Thanks, mouton! I google searched the name you gave me and couldn't find a pic of anything at all. :( Is there somewhere I can learn more about identifying cacti? Like what things make a cactus belong to a specific group or stuff like that?? I am so new to this! Owned my cacti for a long time but never learned what they are or anything. I am surprised they have lived as long as they have! :)

AVEDON> You are really having good luck in the rebloom department. Beautiful Edging is a great daylily,and am glad you are getting more reblooms PERSIAN MARKET is a very pretty one, too.I have had rain here hree different times here in this last week, so maybe mine will put up more scaped, but, its suppose to drop down to 48 tomorrow night,so, kind of doubt I will have more rebloom scapes, but, never know.Strange things are happening this year. nice photos too of your blooms. jean

Thanks for the great update on everyone! I have jumped in and out quickly a few times lately, but haven't had much time. My little sis moved in for almost a week just prior to her move to Nebraska. She had been house sitting for a professor friend this last year while she was abroad. Since all of her stuff was in storage, we cleaned up the house and she vacated about a week early so that we could all spend some quality time with her before she left. That way we didn't have to do the final clean up just as Bernice was coming home. While here, little sis also had three of her granddaughters with us. It was quite a house full with a 11, 7 and 5 year old. On last Sunday, we had Christmas in July (August) dinner with turkey, dressing and all the trimmings. It is Tanya's favorite meal and we knew that we wouldn't be together this Christmas. We had 23 for dinner and I did all the cooking. I found out why we don't have turkey and dressing often except during the winter. It is TOO HOT. We spend all day Sunday together enjoying each other and then my older sister, Barbara, also spent the night with us. She lives here in town, but we wanted to have as much time together as possible. We sat up on the screened porch talking and laughing until 3 a.m. Monday night, we all gathered again and had plenty of left overs. Everyone was here again! Dan, Tanya's Nebraska love, flew in on Tuesday afternoon. I had told him that he needed to send some Nebraska corn our way because Walmart was totally out of fresh ears all weekend. We had a smaller cookout on Saturday evening with only 10 of us and had wanted corn on the cob on the grill. I didn't think anymore about the corn, until Dan called on Monday night and said that he was bringing corn to Texas. He had checked with the airline and could bring it in an insulated carry-on. He flew Southwest, which brought him into our small Love Field in Dallas. He said that something kept setting off the alarm at the security check and they had to unload each ear on by one to check them. He brought 44 ears of sweet Nebraska candy corn!!!!! Tuesday evening DH cooked hot links, hamburgers and corn on the grill. We had 26 for dinner that night. We had potato salad, baked beans, chips, and dips. I was so exhausted. Again, we were up until around 2 ish. Wednesday morning DH Jim, Dan, Tanya and I were up early to load the 26 foot U-Haul and her Jeep. She had sold her huge couch, but we had that truck and her vehicle loaded to the top. They pulled the Jeep on a trailer. They left around noon headed to cooler temperature in Nebraska. Jim and I took a long, welcome nap that afternoon and DD Tracie called me at 4 as she was getting off work to let me know that we needed to pick up the furniture on the screened porch because it was about to storm. I jumped up and Jim already had things moved and tarped and the sky was BLACK. Tracie came home and just made it in before the downpour. It was lightening and the wind was blowing so hard. We lost our power and were gathering flashlights and lanterns since the storm was at full fury. At 5 p.m. my neice called me and was hysterical. A tree had come through their new house. We rushed over and were the first of the family to arrive since we live only a few minutes from them. The firetrucks and ambulance were already there. A 60-65 foot (about 4 1/2 foot in diameter) tall oak tree had crashed through a window and side of the house and had fallen through the roof. My nephew Rod was sitting in his Man Cave room when their power went out. He got up and went to open the blinds to get a little light and actually saw the tree as it was coming down. He was holding one of their 3 Chiuauhas and threw Beau toward the door as he backed up. The ceiling, wall and window crashed down on him. He was under a bunch of the debris, but fortunately the tree and wall didn't land on him. He hurt his back, but looking at the room and house, it is miracle that he is alive. His family spent that night with us. The house is probably a total loss since the weight bearing walls that run from front to back were hit the hardest. They are still waiting on the final adjuster, but their insurance agent and the contractor that he called in say it will all have to come down. They had just bought the house during the past year. Thank God for insurance. They are staying in a hotel right now and for a house for temporary residence. I am still keeping their Mini Pin dog. It has been a crazy, crazy week around here.

Reading these stories made my day! I retired (early) in September. I used to have teams all across the country while working. Some days they did incredible things to make sure our clients got what they needed, and other days they had terribly long, hard days trying to achieve the same thing. I buy Lindt Truffles bulk, and whether it was a great act of service, or an 'I'm sorry you have to work so hard', I'd send them a box of truffles that I'd make up, with all the flavors Lindt makes. They were so thrilled - it's amazing what chocolate can do for people. Now I keep a stash of them with me while I'm grocery shopping or whatever. When the deli person hands me my cheese, I hand them back some truffles. I go into CVS and bring a pocketful, and give them to the cashiers and people behind the pharmacy counter. I was in a long line at Joann Fabric, where they have a candy display, with the truffles they sell at outrageous prices for one. The woman in front of me had a young boy who wanted one badly, and I caught her eye and told her what I had in my purse. She said yes, and they both were so happy to taste a flavor they'd never had before. The cashiers at the check out get a compliment and a truffle. The person driving the 'rescue dog transport leg' to meet me for leg of the journey gets truffles, as do the UPS folks and the mailman, and the woman who draws blood for tests after a doc appt. It makes me so happy to see them surprised and happy that I keep ordering the truffles in bulk. :-)