Thank you, each and everyone for the thoughts. I found your understanding very sweet and comforting. I am sure we will enjoy our new location once we get things "wrapped up." I will miss all the roses I have grown, but drought, blight and viruses have already accounted for about a 25% loss of what we grew a few years ago and now we have shovel-pruned others due to disease intolerance, lackluster performance, etc. So we grow less than half of what we did just 5 years ago; we are down to fewer than 200 roses. My Noisettes, (including the beautiful Crepuscule) all took to their death bed over the last few months, on the coattails of losing many other roses to RRD in recent years. I was told the reason for the noisette/ornamental cherry tree losses was a soil-borne "blight..." I got the official report but I was inundated in pressing matters such as a new roof from a storm, floors from a flood, putting the house back together after having to move everything out, wash it, clean it, dry it and do it all over again, to the pressing health issues of a family member, so I just filed it away, knowing that this too would pass. The verbal report (and what I read in the local paper were similar), that many other people in my area had the same thing. It sounded to me like going to the doctor with a sore throat and low-grade fever, getting an antibiotic,a steroid and a pat on the back with the infamous medical statement, "it's a virus, it's going around,I have seen ...cases....blah, blah, blah..." You just take the medicine and move on. We will grow a few roses, but the "powers that be" sort of determine what one can and cannot grow. Fortunately, since I have worked with the master gardeners in the historical gardens, perhaps they will be more lenient. I want to grow Crepuscule again, so I want to try it at my new home. Duchesse, Caroline lives about 80 miles east. I know that you too have probably noted this as I have, that people think because we live in Alabama, we all live close together. In fact, Alabama has a pretty diverse terrain in terms of physical features (and diverse zone conditions as well as a diverse citizenry), from the world's whitest sand/bluest beaches on the Gulf Coast, to the state capital (and former Confederacy/Goat Hill in Montgomery), to the marble quarries of Sylacauga, (home to the world's finest and whitest marble), to Birmingham formerly known as Pittsburg of the South (now one of the fastest growing cities in the country with cutting-edge medical teaching university), to Mt Cheaha, the tail end of the southern segment of the Blue Ridge, also part of the Cumberland Plateau and even my little area (the oldest industrial/manufacturing city in Alabama). Thanks for allowing me to vent!!!!! http://www.prattville.com/Default.asp?ID=5

Loves to cook: We've used the same cookie recipe for decades...it's the rolled cookie recipe from Joy of Cooking. The dough handles beautifully, and rolls out very easily. This recipe is not as sweet as a sugar cookie...but the frosting compensates for that. The frosting is made from powdered sugar, butter and milk. And the gingerbread cookies are made from the Joy of Cooking gingerbread recipe.

Hello all, I thought I would post an update. Casey is doing remarkably well. He is calm and happy. There still has been no sign whatsoever of aggression toward the other dogs. Today they even got chewies and spent a few hours in bliss with them. Bina and Toby came and went out of the same space that Casey and I were in while they were chewing, and there was not even a sideways glance! Three weeks ago, if I had given chewies, Casey would have been locked in his cage and still would have growled if either of the other two came into the same room. He has been on the Phenobarbital since New Years Eve. At first I did not notice anything. Now I have noticed his back end swaying on three occasions. It is hard to describe, other than that, just an unsteadiness on his feet. Casey and Bina both went to their primary care vet on Saturday. He got his thyroid panel done. They are sending it to Michigan State University Vet School and it will be back in a couple of weeks. Casey will receive no more vaccination shots anymore, due to his neurological disorder. So we did not even run a Rabies titer on him. Bina had the basic blood panel done, CBC and such. I had a titer done for her Rabies immunity. I don't want to vaccinate a dog whose immune system is already causing autoimmune rhinitis. The vet agreed and said she could write a letter for Bina so that the kennel where we take them on our rare vacations might still let them board there. Both will need Bordetella nasal spray vaccines, though, she expects. I may try to get someone to dog sit at home so we don't have to do that, either. Bina was started on Deramaxx for pain. She clenched in pain when the doc simply touched her spine. She has been limping in the evening and when she has been lying for an extended time lately. I have brought in an assortment of dog beds, but she does not seem interested in lying on a cushy bed in the evening in the family room. Tonight I have more dog beds than floor space, but she appears to either prefer the carpeted floor or she is convinced that she is not worthy of a bed. What do you do when your dog has low self-esteem? So things go on here like normal. I hope we have a significant amount of "normal" here for at least a while. My DF-in-L was seen at the cancer center today for follow-up, and his cancer is back. We are kind of hoping that he decides not to treat it this time, the only treatment left is chemo, and he is not even well enough to sit up anymore. He is 93. We use the hoyer lift anytime we have to move him. We are hoping he decides on palliative care, because we believe he will have a better quality for his remaining days. In a few days he will be rested enough to decide about that. The dogs may be suffering a big loss soon. They love their grandpa and his caregivers very much.

I'm feeling a little badly for your other daughter. You didn't refer to her as your second daughter or anything like that; you referred to her as your DD1's sister, and it sounded, to me, anyway, that her presence on Christmas isn't valued. It sounds as though it's all about DD1 and because she won't be there all will be sad. Gee - what a shame for DD2! Could you, perhaps, turn your emotions around to feeling so grateful that DD2 and her family are able and willing to be with you? I hope that she doesn't have to feel that Christmas is sad because her sister isn't there. Wouldn't it be nice to convey that Christmas is joyful because SHE is there? You could have a nice part of your toast or Christmas dinner grace that refers to your DD1, indicating that you're thankful that DD1's happy and healthy, and then taking God (or whomever you choose) that DD2 and her family are with you and making your day so special. Please don't make DD2 feel second best or that things are sad despite her being there. That's the way your post sounds, to me. Suzieque