Plant Propagation part XXXIII based on my own experience

So, if I understand you correctly Jnette, I did not send you a virus. I am so glad about that. I have never had a virus. How do you tell if you have a virus?

The garage is again clean and the majority of the plants are planted. I went to the post office and picked up my boxes for mailing. Tomorrow I have a nail appointment at noon.

The weather was absolutely beautiful today. We had a high of 75 today and by the weekend we are suppose to be 85. My orange and lime trees are getting ready to bloom.

Vern's ex-wife has been placed into hospice. Only a few days left.

I am going to hit the bed early because my body feels like I have been run over by a truck.

I will check in late tomorrow afternoon.

I think we may have mold. I have had a leak under my sink for a while. It ran behind the flooring so I can't even bleach spray it. Also our cooler dripped last year back somehow into a room and the room smells like mildew, it's musty. I fight with DH about it. Good grief. That is what Actress Brittney Murphey died from and her husband died 3 mo. later from it.

Oh Sharon I am excited to get my box. If you did not get it out, that is fine, don't stress on that. You have your plate so full.

I am looking forward to the nice weather in the 80's and maybe 90's this week. Last week one day I parked in the front of the house and I had a solid casing of ice around my car, where it rained that night. A lot of my petunia seedlings have disappeared in the weather fluctuations. I can't transplant them out of their little terreriums yet. Oh well.

The desert wild flowers are going nuts with all the rain. One of the disabled I work with is like a weather Savaant and he said we are going to have a big Monsoon season with another El Nino this summer Sharon. Good more rain. We need it. He said May, June, July should be warmer but Aug. Sept. Oct. cooler than usual. I will gladly take that any day.

No, no virus Sharon. I didn't mean you did. I wondered if I got it off of that paper you told us to look at. That is when it started.

Well I am up early. Got my sleep and doing some banking and stuff like that.

I will get some boxes out today and the rest out Friday. The neighbor down the street that I am helping is going to the nursery with me to pick out flowers. It is amazing to see her spend money. It is "family" money but she is #1 beautiful inside and out, #2, very smart and #3 she thinks I am a genius when it comes to gardening. She is in her mid 40s and has three very handsome children. It is funny to listen to them talk. They are watching how they are spending money because their daughter is going to USC next year. $50,000 right out the gate then +++. So what do they do, buy a new 10 seat jet. The weekend before she was talking about landscape and watching money, they went to Sun Valley skiing. I guess there are different levels of watching your money.

When I get done with their landscape, I always get a nice gift card and the landscape looks beautiful but then no one touches it because they have a cheap mow and blow landscaper. They have a full time housekeeper and their home always looks like a model home.

You all have a wonderful day and I will be back this evening. Probably when you are all in bed. Sharon.

Dawn, mold is nothing to mess with. We had it i the old house and did not k now it. The great room's outside wall, with the fireplace, was right under the kids bathroom upstairs. The wall was wallpapered and had no stains. Every night when I cam home from work I would sit in a recliner right next to the fireplace and read the evening paper.

I got this respiratory problem that just kept getting worse. I eventually had to have si us surgery because my sinus drain was clogged on the left side of my head and I was headed for encephalitis which will kill you quick. Thank goodness, by a fluke, the problem was discovered. I had such headaches and neck pain, my doctor asked Vern to leave the room and then asked me if he was beating me.

Anyway, I was homw ill, the house was sold, and a handyman was removing the wallpaper and going to paint that wall. Behind the wall paper was this black powder, ki d of like printer ink. I asked him, "What is that"? Nothing. And he proceeded to scrape it off on to the floor while I was in the kitchen. That was 10 years ago.

By the time this home was completed I was very sick. Relatives and hired helpers had to move us and put everything away. When they did the sinus drain surgery they did a biopsy.

Black Mold. It was not common at that time. Well it was probably there but people did not know about it.

The longer I was here at the new house the better I got. I guess it is a good think I drug Vern up here kicking and screaming. If not, I would probably be dead.

One thing though, Black Mold usually does not smell. You probably have rotting wood from too much moisture and that is the mildew smell. Mildew is not Black Mold.

And again, Mother Winter signs off.

Morning :

Same old , same old, cold, windy and the sun is shining. Temps are in the 20's and rising to no more than mid 40s today. Rain/snow expected tonight into tomorrow. I am tired and grumpy and do not feel like doing a thing but sit. I have to push myself to get moving because this cold weather just strips me of the little energy I have.

