I keep meaning to switch my user name again... Ten years ago, I think I was already on GW--I suspect I came on slightly after Andie, because I think it was just about the time the GP started. I had an Internet connection of sorts in the early '90s--something called "Prodigy" that was pretty basic and didn't have much of a graphic interface. I switched to a Mac in '94 and started using the precursor to Netscape. I ventured onto GW when I had a question about black tomatoes. I chose my user name accordingly. Bigfoot was one of the first to answer my question, along with a Robin from Calif. Suzanne, Diana was the dark-haired daughter of a Nobel physicist. I saw her name in the paper not too long ago in a listing of area how-to classes (hers was mosaics). I'm in that group photo of Linda C's too, looking, unfortunately, rather better and younger than I do now. And, Linda C, I fear the martini drinker may have been me. Are olives not a legitimate food group? Ms. Ann Thrope

Hey Josh! Good to hear from you! I'll tell ya, this gig is crazy. Good money, but man, I don't think that I'll be able to keep it up for more than a year or so. I think I'll just grab as much knowledge as I can and move on. Idk. Craziness. Speaking of CRAZY. The Florida weather IS crazy, especially way down here in the Miami. Fact is, we are a tropical climate here. The only such wet/dry season climate in the continental US. To say that it's a challenge is an understatement. It's either really, really dry and cool(er)(~meaning spring/summer for most~)....or really, really wet and HOT, HOT, HOT - not to mention the constant seasonal threat (and occasional reality) of tropical storms and hurricanes........ * * * A thought jogs his memory and he reflects: ".......I stood in amazment one late August afternoon, when my simple garden thermometer read 95 degrees with a delightfully refreshing 89% humidity, all this without a cloud in the sky.....the jungle.....it's just like the jungle here..." He remembers dark times long past: ".....Everybody wanted me to do it, him most of all. I felt like he was up there, waiting for me to take the pain away. He just wanted to go out like a soldier, standing up, not like some poor, wasted, rag-a$$ed renegade. Even the jungle wanted him dead, and that's who he really took his orders from anyway......." He snaps back to the reality of his computer screen and chuckles. * * * You'll either enjoy that APNow reference wrapped up in my garden reality, or wonder if I'm a serial killer....LOL ;) Anywho, switching gears.... DM, Ya know, I had the same epifany myself. My yard is wierd in the sense that I really only have full shade, or full sun. I mean, I do have some shade, but it's not optimal, and it's not in the right spot - it really just doesn't work for me. So I thought one day, "I'm going to make my own shade....and it's going to be mobile." The rest is history. I figure, if your not trying to make what you have better...you're just falling behind. Regarding the 12 month season: Yes and no. Many things grow here year round...many of those suffer during the summer and rebound in the fall. Few tolerate summer without some affect, while even fewer flourish during those months..but there are certainly those evolutionarily select few natives that love it here. Peppers, specifically the hot ones, are tropical in origin - so they can tolerate summers ~if~ you provide a mostly shade environment. They get crushed in full summer sun, I know this from experience ;) That being said, the sun is not the real summer enemy for vegetable crops here, specifically containerized ones, its the bugs, the rain, and the disease. So again, yes and no. The better you are, the better chance your plants have down here. That's the skinny, straight and narrow. Good to be back. Good. PJ

