Lol, hehe, the mud splashes and finding the other half solves the mystery now that you've found them. That's what I figured. A dog out on a lam always leaves a trail of destruction, they are incapable of making things "vanish into thin air" as you originally described. Beth, uh-oh, your dog may have that hyper Border Collie gene--you can see those border collie eyes and eyebrow set! The forehead is more broad though, but the proportions of the eyes are definitely B.C. In this case, I hate to tell you this but rawhides and chews aren't going to be enough. The best is to keep her with you when you are outside gardening. Do NOT leave her unattended because what you have to do is to train her in the "leave it" command. Anytime she approaches a pot or a rose tell her leave it! Make a small shake can (small metal container) filled with beans. Border collies have super sensitive ears and they hate that sound. So if she refuses to listen after the first warning, shake that small shake can. Also spray bunches of ropel, pepper spray around your roses too. Then if she stays away from a rose reward her. She may very well have that B.C. trait of going wacky over a ball or a frisbee. Use that as a means to reward her for leaving the roses alone. If you are lucky she will have the B.C. smart genes, she will figure out the association almost immediately. When Eluane was only 10 weeks old she knew what Quiet time was. I had to train her that there was a time I needed to be on the computer. Because if I didn't pay any attention to her she would do a puppy howl and thrash on the carpet or run and place her teeth to the couch (not bite the bottom, but just pretend to). but with a reward system, she quickly got the picture. Also B.Cs are very needy. They crave interaction, and if you don't give them enough attention they will get into lots of trouble, I have heard. I was very, very lucky! Eluane is extremely well-behaved. When I worked as a 3D animator, I had ridiculous crazy hours and the commute was 46 miles round trip. If I knew I had to pull an all-nighter I would have to come home around 3:00 p.m. to play with her, then 9:00 pm. I'd come and play, then 5:00 a.m. I'd play with her and then take my shower then go back to work and all the while Eluane would remain uncrated, she was that dependable. But whenever I got home she got tons of undivided attention from me and when I didn't have those long hours, again, tons of attention. When I freelance I have to take a 10 minute break every 1-2 hours to play with her. They are needy dogs, so that is why most B.Cs end up in Rescue. They are not dogs to have if you are too busy to spend time with. However, the rewards of the companionship is UNBELIEVABLE. I will never own another dog EVER, except for a Border Collie. They are that fun, that smart, and yes affectionate and VERY DEPENDABLE, loyal, and beautiful in the way they move and think. So try training your dog new tricks too. It can turn out to be a new fun adventure for you and your family :)

Lowe's, Home Depot and other big box operators are supplied by a variety of regional growers, none of whom would stay in business long if they knowingly supplied diseased plants. However, that said, I doubt that they do the virus indexing that our better TC labs and mail order growers spend time and money on. If you want to make purchases at the big box I recommend you get to know the garden center manager. Some are real gardeners who are quite knowledgeable. Often the part time staffers don't know a hosta from a daylily and can't be helpful even if they want to. Over the last nine years of collecting hostas I have purchased hostas from big box stores, specialty mail order nurseries, and local nurseries as well as participated in local and long distance trades. Only twice have I had a hosta exhibit signs of HVX and both were in plants acquired from local nurseries. However, on several occasions I have seen hostas offered for sale at nurseries and big boxes that were obviously diseased. When I explained my observations to management I was received politely, but in some case the plants were not removed from display. I believe the big box stores are useful for obtaining newer hosta varieties that have quickly moved into TC production on a large scale at reasonable prices. Of greater concern to me are foliar nematodes. Due to one bad experience with a specialty nursery, I have, for a number of years, maintained a quarantine bed where all new hostas are grown in pots for at least two seasons. It is far easier to rid a garden of a diseased plant with minimal chance of transmission to other plants than it is to eradicate foliar nematodes from a hosta bed. Use of a quarantine bed affords you time to evaluate a new plant and determine if it is disease free, nematode free and worthy of space in the garden. Mark

I will do a counter top reveal soon. The fabricators did an incredible job of scribing the counters to the walls and matching the veins on the mitered edge of the island. Sadly, my counters are covered with junk right now. We just had to move my parents to assisted living, and a bunch of their stuff ended up here for sorting since they down sized (and they did no packing or sorting before we arrived to move them from 3 hours away). Here pictures I took of the counters the day after install, before they got buried: I would really love feedback in my closets thread: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0614465421334.html If I don't get the details nailed down soon, DH may divorce me.

We did it!!! After reading all of your suggestions about security, coding and plug-ins, etc., I realized that I was in way over my head technically! I emailed Nephew and offered to pay him to fix and finish this for me. He was so sweet and told me that he'd be more than happy to do it, and no way was he wanting any payment for it. He's such a busy guy, with his job, new house and a great wife. As I mentioned earlier, he was so sweet to help me start this back in December, and I've been trying to finish it up on my own ever since then. But WordPress had me so confused! Anyhoo, I told him what you all suggested and he fixed everything for me! And when he went back in yesterday to make the changes, he said that he was really impressed with what I'd done with the blog and that it looked fantastic. I am so relieved and happy that he likes it, as he does this for a living, working for some tech company in Denver. He told me that he's had to go in and fix or help companies and individuals start up their own websites and blogs and mine is the nicest he's ever seen. And so, many thanks for helping me with this. I am very, very grateful. Our clinic's blog website is now ready for our patients and I can breathe again! Lynn