Robert! It's good to see you and Dorie posting again! (I saw her in the VT thread, not an appropriate place to break into just to say "hi") How are the two of you? Mac, when I placed the link, and when I click on it now, there are 3 columns - the one on the left showing the different subject areas available, the one on the right showing the different articles available within the chosen subject, and the one in the center showing the chosen article, which in this case has the headline Athletes Rescue Woman From Burning House. I just checked, and that's still where the link goes for me. But, as I was complaining about, it's a short article, so if no one else can follow the link to the article, I can copy and paste it here without taking up much room. Let me know. Vickie - poetic justice at its finest!

Celeste, as another Granite Stater, I've been so appreciative of all of your posts. I'm a bit of a lurker here as I just started purchasing daylilies......again. I went through a daylily phase a number of years ago, but this year really fell in love with them all over again. It has been so helpful to see what you're doing well with, and especially all of your late bloomers. That is what I am lacking in the garden right now. Thank you very much for posting so many pics. You're Z4 so further up north. Did you catch the Northern Lights the other night?! I didn't see them down in the Manchester area even though we're in a pretty dark spot. Thanks to everyone else on this forum who takes the time to post pics. I have enjoyed them so much. You're all a bunch of daylily enablers! LOL!

Thanks for the comments. Let me clarify a few things. My husband has legal custody of the children, 8 yrs and 6 yrs. It is by mutual agreement that they have been splitting time 50/50. The idea was they should be able to spend equal time with both parents. BM is supposed to pay child support NOT my husband. And just to make it clear, neither of us would ever try to get out of paying support if he were supposed. We pay for just about everything and do not even ever ask her for any of the money she owes. She does owe a lot and that is not really an issue for us as long as she is taking part in their lives. This is NOT about money at all. She has been working these hours for a while now. And there have been many talks about grades among other issues. Even Parent/teacher conferences. The child involved in the activities is not child whose grades are suffering, that child's grades are really good. Although, she does want that child playing sports. My husband said he would rather work on his grades right now and maybe next year he can play ball. And she is not a single mother, she is remarried and they both work and have pretty much all along. She did have an option to work while they were at school and she did choose these hours. He had custody because she was not around much at the time for reasons that I don't really think I should post. To help make this easier for her, he was agreeing to let her have them more time during the summer so that she could spend more time with them. Because she said she isn't getting to spend a lot of time with them right now because she is working when they are at her house. He was only wanting to do this until the end of this school year, not permanently. This was mainly to deal with the grades issue and get that child over this 'hump.' We all feel like this child's issue is something that he can overcome by the end of the year. The problem is getting her to listen to anything he has to discuss with her. He has never been able to talk to her about anything without her immediately reacting negatively, even if it is not something serious. This is a serious issue and he wants to be prepared to deal with it. I try to stay out of these discussions but I know he is worried about her reaction and I want to be supportive and help him deal with this because it is VERY important to him. I think that I have answered everyone's questions. I hope I cleared up any misunderstandings. Again, thanks for your input.

Thanks for the words of advice and encouragement. Somedays it is really hard to know what the best thing to do is. I used to try and suggest things directly to my dh's ex, but I am always met with "you don't know what it's like because you've never been a mother" Which is true I don't and won't be having children of my own..dh had the operation after the youngest was born-due to complications he does not want to reverse it-we talked extensively about this prior to our marriage, so it was not a surprise. Maybe it has had the effect of me wanting to be closer to my step daughters knowing that they are the closest to children I will have, I just don't know how to do it without upseting her. The thing is that I can in some aspects sympathize with her-I understand that things have not been easy for her in life either. Her father died when she was young, she got pregnant at 17 (dh was 22-the man she left for was older than my dh-I suspect she has spent her life looking for a father type figure-as by accounts by dh & her sister-she did not accept her step dad) Ex is actually a couple years younger than me. Back to the point....My oldest sd was a twin; they were born at 26 weeks. The oldest twin suffered a brain tumor and the doctors felt it was best to take her off life support. Dh feels that his ex never forgave him as she feels that he forced her to consent to let their child die. I can understand this somewhat, (I know as a sister losing is not the same as a mother) my own family dealt with this when my mother became pregnant with twins (which were born at about 26-27 weeks-unfortunately within a year both passed away) when I was 13. I just feel that if bm would lose some of her anger that it could make all of our lives easier. Not that I am saying it is all her fault either-as I mentioned the conversations between dh & ex would turn into shouting matches...I know my dh still holds a resentment at coming home twice to find that she emptied out their home and moved into an apartment with another man. I just can't understand why she has to make things so hard when all dh wants to do is what's best for his daughters and have a good relationship with them. I have tried being friendly, I've tried staying out of her way, but I really don't know what it will take to make her happy-maybe if I disappeared of the face of the earth? I once asked her if her bf's ex made her feel wrong for wanting to do things with his sons...she said that her bf's ex treated her awfully and all she wanted to do was nice things for her ss, but I guess it didn't register that when it comes to her daughters I am in the same position. Hopefully it will get better!! In the meantime I just love my sds when they are with us, do things with them, but also ensure that they have quality alone time with dad as well, and try to always be honest with them....and pray A lot!!