Hey! Still out in DC area I see. How's the mini collection going? It's so strange to pop back on here after bout three years and still see so many familiar faces! As I said before, missed you guys!

Buford-- I hope that now that the neighbors affected rose bush is gone that you will be free from RRD. Seems like the county should help you dig and move those roses!? Great to see you again! Mendicino Rose-- Great to see you again. How is your lovely garden? Seil--Thanks! Hi Gean-- Alabama to the Puget Sound--that's a change, eh?! My last two big losses--both of which broke my spirit--were the loss of my huge blush Noisette and the Duchess de Brabant. I believed that the Duchess I had might have been one of the best specimens around, as the roses were perfect in form with the blooms being more upright instead of drooping. That was something that came with age and size, and was worth the wait. Man, I loved her. She resisted RRD for a long time. She eventually had one cane with RRD that I cut to the ground but two years later I found a very central cane that had it very bad. There was no way to get to and remove that cane without destroying the whole bush. Being that it was in the center I did not think the other branches would survive unaffected so we dug the whole thing. It took forever. Yep, I cried through the whole thing. After two years of pretty much a blank slate of a yard, I think I may attempt to grow roses again. Maybe smaller plants will be less susceptible. Maybe the high season for RRD has passed my area. I was here for years without one attack..maybe I can get a few more years in. I can only hope we find roses that resist it to a certain extent that I can add and watch. Its nice to see familiar names and to know that others are still plugging along in roseland. :o)

Just testing to see if a follow-up on cleaning works. Keywords for testing Google: follow-up cleaning abcxyz

Yes, my sweet Copenhagen died just before Christmas. I think the foundering was all intertwined with his other issues. He got shaggy curly hair he didn't lose in the spring, then started losing weight. The vet was certain he had Cushing's disease, but when tested he was negative. The vet then thought perhaps a thyroid issue or other metabolic problem. He got thinner. Then I found him lying in the barnyard and he couldn't get up. I called the vet and for some dumb reason I went to the house and got a quilt to put over him so he wouldn't be cold lying in the snow. So I sat in the snow with his head on my lap and waited for the doc, kissed him and told him that it was all green pastures for him from now on. And then, with the help of Doc Gilbert, he was gone. It still seems empty without him, but when I rescued him I told him he'd be here with me until I died or he did, and so I kept that promise. Cope was 23, and I still have his big dumb friend, King, who was Dad's old buggy horse. He's 26. Sadie is 14, old for a St. Bernard and even Red Cow is 17. Ashley says I run an assisted living facility for old animals! Annie