I just must get out of this mood or I will let all my plants die and not get anything done.
It feels like depression, yet I have no reason to be depressed. I think I am mental! I know Jenette, you do not have to say it.

I heard from a customer who said her Aimees I sent her last year died over the winter.
That makes me sad. I am going to send her another one at no cost, but I can not help but wonder why people can not grow these things when they are really an easy to grow plant. It must be a sun/water problem. The plants are healthy when they leave here I think. She also had one of the jasmine die............the other she said is fine. I will replace that one also. She lives in Tennessee and is a darling person. She also has other plants that are doing well. I feel terrible. Makes me wonder if it is not time to quit if I am not growing plants that continue to live. Dave.............help me out here. Cheer me up........do something before I just open the doors to the GH and let everything die.

I need to get some fresh air. It was so cold Barney did not want to take a long walk today. It will soon be warm I hope. Sorry I am today. I guess I should count my blessings and move on. I had a difficult day yesterday dealing with my older cousins health and welfare issues and computer security issues and I think it carried over to today. lol.

Happy thoughts.......................did not remember if I told you how proud I am of my grandson. He made the National Honor Society and the Varsity Baseball team.
He is such a sweetie and his girl friend broke up with him. He is heartbroken. This was his first real love.............but I am sure he will survive. Young love heartbreaks have a way of coming and going quickly. His facebook page already shows more "female" conversations since the news got out. LOL I am already feeling better just thinking about him.

Later. Where is Katie, Lee? Back later with more happy thought. I hope.

Well you all are in fine form this morning. Sharon her normal busy self, and JB her normal self. And nobody else on here. Where is everyone this morning? Probably hiding in their nice warm snuggy nests.

I screwed up again. Made an appointment for today with the lady who does my taxes and wouldn't you know it, today is when Sears is suppose to deliver my refrigerator. I need to be here to yell at them when they refuse to drive up my drive to deliver it, since I know Bob won't. So, need to call her and change it.

And then, Thursday Bob has to take the dog to the vet to have her ears checked after her last visit, and then Sunday I have an appointment at Costco for a pap smear.

Other than that I have the whole week to myself. My sister has been sending me listings for houses for sale but so far I have found only one I am at all interested in looking at. We were going to do that Thursday but she is still not recovered from her fall the other day so may not be doing that.

Wonder where that Lee is.

Hi - I'm still here. Just not very energetic or talkative.

Tony has been clearing out an outdoor storage area. Found enough blue tiles to complete the kitchen. Now al we need is the energy to do it.

I've been cleaning around the compost bin where "supplies" (AKA junk) accumulate. We get a lot of leaf drop this time of year and I need to rake to discourage scorpions and other visitors.

I have to start moving. I have lots of little aloe plants to move when I finish the outdoor housekeeping.

big hugs, especially to JB whose irrascible self is missed, katie

Katie, what do you do with the aloe? It sells like crazy up here. I never raised it for some reason. Maybe I should.

Just got my order of the new shipping boxes. Now I need to find a place to keep them. Nothing is easy. LOL Back later. I must go get gasoline in the jeep. I hate to think of what I am going to pay for that.

Just filled the tank. $3.29 a gallon. is today's price for straight gas in NJ.

Sometimes I put a piece of the aloe in a smoothie. Or on a cut or burn.

Mostly I enjoy that it grows well here with little to no care. It's one of those palmbob called invasive in his article but it just shows that one person's invasive is anothers salvation. It has tall stalks of bright yellow blossoms and the hummingbirds love it. I might get some of the red from a friend as she has a big patch of it.

JB if you would like some to sell I cn send you a box of small plants when I go to Ca. Just let me know. They are now being touted as a super food so the demand can be expected to increase.

Tony and I are doing spring cleaning in the yard. Where I'm working I've found a few cockroaches, a fat frog (""food" said Tony but I just encouraged it to move on) and a skeleton of a rattlesnake about three inches long. No scorpions so far but I'm still being very careful. Lots of leaves for the compost bin and for where we are building up the arroyo so's to have more room for plants.

Back to work.

kb

No thanks Katie , I just threw out spider plants that are "invasive" to me when they do not grow pretty enough to sell. lol Now the GH is cleaned up and I can start thinking about taking cuttings of the Holiday Cactus and plant the black pussy willow that is ready for pots.

