MrsGreenThumb

Life as we now know it

2010-12-03T15:34:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving, 2010

Three months ago, I wished time would stand still. Amazingly, it seems as if it has. My ill husband is better to some degree. He is stronger and I sent the hospital bed back. We get out once or twice a week. I am able to leave him unattended for a few hours. We have enjoyed visits from our sons and grandchildren.

This morning I was pondering how our relationship has changed after 51 years. When you're first married you are preoccupied with each other, then life and children interfere. You are too busy making a living and just living to be so dedicated. Now as my husband's caregiver, I am totally devoted to him once again. If the situation wasn't so serious, it would be funny. He always wanted my undivided attention. I am sure I will be grateful that we've had this time together. Both of us have been through some of the stages of grief, for me, I have gained acceptance and I think he has too. It is still depressing to think about a future without him, but I will survive and after grieving, I will enjoy my life once again.

I've always been a person to explore opportunities. Never say no, you only go around once, has been my motto. John has supported me in all my crazy endeavors. If I decided to do something, I would get a plan together, and John would be my best helper. It is impossible to change my mind when I've made a decision.

Two weeks ago I painted and redecorated my bathroom. Well, I'm home all day taking care of John, so why not do something useful? Granted that being a sick person's caretaker is time consuming and difficult. I also cut mats and framed some pictures for my girlfriend. My life has changed since I am no longer working full time outside our home, now I'm working double time at home. But I'm not complaining. Everyday together is a blessing. I am blessed by still having my husband and having wonderful friends and family who give me support during this time.

I wish I could make time stand still

2010-09-12T02:05:00.000-07:00

Last week, my husband and I celebrated our 51st wedding anniversary. It was bittersweet and sad for me. It will be our last anniversary. My husband has terminal cancer. He was diagnosed in July with a rare cancer. It is aggressive and untreatable. He has been on hospice care for about a month. Right now he seems to be rallying. He has no pain and although weak, is getting around a bit with a walker. My days are filled with caring for his every need. I am busy taking care of him, our house, our yard, our pets. One day soon I know the house will be empty of his comforting presence. It is hard to believe he is dying, he's not wasting away and looks pretty good.

Until, I sat down to write this, I never asked why did this happen? Some things are not explainable and it is what it is. This is where the rubber meets the road. You know what stuff you're made of. A lot of people would have put him in a nursing home or group home. I chose to care for him myself. My friends have been wonderful at giving me support, visiting, encouraging me to take care of myself. I know they are true friends. Our sons have been here to visit, our oldest son a couple of times to help me with his dad's care.
I know I'll miss him when he's gone. I've loved him since I was 19 and we've had a good life together. We raised 3 wonderful sons and have 7 grandchildren. I wish I could make time stand still and keep him with me. But soon it will be time to say goodbye. I will treasure this time we are able to spend together.

Swine Flu

2009-10-20T08:29:00.000-07:00

I sent this to some of my email list and got a big response. I decided this is really important information. Take the time to read all of it.

There's some additional information that I hadn't heard before - may be
helpful.

Dr. Vinay Goyal is an MBBS,DRM,DNB (Intensivist and Thyroid specialist) having clinical experience of over 20 years. He has worked in institutions like Hinduja Hospital , Bombay Hospital , Saifee Hospital , Tata Memorial
etc.. Presently, he is heading our Nuclear Medicine Department and Thyroid clinic at Riddhivinayak Cardiac and Critical Centre, Malad (W).

The following message given by him, I feel makes a lot of sense and is important for all to know

The only portals of entry are the nostrils and mouth/throat. In a global epidemic of this nature, it's almost impossible to avoid coming into contact with H1N1 in spite of all precautions. Contact with H1N1 is not so much of a problem as proliferation is.

While you are still healthy and not showing any symptoms of H1N1 infection, in order to prevent proliferation, aggravation of symptoms and development of secondary infections, some very simple steps, not fully highlighted in most official communications, can be practiced (instead of focusing on how to stock N95 or Tamiflu):

1. Frequent hand-washing (well highlighted in all official communications).

2. "Hands-off-the-face" approach. Resist all temptations to touch any part of face (unless you want to eat, bathe or slap).

3. *Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine if you don't trust salt). *H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Simple gargling prevents proliferation. In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one. Don't underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method.

4. Similar to 3 above, *clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water. *Not everybody may be good at Jala Neti or Sutra Neti (very good Yoga asanas to clean nasal cavities), but *blowing the nose
hard once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population.*

5. *Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C (Amla and other citrus fruits). *If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make sure that it also has Zinc to boost absorption.

6. *Drink as much of warm liquids (tea, coffee, etc) as you can. *Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction. They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm.

I suggest you pass this on to your entire e-list. You never know who
might pay attention to it - and STAY ALIVE because of it.

