Retirement? Wuzzat? Every person I've ever known who "retired" worked 3 times harder than when they were actually "working"! But the concept of being able to sleep in would be nice...

My roses are toast. Had a minor killing frost a few days ago and a heavier frost this morning. All the new growth the roses had been putting out is now dead and the blooms that I had are all nasty looking w/frostkill. I put down 4 more bags of mulch last night around my blue roses in my pond area to make sure that they are OK. I left 3 bags of mulch available for when I get the roses in from Palatine. Can't wait! I'll be putting Blue Nile & Charles de Gaulle in my pond area where I sold the bluebeards out of.. that'll leave me enough room for Blue River & Blueberry Hill from RU when I get them in next spring.

Oh Toni you could use blue salvia between the blue roses, or Silver Mound artemesia, and wouldn't that be pretty!
Members of our rose society bring vases of whatever is blooming to the meetings each month. A newer member brought a vase full of oh so fragrant lavender roses. He had no idea what the roses were, which drove the members into a name-that-rose frenzy.
My phone isn't taking good photos anymore, and I forgot to take my camera.
What roses do you think these are?
Our club decided that our sale next year will focus on fragrant roses, yay!

Cindi - These are my guesses for the roses:



I had Silver Mound artemesia in my pond area before, dug them all up & transplanted them as they were taking it completely over! Mine, according to the tags, were only supposed to get 12-18". These damned things are over 3' across. I'll take pics tonight. 6? 5? of them have covered a 16' section completely. I planted Blue Hill Salvia mixed in with Homestead Purple Verbena (supposed to be good to zone 6.. and I mulched the crap out of it) on the backside of one of the ponds (the waterfall portion) and planted the Blue Moon & Blue Paradise phlox alongside the pond. There's blue plumbago, "blue chip" campanula that lines the front, Blue star Amsonia in the center (didn't bloom this year, but did grow nicely). I will be planting more Agastache Cana in the back as they grow huge and smell wonderful. Lining the outside walls as this area is against the house & a privacy fence is a bunch of blue irises. I'll also probably be putting more Blue Butterflies delphiniums in too.

Can you tell I like blue? LOLLLL

If your club offers Melody Parfumee, GET IT. OMG get it get it get it get it. It's one of the BEST roses for scent I have.. not to mention is just drop-dead gorgeous. Has to be in my top 4 favorites (I think it's actually my 2nd favorite rose). http://www.helpmefind.com/rose...

Skiekitty said:Retirement? Wuzzat? Every person I've ever known who "retired" worked 3 times harder than when they were actually "working"! But the concept of being able to sleep in would be nice...

Well, I certainly won't be working harder. I've been juggling plates alone for decades: Taking care of the house, garden, and cats and doing my job. Now I can put down one of the plates. As for sleeping in, that's what I've done for the last 40 years. As soon as I started working at home, I had to switch to a night schedule so that I wouldn't be interrupted or distracted by the common elements of daytime life -- phone calls, visitors, etc. I'm looking forward to going to bed before 5:00 in the morning and getting up before noon.

And I just realized that I could take up drinking if I want! For all of these years, I've had to forgo a drink with dinner because my mind had to be sharp for work.

Zuzu - I've thought about becoming an alcoholic, but only problems with that are I don't like the smell & that would take away from my rose funds (good booze isn't cheap!). And I know about juggling all that, plus a husband! Ugh! But congrads on being able to retire! I know I'll never get to that point...

And husbands don't necessarily like to be juggled, much.

Hang in there, Toni. I'd bet things will turn out okay.

Steve - LOL.. I have a long long long ways to go to think about retiring.. at least another 25 years or so. Who knows, maybe I'll win the lotto? Oh, that's right, I don't play. I forgot..

Ideally, husbands should help with some of the plates rather than adding a separate plate, but I know that isn't always the case.

I've never bought a lotto ticket either, Toni, but it hasn't stopped me from thinking up ways to spend the prize money.