I am really going to trim down to just certain special things. It is easier and less stressful to keep track of all the different things. I am too darn old not to have fun doing this.

DG Admin. is working on a problem. The list of orders on my home page is not showing up some of my orders and Melody is working on it. There must be a glitch someplace.

My new program came up a few minutes ago and said it just scanned DG forum and email I was working with and all is clean. No problems. That is good to know. With all the people we deal with on here there is always a chance of picking up something that will cause problems. I would hope most of us have security of some sort for the internet.

Finished cleaning out the little feed barn and made room for my delivery of potting soil that is coming tomorrow. Now I am thinking about resting. I am tired today again. Keep on pulling those weeds and playing in the dirt, I am done for the day. Have a good evening. JB

Wow Sharon. You have had one heck of a life. I am afraid we have mold. I lived in Ohio and saw it here in California and in Ohio and I know what the house smells like Musty basement smell breeding ground for black mold.

Well for heavens sakes Dawn have it checked. That stuff is dangerous. Nothing to mess with.

Good morning, everyone.

I'm back with the living after about twelve hours of sleep. Tony and I did yard cleaning yesterday. After he left, I continued to work and also worked on making one area of the northern fence more artistic. I find old chairs at the dump sometimes and I'm trying to incorporate them into the garden. I totally wore myself out.

When I came inside I sat at the computer. Had a weird feeling in my chest and was sure I was having a heart attack so I laid down on the bed. Then I burped. And felt all better except for still having every muscle in my body aching.

When I woke up this morning there was a bird in here, flying back and forth at a stationary window, This happpens every couple of days with all the birds here. I managed to shoo it out the door before the dogs could try to "play" with it.

I'm putting a lot of the aloe plants along the fence. They help to block vermin from coming in and discourage the dogs from trying to dig their way out. They also provide a unifying look which is much needed here.. I just can't regard stuff from the dump as being "unified ("but it all came from the same dump").

I'm going to try layering my pomegranate. Most poms here are pale pink or white and fairly tasteless. Where I used to live there was a row about 50-ft long of red poms that the owner had planted twenty-five years ago. When they were in season, I'd load up my little pull shopping cart and walk around town giving them away. Got to know lots of people and it was a great cure for the holiday blues as they usually ripened from Thankgiving to Christmas..

My shoulders are still sore from yesterday but I'm really glad to have some energy to be working outside.

I hear Tony out there working so I will join in, if only to point helpfully.

hugs, katie

Dawn, if you live long enough, you will have one heck of a life to remember. I also did mortgages for over 35 years so I heard all my borrowers tales of life also. That is why I am so full of "stuff"....

Going shopping today with neighbor down the street and mailing some boxes. Tomorrow boxes should be finished.

Where is Dave? He was not doing well the last time he posted.

My shoulder is not happy but it is my fault. Removed a bunch of clover from the dichondra and used as screwdriver and a twisting motion. I know better.

Well there has been about a half hour pause on here. Landscape supervisor stopped by to go over rehab bill. Got a couple thousand taken off but it is a good thing I saved my money. AND, everything is working.

AND, another thing, I discovered today is Wednesday. Not going to plant place until Thursday. I have all day to just play in the garden.

Vern's Nephew from Chicago is stopping by tonight. He is in town on business. It is going to be a surprise for Vern.

I agree with Jnette on the mold. Get it out of there. You see Dawn, if I was ill, I would just work through it. I probably missed 15 days in 35 years on sick leave. That is why I got in so much trouble body wise with the Black Mold. Felt like crap but just worked through it.

We are suppose to be 80 today but then Lake Mead has a high wind warning out so we shall see what the weather will bring. I just hope it brings nice weather for JB. Lee and Evelyn.

Evelyn, all your discomfort has filled all the the water reservoirs in California. The Governor is says the drought is over today in California. I hope it is not like Bush saying, "Mission Accomplished".

Have a great day. Mother Winter.

We are sitting here waiting to see what the weather is going to do. We have stumps to pull out of the Christmas Tree Field, New plants coming to plant so ground needs to be prepared. And, the weather is changing with two storms coming in from the West and South. The second storm will be a Nor'easter and heavy snow will be north of here but if for some reason the winds change, we could get snow. We are expected to have rain starting tonight, clearing Fri afternoon, showers and sun over the weekend and rain again for another week. That is no April Fool joke.

