Well, yes, I too was burned twice last year, my first year of trading. One was with the Cyber-Robin that was conducted on the GW. That person flat out never sent my plants. Told someone else on this forum that she sent them three times but they were always returned by the post office and she wasn't sending them again. Now the other 10+ people I traded with had the same address and all their boxes made it to my door. In fact at my little post office all you have to do is put my name and the name of the town on the box and they'll put it on my porch. They're really good folks at my post office so I figure if the person mailed it to KY at all it should have gotten to me. The other person I traded with we agreed to trade blooming size fans. That's what I sent her. When I opened her box my kids were looking at my face and they wanted to know what was wrong. Undoubtedly those plants were the smallest plants I've ever received. In fact they didn't bloom that year and four of the five didn't bloom this year. I still have no idea if I got what I traded for or not. In addition to that she didn't send one of the plants in that shipment and I had to e-mail her for well over a month before she sent the last one. Said she didn't send it in the original shipment because it was too small. Since it was tiny when I got it I can only imagine how small it was to begin with. I now pretty much limit my trading with a few select folks that I've traded with in the past. That and the Trademart on the AHS Robin. Now there's a class act. I've traded on there both this past spring and this fall and have been treated as good as you can get. Folks there are extremely generous and you in turn want to be as generous with them. Just a real fine group of traders. Janet

Julie, I was up in your area today. I took the kids to North Park up near the antique shops and we had a picnic lunch. They were bouncing off the walls the day before and I decided they needed to strech their legs a bit. North Beach Park has been too crowded lately (some daycares and summer programs bring buses or vans full sometimes) and even though we live across the street from Fratt Elementary, they don't have swings and that's all my daughter wants to do lately. I remembered going to the park in Sturtevant after browsing at School Days Mall one other time with my husband so I thought I'd see if they liked it. They loved it! There wasn't anyone else there until the last 25 minutes and it was a 9-year-old girl (where were her parents?) who played hide-and-seek with them. But I did a bad thing. Milaeger's is on the way home. And one of my hardy geraniums lost its tag since I bought it last week. I needed to check and see if I could recognize it, right? I believe it is "Rozanne". However, that's not the bad thing. After talking about heucharas and seeing your photos (hey, maybe it's your fault?) I decided to look at their collection. And "Earth Angel" caught my eye, then "Mystic Angel" and then I realized that I needed to find two more because it's still "Buy 3, Get the 4th Free". I can rationalize with the best of them, can't I? Some of them are really big with a main stalk and at least one if not more offsets. Should I still wait until spring to divide or should I do that as I plant them? Here they are: This is "Earth Angel" with a bit of "Mystic Angel" on the left And a full size view of "Mystic Angel" "Mint Frost" And finally, "Mocha" which is blooming now. What can I say? I'm weak. Bad Kim. No more buying! Kimberly

"I immediately grabbed MY cat and scrammed." LOL Bill! LOL Lorie, really, the things we do! Dad calls me everyday from India to check on Pumpkin :D Dreamgarden, your friend's cat must have been really, really fond of you! Back in India, my cat Mongoose, gave birth (it was her first time) to three kittens when she was purring in my lap as I was watching TV (I'd prepared a cosy nest for her, but she moved the kittens there after they were born). She did need assistance with the birth sac and cutting the cord, so my Mom brought the necessary things and as there were no complications, no breech, etc everything went well. I was 13 at the time; I think what kept me calm was that Dad was nearby to help if needed (He's a doctor). I can't believe how tensed I am about Pumpkin's kittens, though - I'm worried that she hasn't had the proper nutrition early on, and if that might cause problems. That was why we were wondering if she's better off at the vet's clinic (she wasn't used to us by then); they do have nice, quiet nests for preggy animals. Heck, if she goes into labor during the night, the vet's not gonna be there anyways! She loves it when I stroke her tummy. You can feel the kittens moving. I trimmed the hair on her behind and around the teats yesterday. She kept expelling loose, runny poop yesterday, and I cleaned her butt the entire time; she probably doesn't feel the urge to go potty; DH says it's like when you press a tube of yellow ointment slowly LOL gross :-P DH said maybe we just got a greedy potbellied kitty who fooled the vet - and us - and so I shouldn't worry about kittens LOL

good buys! jude is one of my fave reads...enjoy!