Jean...these were taken yesterday before the rain started. I've not been able to get any new photos today. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better photo taking day. :) waitforspring....BWW is a beautiful Munson, and really does hold up well in the elements. Kathy and Kay...SB is a real beauty and the only complaint I have with her is she blooms on short scapes. I really wish the scapes were a bit taller. I do love those blooms, however. Michelle...Hey, I don't really care what other folks think, I'm just happy growing my plants. :) Ellie is the reason I grow WN...she posted a photo on here a couple of years ago and I had never seen it at that time either, but it was one of those that reached out and grabbed me, so now, it lives in my garden! LOL Jan

While some updates may include "bells and whistles" many are designed to improve stability and others increase security. That may not be readily apparent unless one reads the "fine print". The unfortunate reality is that folks out there who want to do harm and today a computer owner has to exercise due diligence because in this age of always on/always connected computers your mistakes can impact others. To some degree it's like a car, you have an obligation to maintain the vehicle so that when you step on the brake pedal, the car stops. For the most part a computer virus isn't going to have catastrophic consequences of hitting, say, a pedestrian with a car but there are real costs associated with these things. 80% of all email is spam. Spam that we all are paying for because the hardware and associated costs of the increased traffic; costs that are passed to us in the form of higher fees for Internet access. At the very least: Use anti-virus/anti-malware software. Use a firewall. Even better is to have a physical firewall like a router in additional to a software firewall. Keep your computer updated. The more popular the software, the more likely someone is trying to find flaw they can exploit. Use common sense. Because emails are generally scanned several times, they are an unlikely source of infection BUT any links they contain are NOT scanned. So if your dear friend sends you a message, "Hey, check out this video of a three headed baby." Before you click, think about using Google instead. If there really was a three headed baby, it's probably going to make the evening news. Or before you click on a link in an email from Aunt Millie wonder if you 87-year-old aunt really has a Facebook page. Beware of phishing schemes. Your bank, investment broker, electric company, ISP, etc. is NEVER EVER going to send you an email saying they need information from you. If you are really concerned, call them using a phone number from the phone book or a statement. Think before you click. If you're not sure why you're clicking ok, spend a couple of minutes and look up your problem. Generally somebody, somewhere has asked the same question before.

Hey cynic, good to see you back! As usual you are right to the point. I should have thought it through before cancelling. But my main concern was the business, which ground to a halt for 5 days. There were multiple phone calls which finally ended with them stating they would send us a new modem. They would not send it overnight, even with our offering to pay. They repeatedly stated it was a 'computer problem' although two computers were involved, both sharing the same signal, both were dead. Tuezday is correct that no private data was contained in these emails, although there are always numerous business related information going back and forth. Much of it is electronic. It is not easy changing email addresses and accounts which are tied to electronic transmissions. One has to register email addresses and set up email exchanges and accounts. It's complicated to change and time-consuming. If you rent a house and choose to leave, you should be able to remove your personal items. If your access is blocked by the owner, that is stealing. My mail came in during the time I was paying rent.I couldn't get to it. That mail belongs to me. If I choose to leave, I should be allowed to retrieve what belongs to me. I am not asking for anything that came in after my cancellation. I am not asking them to accommodate me. I paid for a service which prevented me from taking what belonged to me. I think that's illegal. Jane

Webkat - Perhaps in the future you should report the thread to the moderators if you think it is out of line. They are the ones who own/manage this forum and ultimatly it should be their decision if a post should be allowed to continue. If they agree with you, great! If they don't then don't view that thread anymore, perhaps after posting a final post that asks the other members to no longer reply to the post as it is off topic. Either way, you do not own the forum and if those who do decide they want to allow people to use their forums for "off topic" discusion that is their decision, not yours. Cheers!