HA HA HA Janice, Just scrool up and read,a camping get together.No Plans,just dreams. I am in Illinois,about 1 hour south west of Chicago. The turkey are fun to look at, but they are a menace like Renie said,they can rip out a hosta in seconds flat,like the deer around here,you just can't keep them at bay,no matter what you try.BECAUSE,we have people out this way that feed them!,so, they are not affraid of people any more.Turkey don't even run any more.Ya just gotta find a way to live in harmony. Heard any thing from Lisa yet? Carol

Sorry.. posted this in Conversations in error.. have reposted in the Discussions section.

I hope the OP did something because this situation sends up HUGE red flags everywhere. My folks are getting older and we have had some conversations about how they want things handled when they are too old to make decisions for themselves. I am grateful that they are willing to discuss this beforehand. I have read everything I can in order to acquaint myself with giving them suggestions about the best/worst ways they could go about this. Here is a good book I found at the library: "The Retirement nightmare-How to save yourself from your heirs and protectors". I am posting just one example of how you can have your life turned upside down if you don't make arrangements for a trustworthy family member (or friend) to be able to care for you before something happens. "In the first chapter of THE RETIREMENT NIGHTMARE, I give an example of this egregious fact drawn from the pages of The Los Angeles Times (November 1997). Glen Hawkins, 89, had bicycled two miles from his Orange County home in Leisure World, California, to confer with his investment counselor. Once there, he was told that the $380,000 in his account was no longer his to control. A professional conservator had been assigned to manage his financial and personal affairs. As Mr. Hawkins soon learned, he already owed almost $1,200 in conservator and attorney fees. How could this be? A social worker at Glen Hawkins' retirement community had filed a petition for an emergency conservatorship over Mr. Hawkins, claiming that he was too ill to attend the required hearing and too addled to understand the legal proceeding. Glen Hawkins had harmed no one, and he clearly was not a danger to himself. He had planned to live out the rest of his golden years in his Leisure World condominium. Unfortunately, his wish to be left alone had led him into dangerous new territory--territory that is made unsafe by the legal reality that each state in America feels free to intrude into the lives of its elderly in ways that would be unthinkable if the objects of its intrusion were young." Read the section titled "Freedom lost" as well. A link that might be useful: www.retirementnightmare.com/q06.htm

I still don't get "couples" at baby showers and birthday parties. The child, the reason for the celebration, seems to get lost with the parents drinking and eating and partying. The parents of my son't best friend in H.S. are a very socially connected well to do couple in my area (and very nice people too) that do quite a bit of entertaining. They had a graduation party for their son (and ours too) and invited us. I was quite surprised to find the party already in full swing right immediately after the graduation ceremonies. They had invited all of their friends to their home before the graduation was even over. I got the feeling that the party was not so much about their son's graduation, but about their social connections.