Time to close the history books on another weekend. Good grief-I was productive this weekend and still need them to be at least twice as long! I'm pretty beat up and off to bed but just wanted to share this story of today's escapades. Monique, Les and I decided to go to a nursery in southern VT that is known for it's selection of tender container plants. It's a little over an hour and a half drive from my house. The plan was for them to pick me up at 11, hit the nursery, then have lunch somewhere. A few miles into VT we decided to stop at the welcome center for a bathroom break. As I was getting out of the van I noticed this nasty foul smell that I didn't recognize but figured it was coming from somewhere else. When we came out the smell was only in the van. It smelled like something was rotting. So we get out and start sniffing. Lo and behold the smell was coming from the exhaust pipe. OK, between the three of us we don't know a whole heck of alot about cars but it starts so how bad could it be? Starts yes, but won't go forward or back-must be the transmission. Guess a call to AAA will be in order. We try to call on cell phones and it's a no go. Plenty of service and I could call other numbers but not the AAA 800 number. Les trudges into the welcome center to use their phone. Now we're waiting with the hood up and a good gear head samaritan comes over and starts poking around. He informs Les that the transmission fluid is almost empty. Now we're hopeful. All we need is some transmission fluid and we'll be on our way, right? Tow truck guy shows up-flatbed truck actually. He doesn't have transmission fluid and only advises that the van get towed to a service station (none of which are open on Sunday thank you very much). And he only has room for two people. So how do we get home? Well the Red Roof Inn in Brattleboro is an Avis dealer-maybe they'll have a car. So off he goes with the van and leaves us like bag people in the parking lot of the welcome center to call Avis. Once again cell phones don't work so it's back inside where the people working the information booth can make fun of us...lol. it must be our lucky day because Avis has a car but we have to get there. Hello, Brattleboro taxi? If you've ever driven through a rural area and wondered who would call a taxi or rent a car, now you know. At any rate, it turned out the rental car was only three miles from the nursery where we had intended to go. So even though it was now overcast, windy, spitting rain and mid afternoon we decided to make the best of it. Thank goodness for large trunks in mid sized cars because we filled it with all sorts of cool plants. Lunch was after five and I didn't get home til around seven but I think the day turned out well considering. Guess you could call it making lemonade out of your lemons. Only gardeners, right? lol OK, more I'd like to say, but that's it for tonight. Nite nite! Sue

Posted by missmshell z4 Carthage,NY (My Page) on Tue, Apr 6, 10 at 9:23 Darrin, give you all the credit in the world. I have twin uncles with autism. When I was a kid my grandmother babysat me every day after school so I was with them a lot. Like mentioned before, there were good days and then there were bad ones. I remember that sometimes the smallest little things could set one of them off. Couple smart cookies they are tho! My grandmother can no longer take care of them so they live in group homes now and I dont get to see them much anymore. Sure miss em. Michelle,...Totally appreciate your emotional and moral support bunches!! Whoa, twin autistic uncles?! Now there's a sobering eye opener, as it were. Never heard of or even remotely considered twin autistics before! Moreover, to me, the concept verges on inconceivable. That said, not every autistic individual is like Roy. That's why the condition(?), anymore, is referred to as "Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)", aka "Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)," thereby addressing a wide range of perceptual, cognitive and otherwise sociobehaviorally debilitative possible combinations. Some individuals are "high functioning", some non-verbal,...some this, some that. Trouble is, all too often, when you try to explain what the deal is, all too many still seem to be locked into "Oh yeah,...like Rain Man," **shrug** Then, y'gotta go "Yesss,...but," which is actually good, in a way, because it is a way to enlighten those who are actually willing to listen. But, it can also be a bit tedious, and sometimes y'wonder if you actually got through, or if they were just playing be nice to it and it'll go away. **again - shrug** - Anyway, elsewise, with Roy, we've become fairly adept at anticipating what is-or-is-not likely to set him off (commands, demands and probing questions, mostly). Actually, I am generally better than Elly at finessing Roy into behaving properly and doing what needs to be done. Like your uncles, in many (sometimes sneaky) ways, Roy is indeed quite the "smart cookie"! Although we learned, long ago, never to underestimate his potential creative/cognitive capacity, Roy still surprises us at times! For one thing, he's totally wizard at playing video games! ========== Posted by lilangel181 zone 5 (lilangel181@aol.com) on Tue, Apr 6, 10 at 11:30 Oh Darrin, That is quite a plate-full! Hugs and all the support I can offer to you and your wife for everything yall do! Have you ever tried doing a weekend respite program? Where someone else looks after the child for an afternoon, or a day or even a weekend to give parents time to just relax. I need to turn off the computer now... apparently we're having a tornado watch/warning. I'm not worried... I grew up in tornado alley! ~Laura Laura,...Thanks uber muchly for your emotional support!! While respite service has been made available to us, and we seriously considered it, ultimately we chose to decline, for several...

Hi everyone, Happy Belated Birthday Mary Ellen. Hope it was a good one. I received a wonderful box from Treasa. Thank you so much!!!! I love everything in the box. Here is what I received. Gardening gloves, three different garden figures, a really nice garden book, several different dahlia tubers, tuberose and a flower shaped floating candle. I love all of it and can't wait to plant those tubers. I have always admired dahlia's but have never actually had any. Can't wait to read my new garden book as well. What a great box! It has been raining like crazy here today in Texas but we can sure use the rain. I bought a weed popper gardening tool that is supposed to get the weeds out down to the root so I think I will try it out this weekend while the ground is still wet and see how it works. Have a good weekend everyone. Dianne

So pretty, and a sweet memorial to your mom. I hope you are doing ok.