First of all... wonderful pictures, everyone! Thank you for sharing them all! Beautiful trees, flowers, and other living things! I love it! Second... why do I plant my bulbs as shallowly as I do? Because there's no reason to bury the entire bulb when it's in the controlled environment of a container. The important plant to medium contact point is the basal plate, from whence the roots grow, and that part of the bulb is sufficiently buried. I like to keep the majority of my amaryllids planted shallowly for a few reasons... some amaryllids actually grow more as epiphytes in their natural habitat, I like to see what's happening to my bulbs, and having them above the surface level a bit allows for ease in keeping them groomed. Most bulbs settle in once planted, and either draw themselves down or lift themselves up a bit as their roots grow, to suit their growth habits. It's more of a habit for me to place them rather shallowly, mainly because of past experiences with saturated bagged soils and a propensity for Hippeastrums to rot in excess moisture. So, there are many reasons why I tend to plant amaryllids shallowly in pots. If I could grow them in the gardens, I'd place them deeper... well, most of them.

I am not really dieting any more either. Just sticking to the way I have been eating for the last year and a half with the slight addition of some veggies and cottage cheese. Amazing how a fresh picked tomato and big spoonful of cottage cheese can taste like desert. I lost another pound yesterday. Was kind of unexpected as it has been so long since I have lost any more weight. I am pleased with how I am now and will continue to add a bit of veggie until the weight loss stops then I will hold at that level for life. I am not much on exercising. I get enough exercise just taking care of this place. I imagine I would or could be in better physical shape if I did exercise but I just am not into it. Other then my stretches in the morning and that just gets me up and going with out as much body pain. HA I did get a cramp in my calf the other morning and I was doing some pretty fancy contorting to get to it but the cats had me pinned in place laying on top of the covers over me. OH that hurts so bad. Leg is still sore from it two days later.

Rob, great to see you! Your life sounds full, hectic, but gratifying. I second everyone's kudos in the mom department for you! We seem to have a lot in common. I'm a researcher/writer/editor/teacher/historian by profession (it's so hard to explain what I do, haha!). And music is a HUGE part of my life. I worked for 12 years as a professional musician before going back to college to do whatever it is I do now. My parents were so supportive of me and my music growing up. I didn't realize until I was at least in my 30's how exceptional they were. I cannot remember one single time them asking me to stop practicing or even goofing off with my friends on the piano, drums, guitar, trumpet, whatever...and I didn't know for a long time that other kids' parents weren't like that. Lass--we are lucky here in Washington (state) to have several excellent writing grants available to us. Think positive! If you don't get it this year, write and ask them how you could strengthen your writing to be competitive for next year. Then follow up and apply again! Also, check out Jack Straw. It's an amazing fellowship where they have you share your work on NPR and other venues. IIRC, the deadline is usually in October. And thanks for the encouragement! I'm celebrating small successes. If I do a little each day, it will eventually get done. :-) I'mhappy--have you tried opening your printer on your hard drive and making sure it's properly installed? Sometimes a printer can go offline even after it's been fine before. One easy check would be to uninstall it from your computer and then reinstall it. llucy-- I'm glad things are OK with your mom, but sad that you have been experiencing anxiety. I don't have first hand experience with that, but definitely second hand, as my daughter Joy has a lot of anxiety issues and full on panic attacks. I understand how frightening it must be. You're in my prayers. Steph--so very sorry you've been sick!! This heat sure doesn't help! I know you feel internal pressure to get stuff done every day, but remember your health is job #1 and getting the rest you need to get better IS doing something! Laundry and dishes aren't going anywhere. They'll wait until you're feeling up to it. :-) Audrey--that cake looks amazing, just like your name, lol! I swear if I didn't have diabetes I'd bake, then eat, that entire cake, hahaha! murraysmom--how cool is it that you have such wonderful friends to vacation with!! That sounds delightful!! And YAY for recycling! Shades, if you ever line your entire yard with empty wine bottles, I'm driving over the state line to have a serious chat with you, hahaha!! ;-) Schoolhouse, let us know if you try the tea again and how it turns out. Maybe it was just something different about your digestive system at the time and it will go down like it's supposed to now.

Responses can be edited days after they are posted, but the original post has a very short time (perhaps an hour) that it can be edited, but I don't know the rules for deleting the entire thread. I deleted a post that I started once, but it was less than an hour after I had posted it, and no one had responded yet. I deleted it because I had found the answer I wanted on my own, but people had already read what I had written and were trying to find an answer for me. Therefore I started a new thread and apologized for deleting the original thread, and I also posted what the answer was that I was looking for, in case someone else had the same problem. This had to do with thermostats.