The weather was indeed perfect, albeit hot and humid for such a meeting. Saratoga is a lovely, small and old city with lovely architecture. I was right at home with the horse statues that lined the lovely main boulevard called Broadway! Saratoga as you may know is home to some very elite horse racing, amoung other things. Raeanne and I met early and perused the shops before meeting DeeMarie. I spotted Raeanne immediately at our meeting place. Her hair is done in a modern cut that kicks out in a playful way! I love the color and style Raeanne, it's so you! Her eyes are still a beautiful and brillant blue! After shopping we went to the meeting place for Dee but she wasn't there so we proceeded to the restaurant meeting place. As we were crossing the street I could see a woman waving in our general direction and I knew at once it was DeeMarie!! How wonderful that she spotted us and I felt so special that as I waved, she waved back. It was a fun exchange. So it was there at the restaurant that I meet our wonderful DeeMarie. She has the most wonderful and expressive big brown eyes and I knew at once that I had a wonderful and caring friend for life! It's amazing at how we women, and man, communicate and have become such fast friends! We shared a wonderful lunch. Okay, Dee and Raeanne did. I had the luck to order one of the worst things I have ever had and it was ironic a because everyone else had a wonderful meal before them...........figures. We shared a bottle of lovely white wine alfresco which was really good against the heat of the day! After lunch we went to our card reading................boy was that enlightening!! This woman had a great deal to tell me that was very accurate!! She is a gifted woman and I think we all came away with some new info!! Then we toured the shops of Broadway, Saragoga Springs, NY. It was fun, fun, fun but way too short a time. I had to depart by 3:30-4:00 to be back in time to feed my steeds.................I could have stayed and talked all night! I had a lovely ride home full of fond memories of my time with my sisters. Ladies and gent, we must find a way for more of us to have this meeting and connection! BJ, I am sure that Las Vegas is too far for some but we sure should try to all connect.............it's so much fun. Thank you DeeMarie and Raeanne for a very special day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NHSuzanne! YAY! It's your birthday! I hope that your family finds a way to make it very, very special for you! We love you here and are glad to hear your stories, detailing your outings on your baby, Sweet Pea. Hope you have some time today to spend doing something for YOURSELF, since your recent time has been so devoted to your DH. Cheers to you, sis! Have a great b-day! It's been quite a year! Marci~ Thanks for the cool picture! Very appropriate! Brekky: 1/2 bagel (but I'm going hunting for Marci's brand Monday!) 16 oz latte, n/f milk, s/f vanilla Snack:: Bag of pretzels: 220 cals Coffee w/ cream Late lunch at 3:30 (service went long): Lots of roasted veggies and a tiny piece of roast pork left over from the other night Dinner: (went to a housewarming party) About 6 rice crackers with homemade hummus - delish! Small square of phyllo-covered spinach something 3 sausages (small cocktail type - "Danger!") Lots of cucumber slices Dessert: The icing off of a 2" serving of chocolate cake Some red grapes Water, water, water, water! (Lots of wine flowing at this party, but I did not go there-stuck with spending my calories on food instead of wine and this morning, I'm glad I did that!) Going out to brekky with my family, then I hope to finish laundry and scoop my house into order! Also, my teen kids babysat twin boys all night for the house-warming couple and I hear them stirring, so before brekky, I have to return the boys to their parents! So fun having boys in the house tho'! Maddie~ (((((LOVE AND HUGS!))))))) Special thoughts going out to you and your kitty today---and every day. And tell Rog to GO SUCK A LEMON! Raeanne: I resorted to printing a cute photo I had of the housewarming couple and framing it, then wrapped it in a ribbon and DH brought along a bottle of Berritage wine for them. I love your idea of a Feng Shui basket, but you're right, it takes a certain kind of person! That would be a great idea for the holiday exchange HERE though---something with a Feng Shui twist! DeeMarie~ Miss you, love you, can't wait till you're back! And I'm never giving up---! Tikanas~Hope your finger is healing nicely. Be careful out there! Everyone have a RELAXING Sunday! Mind your menus!

I did NOT want to exercise this morning. I'm so tired and just want to sleep in (even sleeping to 6 would be a treat about now). BUT I did walk. I got a three mile tape in this morning. Remember I mentioned I was into a size smaller jeans. Well I didn't want to really count it because they're the "stretch denim", so I was thinking they were just stretching QUITE a bit. Well this morning I put on a pair of regular jeans, the size smaller, and they fit!! Waist is snug (not tight), and the thighs and butt are looser than they use to be. The belly isn't but I think my belly is "raising" as the muscles tighten, making it seem bigger for now - did that make sense? Don't like that but it's the only explaination I have. vickey-MN

Dorothy, The photos of the flooding are heartbreaking, and the news of the flood-related deaths are even more heartbreaking. I'm glad y'all are on a hill. Why can't a greenhouse leak where it should and at least provide water for the plants instead of for a cabinet that doesn't need any irrigation? Mine hasn't leaked, but I have two big puddles....one outside of each doorway. After the ground dries up (if it ever does) I imagine we'll come back and put gravel or brick walkways or something there now, which likely won't divert the puddle water very far, but at least I'll be open to stand and open the doors without standing in 3" of water every day. Thanks for the spider web tip. I'll keep that in mind if ours stops working. It is nice to have the self-emptying rain gauge. I appreciated not having to go out and pour out a rain gauge before it overflows. The video on The Weather Channel from Missouri yesterday is just hard to look at. Seeing water covering roadways, swamping bridges, and rising around/through/into homes and other structures is just so sad. It looks as bad in some places as it did in 1993, which we watched in horror on the TV and never forgot. Flooding is such a slow-motion disaster and, as the water continues to rise and flow ever deeper into inhabited areas, there's nothing you can do except get out of the way. I admire all the effort so many people there have put into building temporary flood walls and levees, and some have done an awesome job with sandbags, but you never know if all those efforts will pay off. In this case, I hope they do. It is sad when levees fail and dams break and people who thought they were in a safe, protected area suddenly discover they are not. With all our talk of our garden plans and what we'll be doing in the coming weeks and months, it is easy to forget that for so many people in the flooding parts of OK, AR, MO and elsewhere, there will be a whole lot of recovery ahead that will take months and, for some areas, years, and their garden plans are the last thing on their minds right now. We are sitting at 77.7" of rain for the year, which is a number no one in our county ever dreamed would fall here. That is more than twice our annual rainfall of 38". Our previous record rainfall year was just a little over 59" and most people here doubted that record ever would fall....much less by such a huge amount. Ever since we built our house and moved here in the 1990s, I always wondered if we really and truly were far enough from the river to be safe from record flooding (apparently we are) and if our house was built high enough above the creek to be safe from flooding no matter how much rain Mother Nature dumped at one time (apparently it is). I guess there is some relief in that. Despite massive flooding around us, we never were in danger of water ever reaching the house, and our creek channeled enough rainfall that the road over our bridge never flooded. Still, I'm hoping we never see rainfall like this again. It really is too much. I suspect a lot of my spring bulbs and my perennial onions may not survive this winter's perpetually wet soils, and really, our soils have been waterlogged in every month of the year except July, August and September. Our chicken coop has had minor erosion happen to the sandy ground beneath it and we need to fill in that area before rats and snakes or skunks or possums move in and decide to live underneath the chicken coop, but the building itself is fine. It just looks like a creek ran beneath parts of the coop as rain runoff created its own little channel along the west wall of the coop. I don't think it will be hard to fix, but instead of shoveling sandy soil back into the eroded areas, I think we'll use gravel. Dawn