Fay, the external USB hard drive was the one which failed. I thought as you did, that I'd put them all there and have more control over it. I had gone through the difficulties of my Windows 7 computer denying me access to the pictures while they were on my computer, even though my account was of course the only blasted one there, and of COURSE I was the ADMINISTRATOR. So after that fiasco, I pulled them off the computer and put them on the WD Ambassador 1.5T (1500 gigabyte) external USB harddrive. That was the drive where I also had my backups, the optical image of my computer as well. What I did not figure on what that Western Digital (WD) Ambassador drives were not manufactured by themselves but were "no-name" stuff that were well known in the industry to have frequent failures. No wonder they were cheaper than others. And that information I learned from the online links from Tim Fisher on About.com where he featured services which could possibly salvage data--FOR A PRICE. The cost depends on how delicately they must access the failed drive. Of course it is possible to TRY. I still have the drive in its original box waiting until I decide if it is worth the gamble. I mean, I could use that $500 to $1400 estimate on the house remodel, or on the garden. Why the wide estimate range? Because the bloomin hard drive could be a total mess, or one that is not so bad. If they cannot get anything, then I believe it is no charge. But they need it in hand to even guess. In my hands, it is a BRICK. So if you have all your eggs in one basket, I suggest putting your pictures on a DVD and checking it to be sure it plays. Making two copies might be fine. I know I had several CDs of pictures from MoccasinLanding, before I began hosta gardening, and they may be in storage somewhere. Having homes in two locations, moving, storing for a remodel, it is so hard to keep track of stuff. At this point, I am trying out a cloud storage for the photos off my Android tablet. The problem with that, I have yet to discover how to get the tags for identification on each shot before they are automatically uploaded to the cloud.

So sad. I lost about 10 over the winter. Only one or two of those were due to rot, the rest were to the squirrels digging them out and the whole thing disappeared. Mostly the small things. My DH is very busy doctoring his veggie garden today, he found a nest of borer eggs, or slug eggs, I'm not sure which, in his peppers and yellow squash. I do not know if that is why I lost two hosta within the last week, with the leaves cut off at the base and the crown just ate up. It made me sick. We are both doing the ammonia 1:10 treatment to stop this quickly. We are hitting 100 this week, according to the thermometer under my potting umbrella, it was 101 yesterday in the shade. I cannot deal with all of that heat anymore. I don't want the hosta to deal with it either. We walk a fine line to keep the hosta thriving.

Both covers were opaque, one blue and the other white, so I couldn't use them. They would have been snug enough and much easier. Actually I needed to open mine every few days (which is a pain with those bungee cords) to let some fresh air in. They don't have to be totally sealed, just have to keep the humidity as high as possible. I don't know if a translucent one would let enough light through or not. That one poster who put me on to the idea appeared to use the translucent cover that came with his box, and he might have had his lights a lot closer. He also misted his. I did mist a little in the beginning but figured it was just more likely to blow nasty spores around and might do more harm than good. George Mander uses clear plastic, said it should be heavy. I think mine was too heavy which made it a little harder to work with but otherwise ok. Talk about a dim bulb lol. One of my lights was very dim, and I thought maybe that's the way they were supposed to be with the warm and cool. Then I got the second set of tubes when I set up the other pair of shop lights, and they both lit up real bright, so I figured something was wrong with that other one. I fiddled with it, and didn't have it screwed in tightly enough. Then it brightened up like it should have been. That could account for some of my losses. Some of my cuttings I left too many leaves on. I forgot one of those did root but I did lose that one in transplanting, a very odd alba with the most unusual leaves I'd ever seen on a rose. I posted photos of it last year. No matter how well you have thought it out or how carefully you read what somebody else did, I find I always end up having to wing it a little. The ones I wanted the most were the ones I lost all of them. The lady let me have just 6 cuttings before she trimmed her bushes down. I could kick myself for not asking her to call me and let me come get all the trimmings. Now one has died over the winter, and she isn't going to want to let me have any more until her bushes spring back, if they do. I don't have room for all the roses I attempt anyway so it doesn't matter if I lose a lot. I don't have room for many more, plus I'm still buying some. I do feel good that I think I saved one old rose. Mine is growing happily in the back yard (I rooted that outside with bottles 2 seasons ago), and it is going to form a colony if it stays healthy. Just slight tip dieback. My Austins took a real beating this winter. I don't like to swipe stuff, but I did this one, and drove by the other day and the bush appears to be history.

Seeing all these freeze damage pictures sends my mind back to our Hurricane Wilma aftermath. My trees, most of which were 8-15 years old at that time......80% blown over, some uprooted entirely. I have video of my yard and I can't even bear to look at it. I had to hat rack all the canopies and pull the tree into the best up-right postions that I could with the car, propping them up with the heavy branches that we cut as braces. Worked non-stop for the better part of three weeks (while we had no power) cutting and hauling what seemed like mountians of debris and cut branches to the roadway for pickup. I shudder to think about ever having to do it again. The good thing about tropical fruit trees, however, is that they are resilient. I think I had Post Traunmatic Stress disorder after that storm 5 years ago. Anyway, the good news is no one froze to death and trees can be replaced if necessary in the worst case. But it is still very saddening.