I'm sorry to hear that. That sucks!!!

Soaking non aquatic plants only exposes them to possible trouble from sitting in water for hours.

Here is more 2020.

Ouch! I'm sorry! That burned book page was my 1996. 1994, everything which could break, broke in the Northridge Earthquake, including where I lived. Two years later, everything which could burn, burned in the fire, including where I lived. Thank God the 21st Century has been better!

Just coping as best I can.

More plogging find.

Divinity

So sorry we lost John Prine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS8RjCRolSM

Well it's hard to like the original post I love the direction the rest of this thread has gone! What a shopping list ! I would have loved to have been at that party. Lol! :-) My mom used to make Divinity candy. You're bringing back memories now.

Houzz is so 2020 too.

Kim, that earthquake plus fires later sounds horrible. I'm glad that is in your rear view mirror. The Almeda fires were 15 miles South and the pages floated this far. Down there, no sirens sounded and the water hydrants were dry. 2800 or so structures burned down and 3 people lost their lives.

Thank you. Yes ma'am, the Alameda fires were horrific.

Oh, I'm sorry.

The humor in this thread is a balm.

Yikes! I have nothing to complain about compared to you guys. 2020 has been a boring pain but I've stayed in and stayed healthy so everything else I can deal with. Stay safe everyone and have a Happy New Year!

Sorry about your James Galway - hope he makes it! And, that is chilling about the burnt papers floating in on the breeze - what a thing.

What was even weirder was what else floated in, Minnesota map (where I grew up), a bread recipe (my husband bakes bread) along with "The Black Sun" page, the circulatory system (I'm an M.D.), and

something about needles. I hope everyone's fire ash was as appropriate as mine was.

That is so strange, Sheila. And what a potboiler "The Black Sun" book page looks like. Oregon certainly had horrific fires this year--I'm so sorry..... It's hard for me to believe you indulged in all those treats, and yet, remain so slim and trim (was that really your photo a while back?--ha). I need to box up some badgers to send to you. They would enjoy a gopher feast. I'd follow with a box of divinity. I'm noshing on See's chocolates, and my granddaughter Clare made me a huge jar of hot fudge sauce for my ice cream.

On a sadder note, Idaho may have lucked out on the fire season, but the pandemic has reached real plague proportions here. I just found out my step nephew and his wife died of covid within hours of each other in the hospital. I'm still in shock. Yet, people here still think it's a hoax and won't wear masks. Many will refuse the vaccine, too. Diane

2020, took the lives of 5 of my friends , one to murder, 2 to cancer, 2 to diabetes.

The Almeda fire and a lovely pandemic .

The upside was the adoption of Azalea.

Sheila, Im so dorry about your vole and gopher shenanigans.

Before we bought this house we had an offer in on a small piece of property. When we were walking around I saw hundreds of gopher holes and it kept me up at night wondering how in the world I would get rid of them

It really was the stuff of nightmares

Fortunately, that deal feel through and we ended up with a gopher free yard. So, I commiserate with you on the damage that they do

That is pretty crazy about all of the burned paper that ended up in your yard

Here is to a nicer 2021

Kristine, I'm sorry. Sheila, hello, and I hope your rose recovers! This has been a tough year for many--perhaps most--and very strange for everybody. SO GLAD it's nearly over!

Yes, Kristine, I am also very sorry for your losses. Thank goodness your gopher deal fell through! We looked at so many places here, riddled with gopher piles! One of MANY reasons I decided to engage the engineered soil which prevents my ability to dig any holes, but at least there are NO gophers!

Oh no, 2020 won't stop! Let's hope that midnight puts an end to this! Have a great 2021 everyone!

OTOH, My Gopher Hawk caught/killed 32 gophers in 2020.

Good for you! We have a nesting pair of hawks in the damned Washingtonia palms in front. They are definitely MESSY! The white is urine. The fuzzy lumps are rabbits (?), rats (?), neighborhood cats (?) (HOPEFULLY!).

Sorry. We gave up long ago. NOTHING can be planted directly in the ground, here . . . There are gophers everywhere. They've decapitated the roots from far too many roses.

Just one example: This "Ragged Robin" was 7-ft. tall, when the gophers ate its roots down to a smooth knob. Replanted in a squat pot in the ground, it has grown back to about 10-ft.

It's not an ideal way to grow roses, but it is the ONLY way we can grow them here.

Mack got one the other day. He ate everything but the head.

GOOD KITTY Mack!

Your roses are gorgeous, Jeri. We have some hawks and neighborhood cats helping too.

The hawks here could be more helpful. They seem to be concentrating on squirrels.

As long as they leave The Goddesses alone, they are welcome to ANYTHING else they can scavenge. We see them coasting in across the neighborhood in the evenings from the fields.

I am really sorry to hear that Kristine. I didn't mean to be glib in my comment above but it was amazing that you received exactly the Pages you need it.

Sheila, one has to wonder why those particular items ended up at your house. Too deep for me, but I do hope your James survives. It will be a great addition to your roses. The first thing I thought of seeing that 'grocery' list was that 2020 could drive even a non drinker to drink.

Roseseek, I hadn't thought that you were in the Northridge earthquake area, too. We lived in Northridge and had been thinking about moving. The quake was the deciding factor. We had people lined up wanting to rent our house. It was the only one on our block that backed up against the Santa Susannas that was still inhabitable. Literally, a string of people coming in the front and leaving by the back. So many thousands were left homeless and desperate. You left a supremely gorgeous garden, if that was the one you posted from your Newhall home on another thread.

I'm not counting on 2021 flipping a switch, but we can hope. Has anyone else seen this ..... 2020 won.

Wow, what a thread. Best wishes to everyone AND their roses for 2021 and good riddance to 2020!

Slumgulion, are you in Medford ?

I'm in Grants Pass...Kristine where are you in PNW?

We are in Medford

Maybe those of us in the southern Oregon area should organize some mutual garden viewings in the late spring or early summer? I'd love to admire what others are doing and share ideas and tips, and to have a chance to see in person rose varieties I'm not familiar with.

That would be really interesting slumgullion.

Diane and Kristine and all so sorry to hear of the sad deaths from Covid. I'm hoping the new administration can get the vaccine rolled out and we could have some normalcy return.

Thank God we have our roses!

I really overdid it on the treats, Diane. They were so good.