CaliNurse, You've got me wondering about how many people have down sized thier lawns due to the price of gas for the mower. Or maybe even better, how many people use that as an excuse to down size their lawn or mow less often!

I live on a very none tradional lot consisting of 139 acres so the lawn can be as large or small as I want it. Its the increadible shrinking lawn lately. It went from a three hour mowing to a two and a half hour mowing.

cantstayhome, Wow, you have a 19 year old dog? How lucky you are. My german shepherds have only lived to be 11 or 12 years old. OK, I'll just let it all hang out. My dog that I had before my present dog is in a silver urn in the bedroom with his pricure in front of it. So now you all know!

Rave: Leaving tomorrow for 1 week in New York with 2 girlfriends! So excited!


Edye, I'm very sorry about your dog. I have two kitties and they're like my children, so I can't even imagine what you're going through. My thoughts are with you right now....

jorr - the 19 year old is a Dachshund. As for the urn, well, that's probably where my shepherd will end up - he's my first love! He is, however, turning 13 this July and in fantastic shape. Guess we must have something in the water at our house.

Scarlett, CAPH, and marigross, HOORAY for all the good health news!!

gyppie, I SO hope Max will be OK. How awful for that person to leave the scene!! He s/b neutered for that!!

CaliNurse, congrats on your new pup!!

Edye, so sorry for your loss. I've been down that road too. It's hard, but healing will come with time. Hugs to you.

otto, glad you had a good trip to Ireland, welcome home.

Statia, sorry to hear of your Mom's knee. Knee injuries can be devastating.

Rave: I took out another bee hive this week. I'm beginning to enjoy shooting them with Raid and watching them fall to the ground. Is that bad? ((a))

Rant: Mosquitos--Not so easy to take them all out at once. I think I like the bees more.

Rave: I love my dog too.

Rave: Fodor friends who have become true friends.

Happy weekend all!!

Seems like there are many raves than rants today!

My rants/raves for the next couple of weeks are

*Today, digging started for the pool we've been planning for the last 12 years
*Tomorrow, 1l yr old has a band trip for a concert followed by a day at Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels. We must be at the school by 6:30AM. She's only going for the concert because none of her band girlfriends will be there and she won't hang out with the boys (she's in the baritone/trombone group and it's mostly boys). I'll follow the busses up there and bring her home after the concert. I've tried and tried to convince her to go because I know she would have fun. No luck.
*Monday the 22nd, my 9 yr old has eye surgery
*Thursday the 25th, the 9 & 11 yr old are finished with school
*Wednesday the 31st, will be the last day at my job that I've had since June of 1977. The company has been sold and my position is being eliminated (rant/rave - I'm not sure). Until then there are so many things to do - packing up all the records and moving them to storage, closing out all the accts etc. Mind boggling. Closing everything out will probably take up a few weeks after the actual sale and then I'll be a woman of leisure for at least a week or two before figuring out what to do next. We do have a trip to southern Africa from 6/22 to 7/9. Hopefully we'll come home to a completed pool!

Why am I even reading/posting here when there's so much to do? Stress reliever, I think!

Rave (again): Finally had to get Pemex this AM as the fumes were not providing much power.
Reg (87 US oct) is $6.58 pesos per liter - $2.24 a US gal and Premium (US 92 octane) is $7.78 pesos a liter - $2.65 a US gal (based on my recent ATM w/d rate of $11.131 pesos per USD).
M

Congratulations to everyone with positive diagnosises! May your travels continue till you age 120 :)

Bear hugs to everybody who needs them!

Rave: I finally made reservations for my next trip, well, almost! Missed the good Southwest rate by procrastination, good I am a little flexible in dates, so moved the vacation by 2 days. Chicago, here I come! Will worry about hotel a bit later!

Rave: tomorrow is a big celebration of Baby Again graduation.

Rave: Sunday is the volunteer dinner... my involvement is not long enough YET to be acknowledged, so I'll be watching out for "and others" in the speeches :)

Rave: next weekend is a long one at Lake Tahoe, accuweather predicts low 70s which is just right for us!

Mini-rant: shopping is such a pain! All clothing is sold for teenagers only!

