Rave: I'm in the very early planning stages of a trip to Greece for next summer. So exciting!

Rant: Going to Europe w/ Bush as president. We'll have to get those buttons that say " I didn't vote for Bush" in 5 different languages.

Rant: Don't even get me started on NCLB!

Rant: Rita.

Rave: It's Friday! It's been a long week. Even though the weather has been cold and cloudy here in California, at least the weather isn't forcing us from our homes.

THEY'RE HEEERRREEEE!!!!

I'm doing the happy dance now.

:-d

ElizabethReed: I worked for the YWCA for a year in Fargo, ND. We did Chocolate Fantasy there, too. So many different kinds of chocolate . . . yum!

mms...i don't think your rant is minor!
vets treatment (lack of benefits) is offensive.

kueriff..where do you live that there will be snow? i would love to be there!

P_M--SO happy for you!!!

Otto--Thanks:) DH has only been retired for about 1 1/2 years, so this is all new to us. Guess we will need to opt for the medical insurance offered by his current company as well.

Otto: I live in Montana. We're expecting a little snow in town, and the mountains should get 6 to 8 inches.

kureiff, I can relate to that unrippened tomato thing. Up until last year I had dozens of tomato plants and lost Hundreds of almost-rip tomatoes to the first frost. They never seem to rippen in the window either. Tomato plants are the most amazing plants because they have absolutly no tolerance to a slight frost. blankets don't work either because the tomatoes will never rippen past this time of year.

Ex Tomato Grower

Otto, I was just about to send kureiff my sympathy when I read your post! I can't imagine dealing with snow yet. I'm still trying to recover from too much heat and humidity. Please God, a few weeks of 70's before we have to deal with snow?!

kureiff, thanks for the good wishes on my family's travels. My husband just left his mother's (which, thankfully, gives me time to clean the living room before he gets here!). My daughter is still sitting in the airport waiting to depart. I, unfortunately, hit terrible traffic after dropping her and was 10 minutes late for work. But, as others have said, if that's the worst of my rants....Especially when I think of all those poor people in that horrible traffic as they try to evacuate.

Hooray for P_M! Thanks for sharing the good news!

I think you can put green tomatoes in a brown bag with apples and they ripen faster. Something about the gasses given off by the apples. Hmm... Sounds like kureiff could do a Science Experiment for us.

Rave: It's Friday!

Rave: New Business is really taking off.

Rant: I'm almost too busy to make it to Fodors!

Rave: Survivor & Nip/Tuck have started again!

Rant: Rita. Will be praying for those in her path.

Have a safe & happy weekend everyone! Trish

This works about 75% of the time:

Pull your tomato plant out by the roots. Shake as much dirt as you can off of the roots without ripping off the tomatoes.

Hand the entire thing up side down in your garage.

In this climate I don't do this until mid-October- but I have had fresh ripe tomatoes until after Thanksgiving on several occasions. My garage is about 55 degrees at best and near freezing by Dec.

You can also wrap the green or semi-green tomatoes in newspaper, put them in the dark, and many will complete the ripening process.

Of course, the garage ripe ones do not taste as good as late summer or total vine fresh- but a heck a lot better than the commercial "plastic" tomatos.

JJ5--I am really curious about this! How do you hang the plant upside down without all the dirt going everywhere? Do you water it at all? We have the extra tall ceilings even in the garage and I am trying to figure out how to rig this. Usually I can kill any and all plants (DH doesn't let me near them! lol!), but we bought a tomato plant at the farmers market this summer and the thing is over 10 ft tall now! We have lots of tomatos starting to ripen, and I would hate to lose them. So far the only one who has enjoyed them is the dog. She LOVES the green ones, the little stinker.

mms...my father, my uncles, and both grandfathers all served some way...
benefits used to be there, and just like everything else, it's being cut as we continue on in this administration...

kureiff...ooh montana! would love to go to bozeman...i'll hold my tongue a little because i know i'll be praying for warmth once the winter hits us here in nyc. (the ice! the winds!) but, i do love a little snow...

It can be messy. I have one wall filled with hooks and all is concrete below. If you've ever dried plants/flowers indoors for use, the process is quite similar. I have cut the dangling root systems blunt with a sharp shears to modify the shape and remedy some of the messiness from dirt, but keep the top of the ball intact. But the problem, to me, is that although this system can nestle in a hook and the entire thing can be quite neat- there still is the problem of dropping of the dried leaves (just as the trees shed theirs). I sweep them.