My Christmas Cactus I ordered came and the plants look good. One was an Easter Cactus. I now own an Easter Cactus. Yahoo.

Sometimes I want to just scream with these people who order plants or cuttings. I clearly state No Credit Cards. This last order I received never gave his name, so I had to write back a Dmail and ask for that. Then he waited a week to send me that. Today I get a private email from him asking if I would take a credit card over the phone or in an email.
I just cut and pasted the part of the listing that described the Payment methods and sent it to him. He is the CEO of a tree company...and he can not read.

Must get busy. lunch is over. JB

Good morning or afternoon depending where we are at.
yes I have been down a bit its been a crapy week weather wise. a few frosty am's so I had to cover up some of my newer plantings.
Yesterday was the bigest packing day so far this year. 5 huge orders ok not quite huge but large for me. I have a pic to share that shows why I use my addatives on my plants. Had the darndest time getting the soil out of the roots of the hostas. decided that the second year hostas are rooted enough to send bare root.

jb sorry the ones I sent you did not have the bigest root system like the picture. I do understand the question about the sanity of keeping the plants while its suposed to be a slower life now that we are settled down. one thing that always gives me satisfaction is the packing and shipping of plants that I took from cutting to finished plant. its gratifying to see something you created. babied all the way through till it was fully grown.

A fusion is just below a tarus (spelling???). there are 2 smaller than ours. its a roomy mid sized car that rides nicely with some of the creature comforts.

Black mold is nothing to fool with. some insurance companies won't insure homes in texas as its really bad there and they lost a lot of $$$ to claims. so please get out and get it remeadiated. its going to be an issue not only for your life but also if you try to sell the home as they can come back on you if you knew about it.


JB ... oh yes depression i seem to be dealing with a bad bout of it at the moment but its the weather I am sure as well as the ole back acting up. not going to do a whole lot today. looks like a good day for tv and napping. go figuire though. we were freezing on monday and its suposed to be 80 on saturday. what a difference a day makes. Will Rogers once said "if you don't like the weather in oklahoma just wait a min. it will change".
I have had the same thoughts about letting everything go but then there is the mess of cleaning it all up. I figuire when its time to call it done and over I will just sell everything off and fold up shop. too much to just let mother nature have her way with everything. besides I have seen what mother nature can do with a nursry thats let go.
half the stuff dies and the other half roots into the ground and takes over. not a pretty site. The funny part of the overgrown nursery was they had the ground cloth down and the tree's rooted right through it with huge tap roots.

please chime in if I forgot anyone or anything today as I am not the most stable today. pic is of the hosta roots of plants mailed out yesterday
Dave

Hey JB: did you know you can fool the christmas and thanksgiving cactus into being easter cactii? its lighting and day length.
just a tid bit for the day

Hello Dave, Honey...............I have been worried about you. Yes I have all mine fooled at the moment. All of my stock plants are still blooming because I have been moving them around. I must stop them soon. I just hate to. They are so pretty.

Sorry to hear your a tad depressed. I am working out of it slowly but the weather forecast just gave me a kick in the head. lol

I must get a move on and get busy, but when I saw your post I had to say hi and I do pray you are feeling better soon. Hugs.

Katie, I did not forget you, I enjoy your posts and your activities in the garden and dump. lol

In the event I do not get back, Dawn, be careful of that mold. Jen, Lee, Sharon, Ev, love you guys, just do not have time to chat today. Hugs to you too. If I missed anyone, sorry. JB

OK everybody, I promised Jen I would post today and let all in on what's been going on with me. So here goes:
6 weeks ago I was diagnosed with the following--Diabetes type 2, high blood pressure, bad colesteral (sp), Vitamin D way low and of course weight is too high. I have been on a diet, but even after eating less than 1000 calories a day, I am only down 2# in 6 weeks. Sugar is still quite high, and so forth. I have been going through frustration with this and didn't want to bother anyone with my problems. Can't seem to get interested in anything, including planting. Of course, until a couple of days ago, still had snow. Been nice the last few, so snow is almost gone, but still cold at night, and between 45-55 during the day. BUT this has just been the last few. They say it is going to get cold again. Great, just what I need. Anyway, that is what is going on with me. Storm is really growing, and still trying to relocate grass and plants. I will try and catch him still long enough for a picture. He is pretty funny looking with one ear up and one cranked to the side. On a lighter note--He is teething, loosing teeth, and we have kept about 6 or so of them. Guess I should have a "baby" book started :) TTYAL, Lee
PS Sorry I worried you, I will try to be better. And if anyone has any ideas just email me. I am willing to try anything so I don't have to take pills and I only have until the end of May to get things under control. I promise, I haven't cheated even once. :)

