Well why didn't you say there was a party going on here?? LOL Seriously, I can't believe how long I have been MIA. I am okay just busy. I had a wonderful camping trip; in fact, it was enchanting. The field was covered with second cut red clover and the Monarch and some other small yellow butterfly were just everywhere in the field. It was truly beautiful to watch them dance in the sun. The moon was full and rose in a big orange ball each evening and then gave way to soft light through the light. The kind of light I could look out of my trailer and see the girls sleeping in the grass...........wonderful. The true topper this year was the performance of bluebirds who visited our camp in masses of 12-20 at a time. No kidding, I have never seen anything like it. They would come and sit on the horse fencing and sing and flirt. It was truly amazing........if only I could have gotten a photograph. They must be gathering for migration as the butterflies are. The horses were energetic as it was cool and we had some wonderful miles long cantors and trots! It was so nice and I had so much fun. The weekend almost ended in disaster as we were walking the horses down to the sandy brook for a cooling off Sweet Pea fell down and landed on her side. She was really struggling and I did not know what had happened or how to help her. Suddenly, she laid still and righted herself and got herself up. When she was safe investigated and she had fallen into a bottomless hole which was no doubt a woodchuck's hole. These are the holes that snap horses legs in two. I was almost nauseaous when I looked down into that hole. She had some swelling her fetlock but she was fine the next day. I shudder to think of what had happened if I had been riding her when that happened. Ugh, perish the thought! Anyway, she was fine and the weekend was wonderful. You all are right, it's very quiet here!! SO, where is everyone???? Not much else new here - just work, work, work. DeeMarie, I am SO DISAPPOINTED that you don't have a photo of you on or at least NEAR a horse. You didn't even touch one????? Glad you had fun.

Hi Everybody! I can't believe how this week has flown by. Tomorrow is weigh-in day again! Other than more demolition on the kitchen, I haven't been getting my exercise. Actually, I should be doing my step aerobics right now, but here I am instead. The days are getting noticeably shorter, but the temperatures here are still warm. I guess we will be getting remnants of Ivan in the form of rain, rain, rain for the weekend. But I can't complain. My heart goes out to those affected more directly by the recent string of hurricanes. Well, I wore a pair of jeans today that I had not worn for a looong time. They fit, and were not tight. I know that the changes in my diet are really working. Yellowhair--I wonder if we will see Bunny Tracks here. I really love the Skinny Cow fudge bars. My DH is now eating them, too. You know, I have never had problems with my feet. But awhile back when I was trying to take long walks, I started having a problem with my big toe. It felt like it was sprained or something. It was very odd, but it just went away. DH has lots of trouble with his feet. I am sure it is just that we are getting older. Anyway, he has heel spurs, which are bony growths that kinda jab you from the inside. he has other things going on too, and has even been through physical therapy. He says they told him that whenever he is getting pain to quit whatever activity he is doing for awhile. In other words, if it hurts when you do that, don't do that! Kathy--When I first got into gardening and landscaping someone, who was a seasoned gardener, told me that a garden wasn't really yours until you had re-invented it about a million times. Well, they didn't say it quite like that, but that was the general meaning I took from it. I was fretting because the year before I had planted a shrub that I now thought would be in much better spot if I moved it just 4 feet. I wasn't sure it was worth it to go to the trouble. The advice I got was to go for it. I did, and I am still glad I did. And that is still my approach to gardening now. I am always seeing something that needs to be improved and gardening is all about the process. So it sounds like a change will be coming to your garden soon! DeeMarie--Talking about your commute reminded me of when I was doing that. Several years ago, I drove 50 miles one way to work. It took an hour and a half on most days with traffic and all. DH says I used to come home in the worst mood. It is interesting how we get ourselves into these things. I mean the trade-off for a job that you love vs. having more time for activities at home vs a nice paycheck vs whatever. I try not to regret the decisions that I make, but it sure seems that life is all about the trade-offs sometimes. On that note, I will wrap up this longwinded post. Eat healthy!!

Hello all. Life keeps getting in the way but I'm still here. Here's a cut and paste from another forum for starters. This was 2 nights ago. Well my day has started with a bang and I haven't been to bed yet. Around 2:30 am the dogs went crazy in the neighborhood. Our Rottie went absolutely nuts and I couldn't see what was going on so I called her back in. Our Lab who has a touch of Coonhound went out and joined in but not like the Rottie. Shasta (the Rot) became extremely stressed when I tried to keep her in so after distracting her with play for a bit I let her go out in the backyard again around 4:30. Both dogs started going at the rear side fence and then I heard a splash, a crash and a lot of hissing, high pitched barking. Got DH up and we saw the dogs had crashed through the fence and they and a large racoon were all in the neighbors in ground pool. DH goes around to the neighbors yard and I stay on our side. He's in the neighbors yard trying to corral 2 large dogs who are jumping in and out of the pool trying to get at the coon swimming in circles and the neighbors are nowhere to be seen. Finally the neighbors turn on an upstairs light and call out their bedroom window to ask what is going on and DH tells them they have a coon in their pool. They don't say anything and turn out the light. DH finally get both dogs back thru the fence. We get them in the house. He gets hammer and nails and repairs the fence. It is still dark and still no sign of neighbors in spite of all the commotion going on in their yard. So now I'm sitting here waiting for 2 wet dogs to dry and the Rotti is strutting around so proud of herself for taking care of the" intruder" and our Lab/Coonhound acts like he just had a fantastic playdate at a pool party. See life in the suburbs isn't always all that dull either. DH had our anniversary dinner on Tues. Tonite I have a Red Hat dinner and on Sat. I have a Red Hat picnic. FOOD and more FOOD. I'm not losing but I'm not gaining either. This is good ;) but I really need to get back on the program and go for he next ten pounds. Jen, WW is great because unless you do their CORE program there are no bad foods. Lots of peeps have great success with the Points System. I don't so I do an old style food exchange plan from the 80's. Great going Trekaren. Welcome Jen and Mooner. Waving at ya LL. Come and post Ruthie.

I am a believer. My sister fed her beloved cat only kibble because "wet food makes her poop smell too bad." That cat had kidney failure by age 11. My own cat pretty much refuses to drink water. He used to drink it out of the faucet but he won't even do that now and never out of a bowl. Heck, I'd be happy if he drank out of the toilet! So, I feed him a 5 oz can of food per day and add extra water to it. He doesn't mind that I dilute it and he gets extra moisture that way. My brother's two cats are fed only kibble (the cheap grocery store kind) and both are very over-weight). I think what someone posted above about prey being 75% moisture says it all. PS: I wonder if my cat won't drink water because he getting all the liquid he needs from the wet food????