Thank you all very much for your thoughts and prayers. There are always miracles, but from what we have been told so far, this is the "bad" kind - adenocarcinoma. We will know more on Tuesday. I appreciate so much you keeping her and our family in your prayers.

Several weeks ago, I read the original Italian Seven Fishes Christmas Eve thread and saw Lou's recipe for salmon cakes. I followed the recipe and my husband absolutely loved it. I made six large patties, but we enjoyed them so much that we both ate three each! Next time I make them, I need to remember to hide at least two of them before I serve the meal. I've got another can of salmon in the pantry, so I'll probably make them again sometime during the holidays. Anyhow, thanks for the recipe, Lou. Baked Salmon Cakes Lou (Hawk) from CF Â1/3 cup each finely chopped onion, celery, red bell pepper; microwave for 2 minutes; cool . ÂPut 1 - 14 ¾ oz. can of pink salmon in a bowl and break up larger pieces. (I removed the skin & center bone) ÂSprinkle with black pepper; ½ tsp. each of garlic & onion powder and ¼ level tsp. Old Bay Seasoning (I used salt-free Cajun seasoning), and 2 level tsp. parsley flakes. (I also added about 1 tbsp. lemon juice) ÂAdd 3 heaping tablespoons of mayonnaise. ÂFold and blend this together and add ½ cup each of flavored and plain bread crumbs.(I used all unflavored crumbs because that was all I had) ÂBeat 1 egg and add 1 teaspoon of baking powder; beat well. ÂAdd this to the salmon mix and blend with a fork until just mixed through. ÂIf the mix is too wet, add a little more bread crumbs. ÂMake 6 balls and flatten slightly to 4 inches round and ¾ inches thick. ÂBake on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil, sprayed with Pam. (I used Reynold's Release) ÂBake 20 to 25 minutes at 320 Degrees. ÂBrush with melted butter and broil on low for 5 minutes or until a golden tan. ÂServe hot or freeze separated with plastic wrap, in a Zip Lock bags or a container.

Bluebirds stopped outside my window then they took control of the bath. Totally disrupted my trip to the grocery store, and 189 pictures later, I have to decide whether to pay for Flickr Pro or not because I've reached my 1,000 picture limit on a free account. We'll see. Some really good shots, a good moment-by-moment story, but until I can find a photo sharing website, here are a couple of shots from this morning. Not sure how he got doves to swim like ducks, but anything is possible... Jane - who has lots of pictures to process.