Oh, Lee, you poor baby. It is absolute hell when you try so hard to loose weight and can not. I know. They tell me it is because my metabolism is slowing down and I do not burn off the calories. Exercise is the key, I need to exercise...............yea, in the snow, rain and wind. I don't think so. I hate the treadmill but that has been my back up all winter. You take care of yourself and we will be here when you want us. But, do not stay away too long. I thought maybe you went to Libya to join the rebels. Sending no calorie hugs. JB

Lee, I was also recently diagnosed with diabetes and high cholesteral. I've got low blood pressure - otherwise, much the same problems including overweight. My doctor is also overweight and diabetic so he is much more sympathetic to the difficulties than most. As my depression lifted and I was able to get around more my clothes were a little loser so even though I hadn't lost weight the doctor and I agreed that this was progrress. My best advice is to find a doctor who is overweight!!

Tony and I got a lot of yard cleaning done and a couple more "artsy" areas laid out. He has to take his parents to the clinic in Santa Rosalia tomorrow so I'll have a "free" day.

I made my appointment with the podiatry doctor for April 27 which is what they had open and was just when I wanted it. Gives me another month to work here before it gets too hot.

I worked for about another hour after Tony left but I was then quite worn out. I did get my little back yard more cleaned up. The birds were not too happy about that as the work put me close to their feeder.

Being able to get out and get some work done in this nice weather has really helped to lift my spirits. I send this news on as a message of hope for those of you who are still getting winter weather.

My retirement money comes in tomorrow so I think I can finish paying for my ATV - one of the reasons I'm pushing to get the yard work done. I want to go to the beach.

For now, I'm going to lie down and give my legs a rest.

hugs, katie

Hey Lee lady, Glad to see you are back amongst us. Remember, I told you that my mom controlled her Diabetes with diet. However, until JB mentioned it, I had forgotten she also exercised besides her yard work. She did use the treadmill. She had a little TV down in the basement with her treadmill and headphones. You would hear her laughing down there and not hear anything else, like the TV. It was funny. I think perseverance is the answer.

You would never meet a person with as much will power as my mother. Her dr. put her on a low fat diet and then of course, over the years you would hear on TV or read the paper how the Food and Drug discovered this or that wasn't right, etc. Well, she never once went off her diet. Almost 20 years later her dr. asked her why in the world she was on a diet like that.

Can you believe that??? I would have laid that old SOB out flat.

Anyway, just goes to show it can be done, and you can do it. Just because you don't see any results immediately (I know, 6 weeks is hardly immediately) just hang in there. Just like the VD. You said 6 weeks and you hadn't noticed any difference, well after you told me that, I realized I was on it for 12 weeks before I discovered the spots I was telling you about on my arms were no longer there. That is when I decided it was the VD. Just that was an improvement.

The nurses in the clinic and drs. offices quit asking me if I was in an abusive situation. It also dawned on me that I was in a lot better frame of mind. Not as depressed.

Maybe there is light at the tunnel. Thanks for your concern I am pretty stubborn, so I will keep trying.

Diet is just a way to torture yourself with hopes of it ending with you thinner. A realistic lifestyle change that you can live with for ever, baring a celebration here and there is the only way to make it work and live happily. I have not mastered this yet.

Thanks for all the well wishes about my Mold, if I do have it. I am trying to get H to see that too.

I found you! haha. somehow i got lost. Missed the new thread and wondered what happened to all of you. I knew where I was, but you all were much too quiet. Lots going on, I will have to get back online later. I just wanted to catch up.

Dawn, men do not want to hear bad news so we don't take care of the problems. Then when we end up having to do it, they are much worse than if we had taken care of them in the first place.

I know, been there, done that. The longer you wait the worse it is going to be. If you find out things that can be done now it might not come to that.

Darn, there she is again. LOL, Linda, we caught you sleeping.

How are the feet? Even tho you have been given the green light on walking etc. be sure you don't use a shovel, digging, etc. That would maybe re-break something. Take care. Go slow.