Where are normal tops, not t-string? and not displaying the belly button?

Where are long skirts looking not like they are made for April fool parade?

Oh, no, let me take it back, where are skirts, period? Pants and unwearable tops, sigh... Nobody makes anything for over 40 any more????

jorr, my cockatiel is 26 years old and it says in all the literature their lifespan is twenty if cared for well and with a very varied diet.

He is as dabber as ever, he doesn't even LOOK old. The pet hotel is always flabberghasted by Sydney. They have cockatiels at 17 that look like his grandfather.

FainaAgain, do I hear you on the fashions. I've never seen 20 somethings look so bad since the '70's.

And for short people over 40, ha ha ha ha ha. The skirts are more than April Fool, I look like I'm going to a Eva Peron dress up party. YUCK! And the belt buckles are horrid, plus not where belt buckles are supposed to be. Wow, is a style change needed all around.

I'm sick of looking a protruding stomaches.

OSB--Yes, I think we've got the budget covered. We've lived together for 5 years so (and I could be horribly wrong)I don't think married life will change us too much. As for the honeymoon, I keep thinking about how we are trying to buy a house so we really shouldn't spend a lot on a trip, especially since we're paying for at least half of the wedding. Oh, the decisions. But, if this is the worst of our stresses, I'll take it.

JJ5, the theme of your next GTG will be "what not to wear even in US" :))

Jorr, I've heard somewhere in Northern California there is a special business: goats for rent. Seriously. They will eat anything! It may be cheaper to rent them for your lawn then to pay for gas?

Or buy a goat, and - bingo!free goat cheese! as you won't need to buy her pellets. ((A))

JJ5, I don't know much about birds but I have heard that some species live longer than humans which is increadible.

Each spring I see one or two very large snapping turtles crossing my yard. They must weigh at least twenty pounds and they always travel in the same direction in the same spot. I was amazed to find out that they may be one hundred years or older. That latest snapping turtle may have been crossing in the same place long before anyone lived on this property and he has seen it all. I heard of a snapping turtle that dated back to the civil war.

Those turtles deserve respect. I can remember as a kid when people use to kill them and make turtle soup. I doubt that they knew they had so much history behind them such as seeing wild buffalo, Indian culture, and French fur traders who passed only a few hundred feet from my house on what was called the Pembina Trail. That turtle on my yard may have seen all of this history.

FainaAgain, not sure the goats would work. My dog would get all bent out of shape. Many years ago cows used to eat much of what I now mow. The problem was they also ate all the under growth which has grown back to protect from winter winds.

Scarlett, please say hello to Gyppielou for me. I don't see her posting, has she changed her nickname? Or can't post here?

Rave: my DD graduated from high school

Rave: Opening up my mother's day presents and realizing, yet again, how thoughtful and amazing my kids are. They understand me as a person, which so gratifying.

Rant: I broke a bone in my foot

Rave: Because of said foot, I now have an excuse to sit around and do nothing except read the book and eat the chocolate my kids gave me for mother's day.

Rant: I've been unemployed for three months.

Rave: I got a great deal on priceline for my trip to Chicago at the end of the month. Now I have the $ for Spamalot tickets!

Have good week everyone -- blessings to all!

Great news on the medical front for so many of you this week! And JJ5 still running on all cylinders..admiration from me!

Rave: finally got some rain in Fla. No more wildfires, grass growing.

Greetings to all from my very own pound puppy (7yrs) Miss Brandy

Big Rant: Corporate reorganization/realigning/downsizing. If only I felt energetic enough to start a new job.

Rave: Captain Morgan helping me realign today!

Greetings from my very own pound puppy (7yrs old) Miss Brandy.

Guess that was a double greeting from Miss Bran!

OWJ, just wanted to say "hey" back at you, and that I hope life is being good to you!!! I haven't been on here for awhile ... a lot going on, but I've thought of everybody and missed you all! ((F))

Rave:
One of the great things about living in the country are the various farms in the area. Today we picked almost ten pounds of strawberries and bought fresh asparagus. Next comes blueberry season.

Books and map of Switzerland arrived today from Amazon. Now we can start planning next years trip to Kandersteg.