Maggie doing her thing Sherry, mine would too! I get home and she greets me, but is ready to go into the bathroom next. (Mrow-Mrow) I have trained her that she gets water if she'll "say water". Double syllable is enough. But now she says it all the time. I'm training more and refuse to give her water until I go in the bathroom and tap the counter. She sure does command it a lot.

Jean Carroll on her husband: “I’ll never forget the first time I saw him, standing up on a hill, his hair blowing in the breeze — and he too proud to run and get it.”

The past, the present, and the future walk into a bar… It was tense.

I don't know about birch branches, but these sticks reminded me of a procedure we used to "plant" weeping willow trees. In late spring, take a cutting from a healthy tree, slice the butt end of the stick at an angle and shove it into the ground. Keep it well watered for the next 2 weeks and if its shows signs of new growth, reduce the watering schedule, but do not let the soil dry out until the new tree is established. It is easy to start new weeping willows with this method. It is best to plant the cutting as soon as possible. If it is allowed to dry out, its probably dead wood. Growing a new plant from a cutting will produce a clone of its donor whereas its seeds may not. The seeds can be hybrids if there are other closely related trees in the vicinity.