Lindyb, Everything that David Austin says about this rose is true. The Queen is an excellent rose here in NEPA. She's very hardy, disease free, floriferous,fragrant, and has a well behaved bush form. Her petals are slighty translucent and are held firmly on sturdy stems. If you pick the blooms just as they are beginning to open, they will last about 5 days in a vase. Her spent blooms drop off cleanly. Thorns are few and far between. I so love this rose. I have three of them and I'm considering adding a couple more this spring. I don't know how it would do in your area but I really think it's worth taking a chance on. I don't think you can go wrong!

PJ- we have one child. Carrie - 02 04 07 ... read next line. Bobbi_p - you nailed it! February 4th, 2007 is the due date of the next little one!This is is how we informed the family of the news. Their reactions were very funny when they realized what it meant. You are also correct about that being me in the picture. We had to set the camera to 'Wide Angle' to fit me in there. I looked a little cross eyed in the picture, hmm. Jolana - I was probably a wee one when you left Abilene, I was just toying with the idea that our family members might have crossed paths. There are only two schools you could have gone to so I am sure it is highly possible. My dad's side was Ortiz, from I gather they were trouble makers back then (not much has changed though). I wouldn't blame you if you had kept your distance. I know I do. My mother's side is Wood. Joe

"...since there is a finite amount of wealth in the world, if everyone who was able lived well below their means and gave the rest away then there would be a more even distribution..." Kath85, if you study history you will discover that your proposal is not at all a controversial idea. Read up on Marx, and you will find that his concept of wealth distribution is exactly as you describe. His socialist economy was, theoretically, designed to not only redistribute wealth more equally, but also to place more power within the hands of the "proletariat," or working class. Sounds lofty, fair-minded and humanitarian, but, this lovely, utopian concept has failed repeatedly around the globe. Why? Ultimately, people want the option to succeed or fail on their own initiative, I believe. A capitalist economy while far from perfect, does demonstrate that people are most satisfied when they are free to pursue their own unique ideas of how to take care of themselves. Handing over some of your money is a sweet idea, but essentially humanity, at its core, has a need to be responsible for its own prosperity or failure! Witness how in 2011, people around the world are laying down their lives to be free, not to get handouts! Furthermore, I've come to challenge the notion that, "there is a finite amount of wealth in the world." Einstein said that problems could not be solved using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. Given this wisdom, I doubt that a purely economic response, including charity, will ever suffice when addressing disparity in wages, and access to opportunity. The level of consciousness with which we approach challenges is key, in my view.

>>but I don't see how becoming a single parent and putting my kids through that constant struggle is better than what's going on now. >> My Asian parents stayed together for eight years after things went sour, because they had the whole "we're together for the sake of our children." My spouse's mother agonized for almost two decades about divorcing her husband and marrying a family friend. He and I have been together for, oh, about 40 years now. We BOTH agree, the idea of "staying married for the kids" is one of the cruelest and most self-deceptive things parents can do. Both of us were infinitely relieved when our parents respectively divorced and married people who suited them better. Your kids know there is trouble already. They may not be able to verbalize it and are certainly not old enough to analyze it. But they KNOW there is trouble in Paradise and that there is tension 24/7 in their lives. Children are very sensitive to those kinds of emotional messages; you can't hide from people you are living with day-to-day. If she can't or won't be a good mother, let her go. Maybe she will be able to better express affection for them when it's on her own terms and she isn't feeling pressured by outside expectations. If that means she's a part-time mom, that's not the worst thing in the world for them. Children need to be loved and encouraged. They don't need a fantasy that they're the center of everybody's world, because they aren't. Give them a good life. Give them joy, reassurance that you will be there for them, and a sense of hope. Don't try to give them the "perfect" life, because you can't. No parent can.