Congrats on the retirement . Wish I could retire or at least find another job . Put a application in for a job in RI keeping my fingers crossed
I will have to comute Via plane until house is sold but,at least I would have a job when we get there. I'd Love to work from home

Lovin' the retirement here!!
And wow, Regans will have Brother Grimm for the spring season. I have been telling my Mom all year, if she had room for just one more rose, she should get that one! It's my best looking rose plant wise in the garden and there always seems to be several of the bright cheerful blooms on the plant at any given time.
I love the blooms on my new Eyeconic Pink Lemonade enough to consider getting that Eyeconic Melon Lemonade although the warning of blackspot may hinder actually purchasing it. Maybe Bull's Eye would be a better choice.
Now that Lady of Shalott is a distinct possibility, although I already have several roses in that color. But I LOVE that color and it is an Austin!

Retirement? Wuzzat? Hell, even if I make it to that age (which I kinda doubt), I won't be able to afford to retire. But that's a LONG ways from now.. at least another 30 years or so.

Sue - You do the apricots like I do the blues. There's *always* room for another!!!

I have the Bull's Eye it was a closeout at a local nursery . It's been blooming since I got
her and no bad leaves at all I like this one

Skiekitty said:

Sue - You do the apricots like I do the blues. There's *always* room for another!!!

Yup, love corals, oranges, apricots! Summer Song is one of my favorites too.

Hubby retired at age 52.

Summer Song, Lady of Shalott, Autumn sunset, Westerland, Pat Austin and Tangerine Streams are all just stunning right now. I love those colors, and they are so fitting this season.

Ohhh, must be a sight, all my favorite colors too! Will you be taking photos soon or are you just going to tease us?!!

I've been taking loads of photos with my new camera. The last 700 or so pics that were on the SD card are nowhere to be found after I spent hours loading them onto the computer. Something is really really wrong with my computer or my aircard connection or both. I just need the time to take the whole thing into Best Buy for geek squad to work on it. My Android phone battery is on its last breath also. I can't do that now because I'm neck deep in 3rd quarter taxes.
This month we're remodeling the bedroom end of the house so all my paperwork from the office got thrown into the sunroom, and we're expecting a freeze tomorrow so the plants need to go there for the winter and can't...and I'm one of those sick OCD people. My world falls apart when I can't find something that isn't where it's supposed to be. There's strangers here moving my stuff, and dust everywhere and noise and I've got deadlines coming at me.......and all my support people from massage therapist to cpa to friends and family have enough on their plate...so yeah, I would love to take a break and learn how to post pics directly from my phone but my brain is about to explode as it is. Are the stars lined up crazy or what? All the people closest to me are either sick or having surgery this week. Is it an insurance thing? A change in weather?

CindiKS said:I Are the stars lined up crazy or what? All the people closest to me are either sick or having surgery this week. Is it an insurance thing? A change in weather?

This is a ritual with which I am completely unfamiliar: Change of Season Surgery. (Note to self: gotta get out more.) (Second note to self: or maybe not.)

Cindi, I do hope things start going better for you soon! I understand the frustration of new technology making the world a more difficult place. I do hope your camera woes get sorted out.

I'm one of those untidy people who throw everything into a pile, remembering exactly where it is. Occasionally my wife will generously offer to help me organize it all and put it in some logical place. At exactly that moment it becomes hopelessly lost to me forever. Different path, same effect. So I hope you get your stuff sorted out. I'll send you an angel who is apparently wearing a paperclip on her head. to help out.

More than anything, though, I hope your support network shows up soon. Misplacing one of those can set one back a bit.

as I type this on my netbook, I think I've gotten over my flu (I hate having a stomach flu.. it sucks) after spending 2 days either in bed or on the couch practically dead. Bleh. But the cats are loving me being sick.. I don't move much & they get to sleep on me all day (I have Summanus laying across my chest right now, his hind feet on my netbook & his face buried in my hair behind my left ear).

Cindi - What kind of OS are you using on your computer? Most of the time, Win7 will drop pictures that it imports into your Pictures Library. I'd look there first. I can help you find that if you need. Mainly 'cuz I wanna see such pretty pictures. Right now, there's about 2" of snow left after a 4" dump last night and I'm watching the clouds roll in for the 2nd blast of snow. I'm not complaining.. we need the moisture so desperately!!