I agree that the benefits outweigh the disadvantages of the boonies. We only have 2 interent options, the phone company or Hughesnet (satellite), since although 60% of my town has cable we are in the 40% that doesn't. (Funny that all the selectmen's homes were covered, though.) We currently have Hughesnet, but they limit the amount of data to the point that 10 -15 minutes of video uses up our entire data for the day, and we aren't on the lowest data plan! Good thing we have laptops since we have to go elsewhere to download new software or updates. (They have an option to download between 2-7 AM, but it only works for Windows and we have Macs.) We are planning to try the phone company now that they have concluded their strike since our neighbor has better connection with them, especially at high volume times like 6-8 AM and 3-12 PM.

Thank you everyone for coming to the swap. What a difference a weeks makes. Couldn't have been more perfect weather, especially after last weekend. It was and is my pleasure to host the swap every spring, and plan on doing so for a lot more years. Agnes you beat me to the link with the recipe. Tara, now what good is a large yard with grass growing in it. costs money to keep it growing, way to much water to keep it green and we end up with water bans, restrictions all over the place, so how do you water the lawns?, patch the lawns and keep the grass seed wet so it will germinate, seedlings grow etc. Yup, tis why my front lawn looks like it does. We've had permanent water restrictions in town for years and years now and there is a fine for watering on the wrong day. Trust me, the town is eager for money and they travel around just looking for someone watering on the wrong day. If I'm going to water on alternate days, then it's going to be water used to grown my plants and garden beds, not lawns. Zazheen, not a problem with the wagon. Melissa took it with her, got in her car and now the kids have it. Melissa, thanks but no thanks, the wagon is yours, but as Mark said, he would love to see pictures of the "newly renovated wagon" when it's done. Now if you want to turn those kids into wonderful gardeners, got the perfect plan for you, just call or shoot me an email and I'll be glad to tell you all about it. Again, thanks everyone for coming, enjoy all the new "babies" and how about posting some pics to show all of us how they look when they bloom. Fran

My husband was in michigan this week and that was one of the flights he thought about taking on thursday night. He flies a lot and it just hit close to home. Clarence is not far from where we live. We are a little more out in the country. Big sigh of relief. When the news came on at 10pm they announced at the end of the broadcast that a plane had crashed by the airport, but they didn't know anything yet. By the time the 11pm news came on, it was not until after the weather that their news crews made it to the neighborhood and they announced it was a commercial plane. WIVB broadcast without commercial break until I went to bed at 2am. When my husband called to say he was alright i was so grateful. (wipes tears and sniffles) Fran, Could i have the blanket flower, please? BTW, DS#3 watered my keyboard once, its still a little iffy. We set it in from of the blower on the woodstove for a week. Just FYI those of you sowing in the keys LOL! Thank all of you for the prayers. Families here are esp. close knit and things like this are difficult for anyone. Praying for your FIL, too Nichol. Fleethart

Besh! A happy belated birthday to you! I hope that you celebrate all weekend! Zig. I am cracking up about you and the DH's ideas on the perfect date! Donna, I have never had an "official" pedicure before. DD gave me a foot bath, a water filled foot massager with various attachments. I'll bet it was WONDERFUL! John, I hope you have a GREAT time camping and 'yakking. I'll be camping vicariously thru you and NH Suzanne. I am going to consider a solo camping trip as most of my friends are "camping weenies" and won't go. Please let us know how it goes. Raeanne, I'd like to be prepared to do both scenic touring AND white water kayaking. We have kayak demo days at the bay about 30 miles away. I have put different rigs in the water and tried a bunch of them out. What I haven't done is made up my mind.... :) I am also just "window shopping" right now. I will buy as a reward for a goal I have set for myself. Thanks to you and John for your yak stats. Oh! And CONGRATS on your loss! I am down 2# this week! I have had a rough few weeks here. I want to thank everybody here for standing by me and helping me out. I haven't gone into too much detail but I have really had to work on having a better attitude. I miss my DH. I also don't seem to "fit" in a lot of our old social circles as a single person. Even church feels a little awkward. I have called my mother in laws house several times just to hear his voice on her answering machine message.(he taped a message for her machine 2 yrs ago) Work has sucked... gotten blamed for other peoples incompetence and in my book, when we are talking patient care, this is unacceptable.I can't work like that. What I do, I feel, is a calling, not a job. Things have changed dramatically since I became an independent contractor. Still a lot of adjustments to be made. I have made a point of "fake it till you make it" and slowly but surely it has been working. I participated in the Cooking Forum swap and that certainly cheered me up. You guys are terrific. Thanks for all the emails and the phone call AND the accountablity. Don't stop now!! : ) Love, Tikanas