and for the great warmth and kindness of your responses. I must say I was nervous about posting; while realising many of us are going through very challenging times with our and our loved ones' health, speaking about this always feels quite excruciatingly personal, like revealing an ugly scar in public... but I was determined to do something for awareness day this year, having failed for several years in succession to contribute. I'll try to respond to every comment, in order: KS: You're welcome, and I do hope the info will be helpful to your friend. S/he should definitely watch the movie! Re symptoms: ME/CFS has an enormous list of around 40-50 symptoms, involving every body system - someone once said ME seems to include just about everything you could possibly experience with any illness, or words to that effect. We each have our own selection of them, to varying degrees of severity, which, once we're sure we've got the hang of dealing with them, morphs into something else! Or so it seems... If s/he hasn't already, your friend may like to google the (most comprehensive) Canadian Consensus Diagnostic Criteria for ME/CFS and the (most up to date, I think) International Consensus Criteria, which between them have a full list of symptoms, and explain which ones are currently thought to be essential and which are optional for an ME/CFS diagnosis. A full set of blood tests, etc must be done too, to exclude all the other known medical and psychiatric conditions that could be causing that individual's symptoms. There are also some excellent websites/forums to visit for more support and info, such as Phoenix Rising and Health Rising. Please pass on to her/him my thoughts and best wishes. Fig Insanity: You're welcome too, and thank you for your kind remarks. I'm so sorry to hear of the frustrating time your sister went through for so long, just trying to get someone to even believe her. Unfortunately she was by no means alone in her experiences. The continuing level of ignorance and prejudice amongst doctors against this disease is actually really frightening, an actual, genuinely Kafkaesque situation, which is especially difficult to deal with when one is getting increasingly physically frail and cognitively wooly, and no-one will believe your story or take you seriously: thus the urgency of need for education and awareness, and MUCH more quality bio-medical research to help dispel persistent, popular myths of 'female hysteria' and other such bizarre, often misogynistic, non-evidence based psychiatric theories. (MS was similarly regarded, until the invention of the CAT scan (IIRC), which instantly showed the physical cause of the symptoms.) Some stunningly bad science in the UK, published in The Lancet in 2011, purporting to prove the psychiatric theory (heavily subsidised and enthusiastically pushed by the Government and big Insurance companies) set us back a few years, but has fortunately now been thoroughly debunked. However many doctors are not up to date with this, and still resort to offering 'encouraging' therapy aimed at dispelling our 'false illness beliefs', prescribing antidepressants, and forcing very frail sufferers to follow increasing exercise regimes, which have been shown time and time again to be at best ineffective and at worst, to have dramatically deleterious effects, rendering previously unwell but still mobile people bed-bound for years, and occasionally even killing us. Many of us eventually give up on the medical profession altogether. Unable to find or access knowledgeable physicians, we're forced to take care of ourselves as best we can, at home, sometimes for decades/the rest of our lives. Not uncommonly abandoned by disbelieving family, and friends with whom we're no longer able to keep up socially; invisible to the wider public; we use Dr Google and the worldwide online patient community, along with whatever inner resilience we can muster as our resources. In many cases, this is actually a far safer option than undergoing misguided treatment from doctors and hospitals. And this is not a rare disease; unseen millions of us are just coping, behind closed doors, with little or no medical care or basic social support. What this can mean in practice is too painful and embarrassing to go into. SunCoastFlowers: You're welcome, and thank you for committing to watch the movie! Do post a review (good, bad or neutral) should you have the time and inclination. Do you by any chance have a link to the series you mentioned, and the episode about making the garden for the little girl with ME/CFS? I did try googling it but didn't have any luck. Well, I've waffled on again for far too long and am going to have to take a break. Carol (PMR), my apologies, I seem to have jumped past you in order. Will come back and respond to you next, then Ingrid, Jin, Melissa and Sheila. And maybe, be a bit briefer... (unlikely). ;-)