Hey Rita, I'm 67 and still really notice a great looking guy! When I had my knee surgery a few days ago my anaesthetist and surgeon were both absolutely adorable -- even my sis who will be 70 in a few months commented on how cute they were! But of course they were probably 30s-40's, not the young whipper snappers like these young firemen! But still very cute!

Betty, believe me I notice on TV and the movies as I just love to watch a great looking actor. And I just love it when those great looking guys on TV or movies have no shirts on. And sometimes bare ass naked scenes (of guys) in movies or on cable shows. All this provided they work out and look good, not flabby!

In real life I just tend not to notice. But these days I rent DVDs from Netflix and I have watched lots of TV series. This way I can catch lots of the cable series since I don't get any of those movie channels. I just have the family package. Anyway, I have noticed that many of those cable series show lots more skin than Network TV. But it depends what. If you truely want to be mostly entertained try SPARTAGUS BLOOD AND SAND on DVD. Those gladiators are all ripped and never wear much in the way of clothing. Be warned though, it really pushes the envelop and has full frontal male nudity. Didn't bother me any, I was just surprised. Been married twice so can't be that much of a prude,

Here are four of the kitties keeping each other warm again. As you can see, there's room in this little cat bed for four of the cats, but not for Samara's fancy tail.

What a happy looking group, I can almost hear the collective purr!

Have to comment on the firemen...we have a training facility just up the street, and when our microwave caught fire several years ago, they sent 2 trucks and 6 men. They had some new gadgets they wanted to try out, so they spent several HOURS in our house looking through our walls. One of the firemen was a giant, no kidding. He just reached up on my 10 foot ceiling and took off the smoke detector. Then he yanked the microwave off the wall and hauled it outside. One of them was admiring my piano and I found out he can really play well. Yep they were all pretty hunky. My three daughters had fun talking with them, and a few of my neighbors even came over to take a look. I ended up hiring the piano guy when we moved because he mentioned that he's a piano mover on his days off. One also wanted to drive my little red car because it's a hybrid and they just had a seminar on putting out battery fires in hybrid cars. One of the guys is in our Rose Society, and they all had to check out the garden... it was a strange day, and we made some new friends!
Also...funny how we're all different. I have 2 ovens, 2 dishwashers, cars, trucks, tractors, quads, etc...but don't use the microwave, and can go months without turning on the tv. I found out a few weeks ago that our satellite tv gets music channels, so now I turn it on for music. My three daughters don't have microwaves or tvs, either. I love visiting my daughters because they live in places with public transportation, and I can get on a bus or train and not worry about traffic or parking. I remember when my kids were little, and we were visiting someone who had a clothesline. My girls came in and asked what the wires were in the backyard. They had never heard of such a thing. Most neighborhoods out here ban them. My sunroom makes a great place to dry handwashables. If I dried anything outdoors, it would end up with dust and pollen all over it and I would have to wash it again!
oh--some good news. We've gotten almost 5 inches of rain in the last 2 days, and my pond is full again! Yay! We were afraid it would dry up entirely and we'd have a nasty fish kill, but it was still 3 ft deep before the rains came, so I think the fish are ok.

I'm glad to hear that I am not the only one who does not own a television!

Your story about the visit of the firemen is great entertainment!

We have 3 TVs... a 40" LCD in the living room, a 23" LCD in the bedroom, & the 46" LCD in the den. The living room is for dinner movie & DH's PS3. The 46" in the den is for theater-style movie time (7.1 theater surround sound, big plush seating, kettle popcorn), the bedroom TV hasn't been turn on in.. uh.. 6 months? Don't have cable/satellite. We do have Netflix, but that's only during dinner time & that's it. TVs a waste of time, money, & braincells (which I have precious few of). Rather read a good book than watch TV.

Cindi - Sounds like a total BLAST! for rain!! We got a bit of snow from this past storm, nothing like what happened down south in OK/TX/NM, but I'll take any moisture the sky's willing to drop!

Oh, I don't know what I would do without my TV and computer. The high deff flat screen is so much better than the old box TVs used to be. I still have an old type TV in my living room but the one in the bedroom is a beautiful flat screen. And my computer. Who could possible do without a computer?

Zuzu, beautiful picture of pretty kitties. The one on the most right does look like it is barely stuffed in there and might fall out though.

Cindi, interesting story about your day with the local firemen. Always nice to make new friends.

What a cute fluffy fur fest Zuzu!

