Dan here from Traverse City Michigan. This'll be my first year wintersowing, and have a deep intense feeling it won't be my last! LOL!!! Had my first "garden" when I was 3, and haven't quit since. Can usually be found over in the round robin forums, "quietly" stirring things up! hehehe Got pushed over here by bakemom a few months ago, quickly edumacated about the whole ws thing, and have been saving milk jugs ever since. Right now I'm busy harvesting veggies and seeds, when not on the phone with my S.O. who is currently living in New York. But, she's moving in with me soon! Yay! Yay! Yahoo!!! Anything else y'all want to know? Just ask! -Dan, the New Bee

Thank you, Carol and Susan for your offers of plants and seeds, but I'm going to stick with what I have this year. It just isn't going to be a very good summer for growing stuff and I figure I just might as well accept that and go on. You are wonderfully kind and I appreciate you so much! Dawn, I'm sorry to hear that your fruit is on the ground, too. I still have peaches and apples but I don't know for how long. The storms stayed south of us yesterday and we didn't even get rain, but did get more wind. NOAA has changed its forecast for my area, we may not get rain at all out of this, although the sky looks like it might rain any minute. I do feel so sad for all those who have lost so much. Makes me feel a little selfish for complaining about just losing plants and fruit. Yes I am familiar with Neodesha. They and Coffeyville were hit so hard last year. It sounds to me like the college jumped the gun on getting student housing cleaned out. The house next door to us was reposessed and some people were hired to clean it out. It was a MESS! They told me they stored the good stuff away until they had enough and then they would have an auction. So tell the kids to watch the auctions, maybe they can get some of their stuff back. I was born in Iola, KS and my dad was a truck driver for awhile. Neodesha was on his route. A few years ago I worked in an ophthalmology office in Bartlesville and we had a pediatric specialist that would come from Tulsa once a week. I would do his dictation and he would pronounce Neodesha as Neo DEE cha. The first time he did it I went "WHA.....????", then when I realized what he was trying to say I nearly rolled in the floor. Generators can be really dangerous things, especially since people tend to try to run them somewhere in the house. That's where the carbon monoxide comes in. We have one but we keep it on the back porch. The last time we had a power outage here, it lasted for about 24 hours and it was bitterly cold outside. We didn't have our generator then and we got by OK by wearing our coats and bundling up when we went to bed that night. But mostly I worried about our water pipes freezing. Now with the price of gas the way it is, it's going to be expensive to run a generator. I hope everyone stays safe, all of you please be careful and keep track of the forecasts for your area.

After spending all day Saturday waiting for the water to go down to get home, I'm really, really ready for some drying out time. I live SW of SA about 12 miles North of Uvalde toward Leakey on hwy 83. I had to work 1/2 day Saturday and by the time I got to the first low water crossing the water was probably 6 feet deep at the lowest point and 300 yards across. It wasn't passable until after 7:00 that evening. After getting home, I saw that Hondo, D'hanis and Sabinal were pretty much covered in water but I have no idea how deep it got or how widespread. I really feel for all of you in the Dallas, FW and Houston area where the rain has been so much more frequent. I talked to some friends in my hometown of Corpus Christi and they are claiming as much as 23 inches of rain this year. Go figure. It's either flood or draught. Would be nice to have the wealth spread out a little better. But, I guess that's too much to ask. I sincerely hope none of you had rising water damage. Replacing our plants while a pain is not nearly as expensive as repairing flood damage. Best of luck to you all. Pat

OMGosh! I've got to dig out that cereal box-head pic! Thanks for remembering it, MMR!!! :D Thanks for the early birthday wishes and yes, mom's sobriety is priceless. She has a new lease on life and is working her program. Blessings to you all, Haley