Good luck, Mr. President

2009-01-20T19:16:00.000-08:00

This is a most amazing day, in my lifetime, I never thought we would have an African-American president. Although I grew up in the north, I was aware of prejudice. No person was immune to it. In the 1940's when I was in grade school, there was such bigotry. I was derided for being Jewish. That was a moment that I have never forgotten. I was just 12 years old. My sister brought her classmate home for lunch, the little girl was black and poor. She didn't have enough to eat. Even though we too were poor, our parents had a small corner grocery store and we had enough to eat and to share. My sister got a lot of grief for doing this.

In my memory I cannot remember a comment being made by our parents about a person's race or creed. Why would anyone feel intolerance against someone for something about which they had no choice? What a gift my parents they gave us, not to implant small-mindedness and bias in our developing minds.

I have been a supporter of our new president since I first saw him on Oprah's show a couple of years ago. He was such a personable, intelligent young man. He was down to earth, unlike other politicians who were so impressed by their own celebrity. This was a man who didn't exude entitlement. He spoke with such sincerity, he reached me as a human being. He made sense. He did not brag about his accomplishments. I admired Senator Obama for being a community organizer. It was those skills which helped him develop his campaign strategies. Millions of ordinary people like me contributed to his campaign. I haven't been so excited about a candidate since John F. Kennedy, the first president I voted for.I was a precinct committee representative to the Clark County Democratic Convention. With my friends, I was able to cast my vote for our future president. I was enthralled to hear him speak live in Las Vegas where thousands waited in the rain. I registered voters and knocked on doors. Never have I been so invested in a presidential candidate. Today, I feel so much joy. I wish President Obama godspeed and good luck Please inspire us as I know you can.

Expanding Horizons

2009-01-05T08:33:00.000-08:00

We hosted a family from Denmark last week. The daughter of the family is an exchange student staying with my cousin in San Diego. Eva visited with us for Thanksgiving and we really enjoyed her company. When she told us that her family was coming to visit and they wanted to spend a few days here, it was only natural to invite them to stay with us.

Near us is a National Recreation Area called Red Rock. It is a favorite place to take vistors since it is so different from the usual perception people have of Las Vegas. We piled into our minivan on New Year's Day and off we went. There are spectacular views and an easy 13 mile drive. Usually the visitors center is open, but it wasn't on New Year's Day. That was disappointing. There is a great display of the flora and fauna of the area. A newly renovated display of the geology of the area makes Red Rock all the more interesting.

We even found the remnants of last weeks snow. Not that they don't have plenty of snow in Denmark. Along the drive is the highest observation point and a favorite rock for taking pictures. There is always another willing tourist to wield your camera for a group shot. I'll bet thousands of pictures have been taken at that particular spot.
We really enjoyed talking with our guests, it was fun to learn about life in Denmark. Over the years our guests often offer a thank you gift. Our Danes were no exception. They brought these lovely angels designed by Georg Jensen all the way from Denmark. Every time I look at the angels, I will remember our visit with warm thoughts, knowing we have friends in another part of the world.

Greetings from Sunny Las Vegas

2008-12-21T11:23:00.001-08:00

We've lived here 12 years and this is the third snow we've experienced. It was the worst snow in 29 years. 10" in the foothills and 6" on the floor of the valley. It snowed twice in one week. It's hard to believe we moved here, in part, because it's always sunny.

School was even cancelled the next day. It was pretty funny to see kids at school anyway...they were having a ball making snowmen. That was a new experience for most of the younger kids. My husband asked for a scraper to clean the windshield of our van. All we had was a squeegee. We've long ago thrown away all those snow removal devices.

Of course, it didn't last any length of time which was OK by me. But it does get you in the mood to make all those winter hearty meals. I made split pea soup and even baked some poppy seed rolls for my hubby. That's a rare event for me. I used to bake bread every week, but that was over 40 years ago. We're getting older and it's all too much work. Including snow removal. I hope it's another 5 years before we experience snow again. We're back to our beautiful blue skies and sunny weather. I wish I could send it to my family in the middle west and east coast. My oldest sun said the wind chill in Indiana this morning was -30 degrees. Brrr.

Veteran's Day

2008-11-11T07:26:00.001-08:00

Today we give our thanks and respect to all those men and women who have served in our armed forces. Most of all for those who have died in the cause of freedom. My Uncle Al died in World War II, I have a vague recollection of him in his uniform as he said goodbye to the family and went off to war. He was the love of my aunt's life and she misses him to this day, even though it was 63 years ago. He is only one soldier among many who is missed by their family and friends. His spirit lives on in his daughter and granddaughter and great grandchildren. What a pity he didn't live to see his heritage. This is one story among thousands and today we can show our respect for their sacrifice.