That is how I broke mine. Walking was ok, but then the first thing I did was try to dig up a rhododendron and broke it. The bone was too thin.

After all my care watching out for dangerous things in the garden yesterday afternoon as I was resting after all my work I found a small scorpion in my bed. I avoided getting stung and was able to kill it but my sleep last night was not the best. Their stings aren't fatal but they can be very painful.

I will go to the bank today. Not sure what else I'll do. My ankle is still painful and I'm organizing things so I'll have some stuff I can do while sitting down. We got a nice shaded work area fixed up yesterday.

Linda, glad you found us. I'm glad you're able to walk now but I echo the suggestion that you take it easy.

Don't know if I'll get much done today but I'm happy with the way the clean-up work is going so I'll enjoy what's done and not stress myself about what's left. The birds are out in force and I enjoy listening to them.

Dave, pain combined with depression sucks. Add in crappy weather and sometimes it's best to just veg out for awhile. I don't think anyone here is concerned about how you are treating anybody. I find this to be a very non-judgemental group and I hope you'll realize that any concerns are in your head. My own head is too foggy to search out problems. I do want you to keep posting as, like other, I worry when you don't.

I'm still not awake. Will go outside and see how things look in the light of a new day.

hugs, katie

OMG scorpion in your bed. I would have s**t. How did you kill it? They are fast aren't they?
Oh that makes me feel itchy. You are braver than I am when it comes to things like that. Snakes and slithery things make me crazy. Oh my God.

They are fast. I shook my quilt which landed it on the floor. I smashed it with a shoe as it tried to get under the bed. I've been stung a few times o i know I will survive if it happens again - I'd just rather it didn't. We have wasps whose sting can be as bad as most scorpion stings.

Reminds me of when I was at my friend's restaurant by the beach a few years ago when an American man came limping up the beach going, "Call a doctor. I've been stung by a jellyfish." People gave him those "crazy American" looks. A jelly fish sting here is about like a bee sting - no fun but unless you are alergic it's not a medical emergency.

I just got back from town. There are a lot of tourists here. Lots of traffic. I got fresh orange juice and fresh fish and enough other stuff to keep us for a while. I'm still kind of tired from yesterday so I'm going to read for awhile.

hugs, katie

Howdy
well I will start with my favorite quote..."diet: die with a T" garfield...
yes I know the weather does not help matters but I made myself get up a bit ago and posted my list of stuff I have ready to sell on the wholesale site as it was not doing me any good just sitting on the computer.
I gave a ride to my niece's BF this am and stoped for crispy creams and then to home depot for soil. Not nearly enough but It will have to do as plugs are coming next week and I need to get flats filled for them. I need another 5 bags at least... I have finally found me a helper to teach my stuff in the back yard. she will be doing cuttings while I fill flats. lots of stuff ready to cut now to find the room to put them all.
I have got to find a home for saom Chamaecyparis before they get to big to ship. 2 of them are shorter varieties but one is a huge monster that gets 40' x 10'. I bought them last summer I am guessing it was the sun and heat that fried my brain into thinking i could do little pots of these.... yea right.... I think I will list them on the market place to see what happens.
well not much to report here but a cold overcast crapy cloudy day. I am headed back to bed. nighty night all. hopefully tomorrow will be a better day... sorry for being so ???***&&&???
oh yea what did you think of the roots in the last pic? I am definately buying more powder to mix up.
Dave

I thought I would share the photo album I just created for my sales.
http://s995.photobucket.com/albums/af75/PUGHBEAR7/Spring%20has%20Sprung/?albumview=slideshow

Dave

Sorry Dave, I meant to tell you how great they look. Ncw I mixed 1/8 tsp of each, Tarantula, helvic, humic, kelp blend and Mychorrizae in gallon of water and watered my seeds after I planted them. Is that close to what you are doing?

Your plants look like they are ready to go Dave. Looking good.

I had Vern's nephew here yesterday from Chicago. And then I was gone all day to the nursery with my neighbor down the street.

We were 88 degrees today and I think my SUV's air conditioning is not functions entirely. But I was also tired and had not eaten so that might have been it. The neighbor and I met at the nursery at 11:30am and left about 3pm. I was totally overwhelmed by her spending and actually called the lead young man with the landscape company to meet us. She had moved into very large succulents and they are something I know nothing about. Four she bought were $149 a piece. Then she bought two very large pots of petunias at $75 a piece. They were in normal black nursery 5 gallon pots, not pottery pots. The nursery gave me two of the large petunias as a thank you.

