I like regional expressions/word usage even if they are gramatically incorrect. I think they make language interesting. I remember one of my neighbors in Virginia Beach, where we have a beach house, telling me his wife had to go to Tennessee and that he had told her he would carry her there if she wanted. I couldn't figure out what in the world he meant. Carry her there? I later figured out is a southern way of saying he would drive her there. I also think it's funny hearing the new words that my kids and their friends pick up - like "danke" ??? Meaning very cool.

thanks LU...read this when it was only a few minutes to 7 EST..so hurried and called my 2 sisters to have them light candles too, as my oldest sister lost her DD 8 yrs ago. and my other DS (Karen NC) lost her infant DGS, so Karen called her DD that had lost the baby. we also have another niece and nephew and a great nephew whose died, so glad I read your post in time!! DianePA

Hardball, these are feral hogs....or at least were. I don't recommend a hog for a pet....maybe a pot belly pig. These get huge. Pig Sue weighed 510 lb. Pig Newton probably over 600 and there is one here that is probably close to 700 lb. They are very smart though and easy to train. Pig Sue was spayed. Another one, Pig Lee, is probably around 475 lb. She can be moody. She is very tame tho and trusts me with her babies... until I tried to pick one up and then she got mad at me. I never wanted to raise pigs. I was given P Sue when she was a baby. P Lee showed up when she was a baby....escapee from a hog hunter down the road but she was too wild to get spayed. By the time I got her tame, she was too big. But it wasn't a problem because there were no boars around. Two years later, Pig Newt showed up...also from the hog hunter and also a baby. They had used him to bait their dogs and he was totally wild. A year or so later, he bred Pig Lee and that is when my trouble began. I have sold about 50 pigs since then. They breed like rabbits. Two litters a year. Pig Newt is too big now to do the deed. I plan to keep him and Lee and their daughter, Pig Delores, but right now I have 9 I need to sell. Jody wants me to sell Delores and Lee but I won't. Delores is wild but she trusts me. I won't sell her. I have had a couple of pot bellies...both rescues. If I had my druthers, I wouldn't have any pigs....and for sure....never a monkey.

I want an E. cactus too! I've been into houseplants since my early 20's, and was lucky to work in a local greenhouse during both pregnancies after we moved to a rural area. I'd never lived in the country before and wasn't familiar with what grew here other than wheat. :) One day I took a walk to the pond while DH was at work and found what I thought was a rare plant. Somehow I got it out of the ground and brought it home. Never.again. Hate them with a passion, and they are pests! I haven't seen a Prickly Pear in years. Worse than bullnettle.