Diana: Sorry about your kitty. Losing a loved pet is so hard. I still miss my mom's schnauzer who I took in after my mom passed away. I had Mimi for three years after that and it was so hard to admit that the time was right, but know that it was the right thing to do. Hugs, Ann

On the N debate, don't assume that what applies to grapes applies to pear trees. One is a vine, and the other a tree, which makes them totally different. A study of apples and N may allow one to make a reasonable, but not certain assumption, but research into pears would be the most reliable. I have seen much lore of one variety of plant or pest be applied to another, even though the correlation was wrong. A good example was a recent thread about ants on a sweet cherry tree. In most cases, ants on a tree would indicate aphid farming, but sweet cherries use ants for a completely different function not related to aphids. There were many posts pointing to aphids before it was pointed out that cherries are a different matter. Another example would be that most plants like pH between 6 and 7, but you can't apply that to blueberries. My point is we have to be very skeptical of research on one plant and assuming it applies to another. Unfortunately, generalities like this exist everywhere. Do you own research, and do not accept common wisdom as the truth.

Thanks for the thoughts, Lamora! This time of year, living in Oklahoma, my nerves are always frazzled & I seem to be perpetually on edge, monitoring the weather. This year seems to be worse than most years. I'm glued to the Weather Channel constantly & my weather preparedness borders on obsession (or so says my crazy, adrenaline junkie husband, who likes to stay out & video the storms). When storms knock the satellite out, I turn to my computer. If that fails, I'm subscribed to text alerts from TWC & our county's Blackboard notification system. We don't have an underground shelter, but I have 2 interior hall closets. The one that backs up to our bathroom shower plumbing is for us humans & the other one is for the dogs. It's always an adventure to get those 3 mutts to cooperate with me. Two of my dogs are like me & want to hide until the storms go away, but my youngest pup is like my husband & wants to go out in the storm & run the zoomies around the yard in the thick of it all. Luckily, my 4-year-old son's take on things is more like mine than his father's, b/c he will stay in the closet with me & worries constantly about any rain or storm bringing a tornado. I don't shelter him from the news coverage on storms & definitely want him to have that healthy fear. Mission accomplished, especially after the last month's coverage on TX & OK monster tornadoes. We've watched live coverage on the Moore tornado & yesterday's OKC area tornado. If watching something like that live isn't enough to scare you half to death & make you take storms seriously, I don't know what is. Our area down here in southern OK hasn't had any extremely damaging tornadoes hit in many, many years & people here have fallen into complacency. They say that b/c we're in a valley, any rotation that comes our way will just magically lift & go over us. Despite TWC stating over & over again that this is a false statement, many people in my area just don't take the warnings seriously. I fear that it will take a tragedy of epic proportions to put that fear back into the natives of this area, but I have a great fearful respect for these storms, & you won't find me brushing warnings off lightly. Better safe than sorry, in my experience. Living in Oklahoma (& formerly in North Texas), these storms are just a fact of life for us. May is always a bad month for tornadoes, but we've had tornadoes in the immediate vicinity of us anywhere from February to December. All it takes in those "off-season" times to get the weather to go severe is an unseasonably warm, humid day out ahead of a powerful cold front. I find it in my best interest to always stay informed of the ever-changing weather b/c it takes literally minutes for the sky here to go from sunny to scary.

Hey there. I cannot imagine how hard it must be for you...but I do know that it hurts so much...I lost my mother back in February 16...a week after my birthday and I was at school at the time so I couldn't even talk to her or anything...She passed because of a fall and it happened so sudden that I didn't know what to do...I thought there must have been a reason for this tragedy and I began to question if God really exists...somehow I came to realize that He actually does exist and I've become a full time Christian since then. Believe it or not, I've been noticing why certain things happen in my life and I've found peace in my heart. I hope you seek God as well...I had to google and ask my friends to help me realize. It's a miracle that I started believing and every part of my life has improved significantly. If anything, try talking to your Christian friends and see what they can do for you...One thing for sure: our mothers love us so much that they don't want to see us in tears! You know it...our mothers are up there somewhere watching over us !