We are living through a remodel right now. I'm not sure if some would consider finishing a basement a "remodel", but we're basically adding 1,000 sq ft of finished space to our home. It sucks. We have stuff everywhere on the first floor because everything had to be removed from the basement in order for it to be framed out, having new electrical added and adding a full bathroom (including the fun part of having the concrete floor broken and pipes added). It has been nearly 2 months and I cannot wait for it to be done! We have done everything we can to keep the dust and dirt to a minimum throughout the rest of the house but boy, is it tough. I couldn't imagine doing this on the main floor of our home. Everything has cost more than we originally planned. Part of that is that we definitely are part of the "while you're at it" club (but it was for things that made sense, like adding a couple of extra outlets). Everything is taking longer than we were originally told, and we have been lucky and haven't hit a lot of snags. You watch HGTV and see teams of 10-15 people working on a house - that's not reality. We've had days where we've had no workers (which I was told from others that this is normal) and days where they're at our house for like 12 hours. Since we are living here during this, our lives have basically revolved around the contractors because things have come up where we've had to make decisions on the fly (so basically one of us has had to be here). I talked to my husband very seriously about moving before we started this project. He felt it didn't make sense because the interest rate on our current mortgage is much less than interest rates now, plus we couldn't ask as much for our home as competitors just because we didn't have that finished basement. But now that we're going through it, I think he feels he should have given moving much more consideration. And we're not remodeling for more than the cost of our home. If I had a $160,000 house, there is no way I would put another $200,000 into it, especially with what you want to do. Removing a very long load bearing wall is no easy task. I don't even think they make support beams that long - you're going to have support columns in the middle of your open concept (we have them smack dab in the middle of our basement so we had to change where we wanted to put things). We had to remodel our master bath and bedroom due to mold when my kids were little. That was tough enough; I couldn't imaging being without say a kitchen or stairs with little ones. We had to have the water turned off when they were installing the pipes - try explaining to your teenage daughter that she has to shower at her friend's house before going out that night. Everyone keeps telling me all the hassle will be worth it, but I really wish we would have moved instead.

