30 calendar days, or 30 business days? I think I'd call them 35 days after you mail the letter. Or, call them 4 days after you mail the letter to confirm delivery, and ask when the clock starts ticking.

Elmer Fudd, you are correct. There were negative items that I did not mention because I thought that no one would be interested, and it did not seem to fit the theme of this thread. I do not wish to re-live my childhood, ever. There were many events that are behind me now and are going to stay there like childhood diseases. I had mumps, whooping cough, and measles at differing times. None were fun. The cough from whooping cough lasted through most of my summer. Another year, I cam down with measles that I caught the last week of school. That disease severely affected my eyes and I had to protect my eyes by wearing dark glasses when outside for most of the 3 summer months. The other reason that visits to my childhood are nice, but I have no desire to re-live that period is that it has been a lifetime struggle for me to get where I am at today, so in my old age, I tend to look forward, not backward. I live in fear of having to return to that way of life and being a pauper, although I do have the knowledge of what it takes to survive under those conditions - I don't want to return! During the late '40s, polio was feared and one summer we had several cases in our county. Parents were not sure how it was transmitted, but understood that it could be deadly or leave the patient with deformities. It caused financial burdens that wrecked several families. A boy in our community came down with polio and he and his family spent a miserable summer. He was house bound and not allowed contact with other outside his immediate family. The family quarantined themselves for fear of spreading the disease. Fortunately for him, his case was mild and he recovered with minimal effects. I had a friend in high school who was not so lucky. His right arm was undersized and permanently locked, bent at the elbow. He had to shift his handwriting to his left hand. Another schoolmate, a girl, had a face and arm that had been disfigured from a flash fire from a fuel spill from a gas(oline) iron. Another girl had been speared in the abdomen by a floor mounted gear shift lever during a car accident. Cancer was a poorly understood aliment especially among the poorly educated. As I recall, cancer stuck more women than men, but its kill ratio was high. I recall groups of neighborhood women discussing someone's cancer case in whispered tones and treating the subject as though it was a venereal disease; Some may have suspected it was. Some supposed you came down with cancer because you had done something naughty. Social ignorance is a burden on society. I did see one case of goiter. Adding foods containing iodine or using iodized table salt could eliminate goiter, but that was not widely known during my early childhood. The soils in my community was low to devoid of iodine, thus, farm folks who's food mainly came from their soil (gardens and orchards) were susceptible to goiter. When iodized salt was introduced, a notion spread through the superstitious ones that it should be avoided. It was a plot to adulterate the food supply. So there you have it. I was a little boy growing up and observing adults around me with puzzlement. Some notions and behaviors made no sense to me. I was the little cartoon boy with question marks floating above my head.

Thanks for posting this Paul. And thank you to Lars for the blog history of the Uncommon Rose and the trip through time to way back when. I did not know much of the history of yours and Lars venture into the rose nursery business, nor the tribulations that finished it. You told me about the loss of many of your surviving roses in the 2015 arctic outbreak, (Polar Vortex), but this was the first I have heard of the devastating flood that hit the Uncommon Rose in 2006. The story is both enlightening and tragic. I very much enjoyed the afternoon you spent with me last spring and now appreciate even more the rare roses that you sent south with me to California. Most of those roses were to be coming North right about now to be placed in the new Heritage Rose Garden where they can be appreciated, curated. propagated and perhaps a few at least redistributed. So, the roses will remain in John's Garden in California for another year, being well cared for and growing on. Alas, we Canadian folk too are sheltering in place and I and my volunteers have been locked out of the Summerland Ornamental Gardens since the end of March, until the pandemic is past. We potted up more than 100 rose plants last week that I ordered last fall and that are destined for the heritage garden. They are being held and cared for by a local retail nursery thank goodness. Fortunately, there is still one Government of Canada Employee allowed in the Ornamental Gardens to make certain that the irrigation is working, so the roses will be blooming for each other rather than for we humans. You sent a plant of Golden Century south with me, so I will have to ask John how it is coming along. I also remember you showing me the plant of Grenadier Cottage when I was at your place. I believe there were only one or two blooms open when I was there, but it certainly is a very beautiful rose that in my view deserves to be saved and cherished. If anything, both Lars' story and this pandemic teach us, is that nothing is certain and nothing is forever. But both these things also highlight the human need to treasure beauty and to try to cherish and protect it. Both the story and the pandemic only make me wish to finish our Canadian heritage rose garden project all the more. It is in such public Gardens that rare and heritage roses have by far the best chance of surviving. We will never be a Sangerhausen, but we will have some rare, beautiful and historically significant roses, including quite a number of yours in our collection when we are finished. Treasure Trail, I am propagating plants of this beauty from my Mother plant for John and for inclusion in the Summerland Ornamental Gardens collection. It roots very easily and loves the dry Okanagan summers.here. Stay safe and well. Cheers, Rick

To get pants that fit me the way I want, I make them myself, although I haven't bothered to do that lately, as I am less concerned with fit these days. Around 1992 I made some jeans-like pants out of some black and white cow print fabric that fit me very well. I did not put rear pockets on them because I never put anything in those pockets, but of course I did put front pockets on them. I still have them, but they don't fit anymore 😞. The only "pants" I'm making these days are swim trunks. I will say that I may have gotten too much attention when I wore my cow print pants. Judy Tenuta pulled me on stage with her to ridicule me when I went to see her at an AIDS benefit at the PDC in West Hollywood. I was also wearing a Cuban/Brazilian style white shirt with ruffled sleeves, a clear plastic vest, and red Doc Marten shoes, which I still have. She told the audience that I looked like I was ready to spawn, but I think that is one of her stock lines. Later, people in the PDC thought that I had been in the Cabana Boy skit (before Judy came on) and told me that they liked my act. Kevin likes pants that have a certain percentage of Lycra, but I've not worn pants like that. I've never liked skinny leg jeans - they look especially bad on people who have large hips or butts, as they make that part of the body look even bigger and more out of proportion IMO. And if someone is very small, they make them look even smaller and twiggy. Martha Teichner is a good example of why yoga pants or tights should not be worn as street clothes, and most certainly not on a news show. Of course she makes them look worse than anyone else I've seen.