So, yesterday was a tough day and I felt progressively worse throughout the day and evening. I'm now ready to concede that Tim is right and this is the flu, and not a cold. Yuck! Regardless, I'm on Day 4 so should start feeling better soon, right? I had almost no voice yesterday, and it is hard to get your cats and dogs to obey you when you really cannot speak to them. They all looked at me funny, though, when I tried to say anything or to call them to come indoors. The baby kittens were the most puzzled and would come stand on my lap or chest and look into my eyes intently like they were trying to figure out what was going on, while I was trying to keep them away from my face and any flu germs. Larry, We are so very wet as well. Water is everywhere still, and is seeping out of the ground uphill from our driveway and running down into/through the driveway like a slowly seeping waterfall. I'm so tired of the perpetually wet ground. The kittens discovered the Christmas tree. Previously they just walked or ran past it and didn't care because they were too busy playing with each other. Yesterday, they got underneath it and began standing up on their hind legs, batting low-hanging ornaments with their paws. It was pretty cute, but made me nervous. I only have unbreakable ornaments on the lower portion of the tree. Anything breaker is higher up. I imagine they'll start climbing it any day now. With the warm days and sunshine this week, combined with the wet soil, we still are seeing cool-season weeds, including rye grass, sprouting everywhere. So, at least there's enough heat still to get some things to germinate. Maybe more of your wildlife crops will sprout while the weather is nice. I know we are about to turn colder, and some rain (albeit very low chances) is creeping back into the forecast. Today is supposed to be our last good day before the cold comes back. I think we are supposed to be slightly warmer today than yesterday, but then we have three successive cold fronts coming through over the next week to week and a half. Oh well, hopefully December will fly by quickly, taking us closer to spring planting. Amy, We need a new wheelbarrow and a new Gorilla cart as the metal on mine has rusted through---it is very old though. Maybe Tim and I can go out and get those this weekend. I bet the peanut butter cookies will be yummy. Enjoy the cookie exchange! I've been wanting to make Christmas cookies for a few days, but then there is no way I'd bake stuff while sick, so I have to wait until this flu goes away. Lillie loves to bake and she says the only time she ever gets to do it is when she is here at our house, so we likely will do some baking next week while she's staying with us, depending on how much homework she has to do every evening. I have gotten good production from container-grown tomato plants of any type only when planted in molasses feed tubs. In containers smaller than that, production drops off sharply. Even in molasses feed tubs, it is really challenging to keep the plants well-watered in July and August, and in the worst drought spells I've had to water them three times a day---literally morning, noon and night---to keep the soil evenly moist. Jen, Well at least you know what to research and shop for now! I just hate that Cliff's mom ruined the gift-giving part of Christmas for him---life just isn't fair, is it? If you were lucky enough to have good Christmases when you were a kid, and we were, then I think that affects how you look at Christmas for the rest of your life, and I'm sure the opposite is true as well. Don't get me wrong---my parents were very frugal and we didn't get fancy stuff, but we always had 3 or 4 presents each underneath the tree, and a stocking with fruit, candy and little novelty toys, and to us that felt like a big Christmas even though we knew plenty of kids who probably got 10 times as many gifts as we did. I've noticed a pattern with our oldest granddaughter that her father disappears from her life completely about a month before and after Christmas and her birthday---which means he doesn't get her a gift or even see her for either. It frustrates her and makes her feel unloved because he doesn't even call and say Merry Christmas or Happy Birthday---he just disappears. We try to make it up to her by focusing on the holidays and memory-making via fun activities more so than gifts as we are trying to teach her that it isn't about the 'stuff' you get. He was supposed to have her for Thanksgiving, but never called, never made arrangements to pick her up, didn't even bother wishing her a Happy Thanksgiving---just left her hanging and wondering. I just try to emphasize to her that his issues are about him and not her and that she hasn't done anything wrong and isn't responsible for his behavior and his choices. It is hard for her to understand that it is not her mother's responsibility to hunt him down and "make" him act right (as if anybody could). I hope that she has enough happy Christmas memories from time shared with everyone else in her life that she isn't scarred for life by his behavior. Jennifer, Thanks. This hit like a bolt from the blue, but then we were down at my sister's house on Thanksgiving Day and all her kids and grandkids were sick or had been sick the previous week, so I expected I'd come home from there and be sick within days....and I was. So there's that. I hope Ethan stays well through finals. Jana just finished her finals for this semester which is such a relief for her. The most energy I am exerting daily, other than taking care of the cats and dogs, is walking down to the mailbox once a day. It isn't much, but it is about all I have the energy to do. So, yesterday, I stretched out the walk to the mailbox and walked slowly through the front pasture where I had broadcast-sowed wildflower seeds back in, probably October or maybe earliest November, to overseed the pasture with wildflowers. I was looking at the sprouting seedlings, and I found a lot. That alone is exciting. Best of all, I found quite a few bluebonnets sprouting in places we haven't had them before. I don't know if they'll thrive in that clay there, but just the fact that they are sprouting gives me hope. They really much prefer sandy soil or caliche soil with lots of limestone, but I always have a small stand of them in the clay, and every now and then a good stand of them, so I count every sprouted seedling as a victory. There's gardening catalogs in the mailbox every day now. Of course, since I'm largely taking off the year from a big, hands-on veggie garden in order to focus on renovating the landscape, I am not that interested in the veggie seeds, but at least the catalogs are something to look at. For Christmas I'm getting clothing and gardening books. I know this because I ordered them and told Tim that he's buying me clothing and gardening books for Christmas. lol. This is our system, and it works for us. I'd rather get things I like and want than to get random things chosen by a desperate spouse who doesn't like shopping and it doesn't bother me that I'm not surprised by my gifts. I stopped believing in Santa Claus long ago. : ) Have a good day everyone. Dawn