The entire thing is well worth it to me. I have various hybrids/types up to about 6 or 7 feet, not ten. But this year I have so many peppers of three types that I am sick of freezing, cleaning and grinding for chili. It's been a bumper pepper year, strange with the drought. We watered vegetables and it was allowed despite grass restrictions.

I'm sure I will be able to keep tomatoes in the yard for at least 3 more weeks. We aren't a fan of green tomatoes, but used to have an employee who took them all and pickled them. Our cherry and grape tomatoes are best we've ever had- very, very sweet.

No watering.

Kureiff
Where in Montana do you live? We lived in Glasgow for 3 yes when we were first married and my husband was in the Air Force. We have not been back and would love to know if it looks the same or not. Are you familiar with that area?

otto--I don't want to get into politics here, but I definitely do not hold this administration at fault for this. It has been a long time coming.

JJ5--Thanks so much for the information! I need to try this before the dog eats the rest of the tomatos, lol!

Rant-More flooding in NO.

Rave-Fall is here with cooler temps today.

Rant-News media and their constant blathering.

Rave-Jet Blue plane makes safe landing.

Rant-Sister needs mental health help and refuses to get it. ((U))

Happy B-Day P_M! ((^))

I have a Fed Ex Story-Several years ago, pre-911, I was in the Ski Club and group leader of an 80 person ski trip out west. AA Fed Exed me 80 plane tickets ( over $600 a piece). Fed Ex was supposed to get my signature. I told AA when the best time to deliver them would be. I was at work and Fed Ex left those airline tickets on my front doorstep all day long. Even though I live in a fairly nice area, someone could have easily swiped them...

Greetings kind FFR&R'ers ~

I will preface the beginnings of rants (and hopefully at least one rave) to state that I am as mean as a snake right now (ha). Yes, it does happen to Tiff, just not very often, so perhaps you will bear with me and know it is not my character to be so cynical...

Rant ~ Rita. I am so in between the worlds of crabby and just plain sad for these people in this storm's path. I mean the good people of Houston and surrounding communities opne their doors and their hearts to the victim's of Katrina and "Oh here you go, here's a hurricaine for you to deal with now, and all you little children that just got settled and feel at peace, we must move you again." It is beyond me.

Rant ~ The precious blind citizens of LA during Katrina that were forced to leave behind their seeing eye dogs, oh yes, I just heard that one on the news this morning, can you imagine?

Rant ~ The poor Minnesota (my home state) gentleman that was just trying to pick up his daughter from work that died in a tornado tht hit us near my home on Wednesday night. And all the people that lost homes or suffered damage due to the severe winds and those that were directly hit by the tornado.

Rant ~ The NCLB revisions. What the h-e-double hockey sticks is going on when our teachers, let alone our special ed teachers, are meant to be penalized. I don't get it. I can't think of a profession that is more under paid and more unappreciated than that of our teachers, especially those that lead our special needs children.

Rant ~ The politicians from every administration that have never listened to the Army Corp of Engineers about how to secure levees and whatnot in our country. I am so sick of us not cleaning up our own back yard, but running around the world fixing every one elses. I am not saying we cannot help, but let's get our own stuff together first.

Rant ~ The FCC. Could someone please explain to me what they do anyway. When I have to see a child on TV saying lines like, "I am not going to have a playdate with that kid so you can have sex with his mother." It makes me want to spit nails. And this was at 7:30pm at night. Pitiful. It is garbage. My DH and I tuned in for one evening and are thankful we have not been missing a thing. All we ever watch is Law & Order and maybe a DVD.

Ok, some raves, cause I always gotta end on a happy ((8))

Rave ~ That every one of my friends that was coming to my house Wednesday evening for a Girl's Night arrived safely, as the tornados & storms were beginning just as all my dear ones were arriving.

Rave ~ My little Sophie sleeping peacefully on my lap right now ((&)). Last night I started to tear up when they were telling a sad story on the news, and my little dog crossed the sofa and came up to me and gave me a kiss. How she can sense emotions is amazing. What a little angel.

Rave ~ Those that sacrifice for others.

Rave ~ All of you good Fodorites that I KNOW will just let me rant, thank you.

:)>-

Otto: I grew up close to Bozeman. It's a wonderful part of the state -- beautiful with great skiing!

cd: I live in Great Falls now. Glasgow hasn't changed much. Population is decreasing as farming is no longer profitable and more people move to the western side of the state.

I'll have to try apples and tomatoes in a bag! We have a bunch of apples from the in-laws orchard, and this sounds like an interesting experiment!

Kureiff
Is the Base still there? I know it's no longer an air base but what are they using the buildings for? What does downtown look like? Lots of memories, still want to someday visit and show our son where he was born!