Zuzu, love your kitties at rest picture! And I can't get over how harmonious they are with each other! I have seven of the little buggers, and they all get so offended if anyone else invades their space. Right now I'm bringing them in at night because it's down to the low 30's (and believe it or not, no one has even touched my Christmas tree this year, knock on wood), and they are sleeping all over the place but never near each other. Bummer -- I wish they were more loving like your kitties! I do have one outdoor cat, my little Viking, who wants to come in only late at night when it's cold, and he always comes and cuddles with me -- it's so cute because he even puts his arms around my neck and insists on sleeping cheek-to-cheek until I get restless and have to turn over. But then he's ready to leave by 4:00 a.m. when my husband usually gets up. And the rest of the time he keeps to himself and prefers to be in my neighbors' yards rather than here (thank heavens they like having him around) and he usually won't come to me during the day even when I coax him with baby food. But most of the rest are rather standoffish, and I almost get the feeling they're plotting an insurrection or something. The only time they all love me is at breakfast time, and that's because I started giving them a tablespoonful of baby food as their treat -- they actually all crowd around for that. But they're nothing like your kitties -- drat!

Betty - huh.. wonder what's going on w/your kitties? My guys all crawl all over each other.. most of the males always are sleeping on each other. The females are a bit more aloof, only Tara is as sociable. Luna demands to sleep with Apollo, Tara sleeps with/on/under Nyx, Morpheus sleeps with whoever lets him snuggle next to, Bast will cuddle w/Conan, and Loki sleeps on everything, dogs/cats/people/whatever. I have a pic somewhere at home with 7 cats & 1 dog all laying on the bed with DH. Odin throws himself at Thor's feet, upside down, encouraging Thor to clean his throat/neck/chest.

Just added this to another thread but can't neglect posting it here!

Here are a few recent shots of color, taken yesterday.

Louise Clements


This is Vesper, planted next to a coprosma shrub that I thought would compliment this rose which usually is more apricot in the warmer months.


This is a new bidens for me called 'Goldilocks Rocks', they are such wonderful long time bloomers here for bed edges and as spillers in pots. Nice delicate looking lacy foliage too.


My favorite bacopa, don't know the cultivar name though, larger blooms that the usual ones. I have it planted in a salvaged clay pipe (as shown in my blog) and it's been blooming non-stop for months now. I plan to get a lot more of these to scatter throughout the garden.


This is Cafe, an unusual colored tannish rose that changes it's shade with the weather, sometimes it's shows a lot more apricot as seen in some of my other database images.


This is Helichrysum 'Monster Fireball', a straw flower than has been blooming non-stop since I planted it in early summer.


and of course, pansies are hitting the nurseries, just picked up a flat of these "Frizzle Sizzle Mix'.


and here's one of our resident kitties, one of two belonging to my daughter. This is Bella.

Nice cuddling kitties, Zuzu! Bet it is warm in there!

Bella is so pretty and just love Louise Clements, Sue!!

I bought Cafe from Burling earlier this year, but I lost most of her roses (they couldn't handle the dry & the heat, but more the dry than the heat.. I was afraid of watering too much for fear of blackspot). I'm going to have to try & find a place that sells slightly bigger than toothpick size roses for some of the HTs I want.

Calif_Sue, I had never heard of bacopa and had to look it up. WOW! What a great little container plant. Which cultivar do you have? I wonder how it will do in my zone 7 garden. I read that it requires a lot of water, but I'm not so good about watering... I might have to plant it near the basil, which is the only thing I managed to water almost everyday last year.

I am surprised you have never heard of it, it's common in all the nurseries including Home Depot and Lowes!
Once it's settled in, it really doesn't need that much water, I have actually never heard of it needing lots, it's common for hanging baskets so that's not a high water plant but if it dries out too much it won't flower and I then cut it back and once it gets going again, it gets nice and lush as in my photo. I don't know what cultivar it is though.
http://www.bhg.com/gardening/p...

We keep Strawflowers here as an annual. They're pretty hardy once they're settled in, so if you can keep 'em kinda moist for the first couple of weeks, you should be fine. I found some at Home Depot, but they weren't pretty like those and they were awfully small, like nickle-sized.

Toni, she was asking about bacopa, which is the link I provided.

Thanks, Sue! I'm a first-year gardener, so pretty much every plant was new to me even back in April. The only plant I could identify back then was the tree maple, and that was only because of the Canadian flag! And I still learn about a new plant pretty much every day. I only learned about cannas about a month ago! WOW, they're gorgeous plants! I can't wait til spring!

Well welcome to gardening!! And ask any questions you want!