Hi Xuan, Nice to see you here, and Thank you for the sweet comments. MeMo, my sweet puppy is very sweet, but she is now comfortable in her new home and the full-blown Jack Russell has come out of hiding. Last evening she helped me carry the buckets of water up to the chicken pens...lost of help. She helped me clean weeds out of the flowerbeds, leaping up into my face and grabbing my hair. What fun. I may end up bald before long. She helped me rake. She grabbed a length of the garden hose to help me drag it. What a cutie. My arms have little bites all over them. She is only happy in HER bed with HER blankie over here OR up in my lap, that is when she is not gobbling down her Puppy Chow and chewing up paper. She loves her tennis ball. She found an empty plastic coffee can and took that to her bed to play with for awhile. She tore the paper label off and layed on it and looked up at me with the most innocent expression. What a stinker. She poops in the house, but goes out to go wee. So now it is imperative that she learns to do her 'business' outside too. Uck! She tries to go on the puppy training pads, but sometimes misses and if she is in the living room when the urge hits, she goes by the front door. Oh boy. But, it comes with the Puppy territory, don't ya know. Bonnie seems to have adopted her as her pup. They were gallivanting around together yesterday evening. Bonnie would stand over her like a mother dog does and check her bottom after she went pee pee. They romped and leaped about. Then Bonnie would take off like greased lightening, running all through the gardens and streaking by me ans spinning about like she had lost her mind. Puppy dashed straight away back to me for safety. So cute. She snuggled with Gus and that was cute. Gus is loving having a little wild one. He is VERY hyper. Never seen a collie that was hyper like he is. He howls and barks and wiggles and bounces about. He thinks he is just the same size as the puppy. "Oh boy! A little puppy, like me!" Shep on the other hand is afraid of her. He has to be watched. He let her know this morning to back off pup, and she ran to me. He did not snap at her or growl but let her know not to come close. He is a huge dog, but timid. They were all four fine romping about outside yesterday though. Shep doesn't feel trapped, so he can move away if she gets too rambunctious. No signs of aggression, so that is great. Shep likes her - he wags his tail and is curious, but a little afraid of her. She moves around so fast and it makes him nervous. It will be okay though. She will learn her place and he will chill out as time goes by. No name for her yet. I am thinking of calling her Shrew, but Suzie suits her. Nothing that grabs me for certain yet. Thanks to all for your sweet comments. I KNEW you guys would enjoy hearing about her and would feel sympathetic towards her. I think I know where she came from. I found pine pitch stuck to her belly. There is a house in town where the people have Jack Russell dogs. There are several large pine trees around the yard. Pines are not native in this part of Oklahoma, and she hasn't been in our back yard yet, so...that narrows it down. Fine. I am glad they dumped her on our driveway instead of someplace else. It was Fate that we just happened to be walking down the driveway at that moment. We were going to the car to drive down to Chandler to bet a burger, talking as we walked to the car...she heard us talking and ran up to meet us, crouching low to the ground, but wagging her tail wildly. Fate stepped in and saw her through... And brought her to us. :) She looks up into my eyes with the sweetest look of love. It melts my heart into a puddle of chocolate. She has certainly livened up this house and we are loving every second of it. ~Annie

There's nothing quite as cool-looking(temperaturewise) as BLUE flowers. I grew Phacelia a few years ago, best blue i ever saw, next to cornflowers. The bell-shaped blue flowers with icy-white anthers were beautiful, and stirred up images of cooler weather. They do have a short bloom time, hot weather just about stops the show, cutting back helps somewhat. Give 'em a try, i believe there are 2 or 3 varieties. Good luck, and enjoy.

Well, we have just arrived home and I have to tell you that at least 3 people commented on my dress and one woman I didn't even know came up just to comment on it and ask if I had bought it out of town. I hope you will find this amusing, but I decided at the last minute to buy a different dress. I actually purchased the dress I wore at 3pm today and we were at the event at 630! I will try to post a pic tomorrow. I just want to say such a huge thank you to everyone for getting involved and saving me from wearing something completely inappropriate. I know in the big scheme of things this was just a friviolity, but it meant a lot to us to go out and have fun with friends and I wouldn't have enjoyed myself nearly as much if I didn't feel like I fit in wardrobe-wise. Thanks again!

Cheeky is quite a nice word. It's almost always used by an adult to a child. If it's said in an angry tone, it means impertinent. For example, Stewed Eel purveyor above might well have said "You cheeky little bugger!" (Actually, in the forties, he wouldn't have said that to a girl, but he would to a boy, probably accompanied with a clip round the ear!) But if it's said in an affectionate tone (particularly to a small child) it means cute and endearing. Indulgent grandmother to small grandchild "Oh, aren't you a cheeky boy!" There is also the noun "cheek" - "The cheek of him, saying that to me !" Particularly rude or blatant "cheek" is usually "bare-faced cheek" !