I am proud that I can fly my flag as I honor all the men and women in uniform today and all the veteran's who have served our country. My husband and 3 sons all wore the uniform of the United States. They served with honor and I am proud of all of them.

Class reunions

2008-11-09T08:21:00.000-08:00

Last month, I went to my 50th high school reunion. I have been working on it for quite some time. I volunteered to find as many classmates as possible. Out of 395, only 50+ were not located and over 60 were deceased. This feat would be impossible without the internet. There are so many sources of information available that were not there 25 years ago when we had our last reunion. Some websites link related names with someone's name. Others give a person's age. Piecing it all together was quite a chore. This is the head committee who put this reunion together. We're all a little older and wiser than we were 50 years ago.

There were others on our committee who made arrangements at a restaurant, printed a lovely souvenier book, donated mugs, made up gift bags for each person who attended. A great deal of effort went into our weekend. We had a pizza party, a tour of the old high school, a banquet and a farewell brunch. So many people worked so hard and the results were fantastic. Everyone had a lovely time. About half of the living class mates we found came to our reunion.

I had so much fun talking to people and renewing old friendships. There are only a few people from the past who have kept in contact with me. But at the reunion, it seemed as if a day hadn't passed. It was impressive. At first, it was hard to recognize old friends. After about 15 minutes, their high school face showed through the wrinkles and gray hair. No one cared. It was fun to share stories of our lives, careers and families.

Our old high school is being torn down and the home of our memories will be replaced. A newer, more efficient facility with a new name will take it's place. It will be sad but I know everything changes. Here is HHS today.

All in all, the weekend was a success and many people want to have another reunion in 5 years. I say, it's someone else's turn to do the organizing.

My Grandmother

2008-09-14T08:01:00.000-07:00

Recently. a friend who is also an author, asked my to write an essay about my grandmother. She is putting together collection of essays about grandmothers. This is my essay.

The More You Give, The More You Get

This is my grandmother's message in my ear. It was a recipe for a happy life, hers and mine. When I was a small child, my mother's parents lived next door. We live behind our tiny grocery store on the corner of Alice and Thornton. Next door, in the two flat, my aunt's family lived downstairs and my grandparents lived upstairs. When my aunt had her third child, they moved into their own two flat and we moved in downstairs.

I was in heaven, my grandma let me come up and help her cook. She said I was her best helper. I think I was around 8. We made cookies, chopped liver and garlic rolls made with schmaltz. In the summer we made cold borscht. I learned how to prepare food from scratch. Many years later, when my grandmother passed away, I received her grandmother's rolling pin. I treasure it to this day and my children are putting dibs on it.

The rolling pin came from Russia, to be more exact, Kremenchug, in the Ukraine. It was in an area of Czarist Russia, also called the Pale of Settlement, where Jews were required to live. It was real life "Fiddler on the Roof". My grandmother, Clara, had a heart condition; she spent a good deal of time in bed. She would regale me with stories of her youth. Her father was a rich man, he owned a lumber mill. He arranged a marriage for Clara (or Chaya as she was known then) with an older man. She refused the marriage because she was in love with Sam (Schmuel). This was in the late 1800's. She was one of the few women in the village who could read and she met my future grandfather at the bookstore. They fell in love and married in 1902. He was a socialist and a bookbinder. He looks very stern in their wedding picture. I still have the original picture. Clara treasured worn black and white photos from Russia and she would tell me about her family. One in particular showed Sam's father's grave. It must have been heartbreaking to miss sharing happy and sad occasions with her beloved family who were left behind when Sam and Clara emigrated to the new world. As I grew older, I was the designated writer of her letters to her friends in Florida and to her son in California, Max. She was infinitely patient with me as I labored to write down her words. I thought I was a favorite grandchild because I was lucky and spent so much time with her. I'm sure my 12 cousins felt they too were favorites of hers.

My grandmother and my mother taught us to play card games, War, Canasta, Kalookie, even Pisha Paysha. That's a new one for you. Definition: pisha paysha - Yiddish a card game for two players one of whom is usually a child; the deck is placed face down with one card face upward; players draw from the deck alternately hoping to build up or down from the open card; the player with the fewest cards when the deck is exhausted is the winner. We played for hours and I loved to win.

Clara always organized picnics at the park on Sundays. Everyone brought fried chicken and other assorted goodies that they made that morning. We swam, we ate, and I was happy to be with my cousins every week. My life was like the movie, Avalon, by Barry Levinson. He examined the essence of the family's relationships. In retrospect, it was an idyllic life. We were actually poor, but there was so much love and acceptance, I never realized it. Clara was the heart of the family.