Jennifer, Thanks for the seed report on SESE. About 6 or 8 weeks ago I saw the handwriting on the wall with the coming pandemic and ordered my seeds for both the 2020 and 2021 garden from them. I'm glad I did. And, see there, I am being optimistic and believing I'll survive the pandemic or I wouldn't have ordered seeds for next year. I'm glad you're seeing signs that people are being proactive, and I hate that churches may not be able to have their usual Easter-related services and activities. We have to remember that a pandemic is such an incredibly danger public health risk and daily life, as we know it, is changing a lot. I know that people are not used to quarantining, and I'd rather be out and about than stuck at home all the time, but I truly feel the time to stop going out as much as possible and to stay home as much as possible is now. The new cases in Texas are exploding now, and many of them are community-acquired, meaning that the patient had no known contact with anyone else who has been diagnosed with the disease, did not travel anywhere outside the local area and, thus, obviously became infected from someone in their local community. I expected the numbers to move pretty fast in TX once I saw the initial reports, but they're increasing probably a little more quickly than I was thinking they would. At least we are not in the same condition here yet as a few other states like Washington, California, New York, New Jersey, Florida and Louisiana. Texas was ahead of OK by only a couple of weeks in terms of COVID-19 cases spreading, so we still have a chance to react quickly here and maybe have it not get as widespread as quickly. I am not going to violate anybody's privacy here, but want to say that our family knows some people who are ill, have been tested and are awaiting their test results. It is shocking when you hear news like that, and that is especially true when it is people just like you who have been pretty careful, only going to work and back home again, and just grocery shopping or buying gasoline as needed---no travel, no going to the mall or the gym back when those still were open, no obvious crossing paths with infected people as far as they knew, etc. I think for most people in north central TX near us, the time to stay home and stay away from people probably was about 2 weeks ago, and now that they have community spread, it is almost too late. Their governor is issuing new directives and restrictions almost daily, so maybe they can halt the virus' spread. In OK, if we all start being as proactive as possible now, maybe most of us can avoid the virus as it makes its first official round through our state. OK hasn't had too many cases yet, but I've noticed that as soon as one case pops up in any given county, a second or third one is not far behind. We need to change our mindset now, if we haven't already, to avoid becoming one of those cases. I just hate this, but at least we all can retreat to our gardens and keep ourselves busy at home. I just want to add that Tim and I have one set of rules to keep track of on the south side of the river and another on the north and it is confusing. We'll want to go somewhere, so we'll say to one another "is it safe?" and then we have to figure out if that sort of place is open on the Texas side or the Oklahoma side, or both, or neither. It wears out my brain to the point that I think it is just easier to stay home. I am very concerned about small businesses all across the nation. Here in our county, one guy made a list that since has been forwarded around via various apps and FB, telling us which small businesses are still open, what their operating hours are now, whether you can call ahead and order what you need, etc. We need to remember to patronize our local, small businesses so we don't lose them from our community for good. Nancy, I am angry about all the coverups too. I have been tracking this beast since mid-January and was just beside myself with frustration from early February onward because I thought that was our nation's best chance to stop it in its tracks, and there stood all the politicians implying or even stating it was basically the flu, which it is not, and that it would go away as the weather warmed up, which also is false. The only thing I knew for sure at that point was that the government wasn't going to act in time to protect us, so we had to do everything possible to protect ourselves. I think Tim and Chris thought at first that maybe I was a little too obsessed with it, but then they got on board pretty soon thereafter as they watched it spreading across the world. One of the things I thought was heartbreaking was when Jana told me that she and Chris were going to go ahead and take the girls to the Texas Gulf Coast last week so they could make memories that the girls would have to hang on to "in case anything happened". That told me that Chris and Jana both clearly understand the front-line risks they face in their careers and know that tomorrow or next month or next year is not guaranteed for any of us. How I wish their vacation could have been just a normal vacation with the kids, not marred by fears of what comes next in this pandemic. Both of them expect to be exposed and quarantined, a concern heightened by the lack of proper PPE to keep them safe. No entity---no city, state, county, hospital, fire department, police department, nursing home, etc. has enough PPE stockpiled to deal with this crisis. Since most of it is made in China, and China has been shut down production-wise since early January, there's no quick relief in sight either. I fear for all our first responders and medical personnel. Jen, I agree that modern-day technology offers us options not available in previous times of crisis. I'm glad you're finding a way to make it work for you. Larry, I totally understand how you feel. Tim and I said we wouldn't go out and about when the virus started getting close to home, and then he took a week of vacation and we went somewhere pretty much every day, even knowing we might be exposing ourselves to infection. Sometimes being bad is fun, and I'm glad we were able to eat at a couple of our favorite restaurants in Texas before the governor shut them down at mid-week last week. We do carry wipes with us everywhere, and have hand sanitizer in our vehicle and I carry a mini-bottle of hand sanitizer in my purse. I hope we've done enough to stay safe. We didn't hear a single cough anywhere for days, and then noticed a lot more coughing in public yesterday, so I take that as a warning sign. After a quick trip to the feed store and to Lowe's today, we are officially staying home. Well, except Tim has to go to work each day and that is just unavoidable, but I'll be cleaning and disinfecting everything he touches when he comes in from work. I suppose he won't let me stand at the back door and spray him down with Lysol before he enters the house, will he? I think Tim should pack a suitcase to carry in the car just like he does before a forecasted snowstorm and should be prepared to hunker down and stay in Texas if anyone issues a stop-movement type edict while he is a work, particularly if such an edict prohibits crossing state lines. I don't know if such an edict is coming on either a statewide or national level, but if it is, he'd be in better shape if he has a suitcase full of clothing,medication and toiletries. Remember the good old days when all we had to worry about with the garden was just weather and pests? Dawn

Maybe there has been a flurry of school threads over the last day or two, and mods are shutting them down as excessive amounts of new topics about the same subject? Maybe there has been some unnecessary bickering or other rule breaking behaviors in the threads that are disappearing? Not sure how Robb's is more or less personal than happy's posting- both of them have school aged family going back to school and their own considerations about it and ways of discussing it. There's a bunch of other members around here with family facing what to do about schools too- every one just as important as each other. I don't see your original thread anywhere either happy. But in case the newer one wants to disappear, here's the link to show it was there. Retry- Approaching School Year 2020

Just to close out the story here -- So I had originally ordered the Eden as a gift for my friend. As you know, my AL turned out to be Eden. So we moved Eden to her new home on Saturday. And the Augusta Luise replacements (less than grade #1) arrived on Friday, so those got planted on Saturday. One in my yard, and one in my friend's yard. I have another AL coming in fall from FReedom Gardens. But I trimmed all the Eden blooms & buds off the rose before digging it up, and here is the glorious picture. If it was scented, if I had room for another climber...I might have kept her! But that spot was created (literally -- had to build a rock retaining wall to fit in another rose there!) for Augusta Luise. p.s. Diane, Colette already has many buds. I'm so excited to see what she's like!