First off.... WHERE ARE YOU, MADDIE??????? YOU MISSED YOUR PARTY!!!!! HOPE YOU HAD A GREAT BIRTHDAY --- good or bad.... CHECK IN, GIRLFRIEND! Marci! Loved, loved, loved the gif! How cute and appropriate! Then... I have to thank everyone for answering my plea for help. There are such great ideas here when everyone puts their heads together. Besh, to answer your question, there are no funeral homes on the island, although there IS a cemetery. The off-island funeral homes handle everything and they're FAMILY run (their emphasis, not mine). After the suggestions here though, I got my guts up and called one and asked to them about some p/t employment when I move. The manager hasn't called back, but the woman who took my call was very nice and thought maybe something could be worked out. Meanwhile, ever busy, I took John's suggestion, and brainstormed. I think, maybe, I can work for my DH, promoting him (good for the both of us, no doubt!) and run a sort of store front, will/estate/funeral event planning biz. Many people on the island have life celebrations and I could get into that. I know a caterer from when we had the restaurant there, and a few musicians. My DH's mom does video production, so she has connections to making DVDs. And, I could work a little flying into it by renting a plane and offering to spread ashes. And I could fly to a mainland job on weekends, since the funeral home isn't too far from the airport. Anyway, like Besh & Raeanne said, I think I will continue my path and get the license. And, as taking NHSuzanne's advice, I will accept and enjoy the freedom of possibly being unemployed for a while. Kayaking, here I come? Maybe a job at one of the MANY kayaking tour places! So, thank you everyone, once again. Combining everyone's ideas has made me look at the move in a totally different way. It'll all be okay in the end...if it's not okay, it's not the end! :) Raeanne~ My in-lawas will visit at the end of the month. So company is coming here too! QOD for everyone: HOW DO YOU DECLUTTER YOUR ROOMS? John~ 1. Can you face your desk so it's facing OUT of your cubicle---so she can't see your screen --- and so you can see her coming? 2. If that's not possible, perhaps you have room to hang a large mirror above your monitor or on the wall next to it, even propped on an easel, so you can see behind you always (good feng shui). Then she can't sneak up! 3. Next, get a couple of corn plants (tall and straight) or potted bamboo and stick them on each side of your cube - that'll give her less room to stand behind you and kind of close off your office to intruders. 4. Then, with double sided tape, attach an small octaganal mirror on the back of your office chair. Good conversation piece and it'll reflect HER big, fat nose getting into YOUR business. 5. Then, every time she asks a questions, say either, "Why do you ask?" or "Pardon?" or "Say that again please?" In a VERY nice voice. When people are asking insulting or nosey things, asking them to repeat the question forces them to rethink, over and over again, what they're saying. 5. As well, if she gets excited over things outside in the parking lot or elsewhere in the building, just tell her, "Hey, if it concerns you that much, maybe you should call the police, security, or the FBI." 6. Go to an antique store and get some old pictures i frames and velcro them to your cubicle, then make up family stories about them. If you need pics of your SS sisters, just email us and we'll send the raciest ones we can find, right, girls? When Miss Buttinski asks about a phone call, tell her it was one of your 'relatives' calling, and if she has any ideas on how to stop the chafing marks Depends-brand diapers cause. 7. Then make up more huge lies about your family pictures. Keep changing the pictures until you have such an extended 'family' that absolutely no one, not even you, can keep track of them all. 8. Then start hanging pictures of babies up. Tell her these are your illegitmate children from your WILD daytime romps and you're working nights just to keep up with the bills. This should give the office 40 yr olds something to talk about for some time. 8. Then, if she still bugs you, ask if she would like to sit with for breaks, since you can't possible socialize as much as she likes on company time. It sounds like she's clueless and you're mysterious and they just want to get to know you. Girls bond by sharing secrets and talking endlessly. So she probably just wants to get to know you. Don't forget to hang a sign up that says, "I'm free to gossip at 10pm; I'll be awake and able to pay FULL attention then!" And good luck, brother! I'm thinking of you! DeeMarie~ I would say "UmmmmmmHmmmmmmm" loudly over and over again and NOT ask any questions about anything she says. If you keep doing that, she'll think about it afterwards and maybe get the message! Maybe!

I use the mail tile on the "start" page. I have it set up with my email account thru the service provider, ie. @cox.net. I can go to my email account thru the browser, just like the 2 gmail accounts I have. I guess that would mean the settings in Control Panel need to be set to use my provider account. Ok, that gives me a place to set my feet to find out what I need to do. I recall that I set both my hubby's email accounts up thru the tile on start menu, as I did my own. I guess that is the default I need to set. The provider. I'll have to go look it over again, thanks so much for your help. I'm still learning the Win8 and it's way different from Xp and Vista. Will post back when I find what I need to do. Let you nice folks trying to help me know what I did or found out. Thanks so much for your time and thoughtfulness.