I know she spent over $4,000 and remember, she was watching her money. It took about 1/2 hour just to check out. She wanted to buy me something but I told her I did not need anything. We did stop after we were done and had a sandwich at Einstein Bagels.

Lee, I am so glad you are back. I sent you an e-mail. My mother had diabetes for over 20 years. She had a blood meter and took medicine but did not need shots. She did fine except about the last 6 months of her life and she was in her late 80s. When she was dying she was given a very large box of chocolates. I offered her one and she said, "Oh I cannot eat that, I am diabetic". I said, "Mother, the doctor has told you you are dying. Eat the whole box if you want to". She did have one piece, but did not eat anymore.

Fiber is king in dieting. It flushes out the fat and also fills you up. Just be careful, because in the beginning, your system will get very gassy. LOL. One thing you need to do is read labels. I have not found anything frozen that is worth putting in my body because of all the sodium, fat and whatever it has in it. Another thing that is important is to keep a food log. You should always have something cut up and in the fridge to munch on so when you get hungry, it is there instead of something not good for you. I have a few things, I cannot resist. So, I do not bring them into the house. Popcorn is very satisfying, fiber and easy to pop. Just do not buy the packages. Get real popcorn kernels and pop your own. I just put a small amount of oil in a large glass bowl, cover with a paper towel, and microwave. Then I salt it when it is very hot.

OK, I will shut up. Love you all. Sharon.



JB, I am so sorry but I saw you again on your broom flying through the snow in the NE on the National News. I cannot figure out "Global Warming" and this cold weather you are having.

Now you better spray your room good and check under blankets for baby scorpians katie.
Depression is a side effect of long term pain. It leads to auto-immune problems like Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue (Epstein Barr Virus) among others some deadly. Prayers going up.

Sharon I have a burn on my cheeks from today. I drove about 50 miles and delivered blankets to a charity for animals in rescue and took opportunity to go to my favorite chain of nurseries really quick to grab some stuff that is not in ours in this area yet, because we freeze at night still some times. I got a Carolina Jessamine (I have bad luck with them.), that piccasso Petunia and several Wave petunias since the ones I am growing from seed are real small and some have succombed to damping off. I also got some bat guano, bloom fertilizer and Mychorrizae to try. It was a smaller bag for $13.

I need to prepare soil for Sharon's plants so they are really ready. Need to work Saturday on yard.

Sharon, I cannot believe you know nothing about succulents, living in your area I would think you would have a lot of them. Maybe that would be more into Arizona.

But, I cannot imagine petunias for $75. Annuals? What in the world were they? Must have been something from the south that we haven't seen up/out here.

If I were to spend that much you better believe I would have a nice tree and they would be planting it.

Well, I'm off to look at houses today with my sister. My biggest drawback is Bob. He is soooooo negative. It will be good to get away from him to look. I have only bought 2 houses in my life. Lived in one 28 years and the other so far, 16 years. Have never seen too many I liked better than the one I have now tho.

This house would be wonderful if it had about 4 things different, and they are major, like impossible. But then it would also be way out of my price range too. LOL, can't win.

Well, time to get ready to go. ttyl, will let you know how my day goes.

This is definitely the time to look and buy houses, but not really great time for selling.

I know how stressful it is to sell and move, but it is so worth it. You will just have to make up your mind, if you are doing this on your own and Bob is being negative, tell him to get used to it. You must do what you have to do for your own health and welfare. That sounds selfish but if you do not take care of yourself no one will. I have a wonderful family and they love and care for me, but when it comes to things I know that are better for me, and I am spending my money, they know enough to be quiet because I will do what I want to do if I am paying the bill.

It was snowing this morning and I almost went thru the roof. Now it is clearing and hopefully the weather will get warmer. I am shipping stuff Monday and I have a full week next week.

I found a vet that will come to the house to see Barney. I want some bloodwork done and
I also want her to check him out. My vet is a pain. Bring him in. Well, every time we go in, he gets sick days later for several days just because of the stress. So, I will pay more and have someone come here to the farm. She can draw blood and cut his toe nails. He is too old to stress out and I have to take care of him when he gets sick.

Must go for now. Later. JB