Hadassah was Clara's favorite charity. She had a 50-year pin commemorating her life-long membership in the organization. They raise money for Hadassah hospital in Israel and other worthy causes. My grandmother taught us to put our change into the Blue Box, which was sponsored by the Jewish National Fund. It was charity, tzadakah in Hebrew. The money was for planting trees in Israel. Every so often, someone would come and open the Blue Box and collect the charity money. To this day, the Jewish National Fund is a favorite charity of mine.

I learned many lessons while sitting on the end of my grandmother's bed. Not only did she teach me how to embroider and cook, I learned her philosophy of life. She always said, the more you give, the more you get. Volunteering had given me a lifetime of rewards, many friends and great memories. This is Clara's legacy.

Clara (Chaya) Fonberg and Samuel (Schmuel Tropp) Truppe
Married 1902
Kremenchug, Ukraine, Russia

Birthday parties

2008-05-26T06:29:00.000-07:00

Recently we celebrated my husband's 75th birthday. That seems like a great milestone to me. Three-quarters of a century! It seems the years have rolled by in the blink of an eye. He was a very handsome 26 year old man when I met him. In service to his country, he had traveled worldwide. I was impressed. Our marriage produced 3 sons and now we have 7 grandchildren.

It isn't often we get together, but for this special event, our whole family came from around the country. Since the party was held on Mother's Day, I hired a caterer to make the food so I didn't have to do too much work. As quick as they all arrived, it seems they left for home. Our oldest granddaughter is in Israel this week on a trip to see the holyland. Everyone is back to their daily routine. It was wonderful to see everyone in one place at one time. It took a few days to recuperate from all the activities but well worth the effort. We have wonderful memories of our short visit with our family. Come again soon.

Nevada Caucus

2008-01-19T06:51:00.000-08:00

Today's the day that Nevada voters will turn out to caucus for the candidate of their choice. I've spent a lot of time figuring out what this means. And it obviously means something..the candidates have been here a lot. There is more enthusiasm than I can remember for this race for the presidency. We've been getting about 6 calls a night asking if we're voting in the caucus and asking who we're voting for. It's gotten so bad that we lift the phone and put it back in the cradle.

So what does caucus mean. You publicly declare who you're for. You receive a paper ballot and declare your choice. People than physically stand in groups of people who are for the same candidate. I met a Democratic precinct committee man on my job last week and he told me how it works. If your candidate doesn't have a lot of votes, enough to elect a representative to the county election to select a rep to the state convention, then you have a chance to change your affiliation. Some people can remain uncommitted or they can move to one of the more popular candidates. At the end of the process, the number of delegates elected to the county convention is based on the percentage of total votes that are polled. Is that clear? I didn't think so. I think it's akin to a straw poll to see who has the most support. But you are seriously selecting people who will carry your opinion and vote to the next level. That is the county level. That vote will send people to the state vote and ultimately to the national conventions.

What I find most interesting is the number of young people who have gotten involved in this process. My granddaughter is campaigning for Obama this weekend in South Carolina. She's a college student in Florida. I love seeing this phenomenon.

Most people are apathetic about politics as long as nothing interferes with their life, in my opinion. There seems to be more turmoil in our society. All the greedy people have gotten us into a pickle. Here's what has happened in the past 8 years:

Less Clean Water

Less Clean Air

Ability to pollute and not have to report

No Jail Time for intelligence agencies that break the law

Spying without a warrant – no actions taken

Spying is fine, spying on US citizens is fine if done according to the law – with oversight

Bankruptcy laws that favor credit card companies

Not a single word or action about the malfeasance in the “sub prime housing market”

No actions on the malfeasance and failure of fiduciary responsibilities of the loan originators

Allowing loans to be made to people to pay that clearly do not have the ability to pay

Laws that are so blatantly favor big business to the detriment of the average person

Invading and occupying another country – a single hellfire missile locked to Saddam’s cell phone location would have been a lot cheaper

Not allowing Medicare to negotiate for better pricing from the drug companies

Why not regulate the price of oil -$50 a barrel?

US schools continue to aim low and are successful

We should have:

Social Security Tax on all income – no cap -- will not impact anyone with an income under $102,000 a year

Build “Free Hospitals” and not give money to insurance companies

Doctors and nurses can work in the Free Hospitals vs. Paying Taxes

Wal-Mart drives cost and profit to supplies down – why can’t the US Government adopt the same strategy?

I think all of the above are reasons that more people will become involved in the political process than ever before. And hurray for us that we can do this. Hurray for us that whoever is elected will be our president for the next 4 years. Change will not happen by bloodshed but by the ballot. I'm very proud to be an American. If we want change we are free to elect a candidate that will make it happen.

I've been busy planning my class reunion

2008-01-16T21:07:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted for a few months. That's putting it mildly. I have been on an internet hunt for my classmates from high school. It will be 50 years since I graduated from high school. I haven't figured out how that happened. I sure don't feel old enough to be out of school that long.

I start out a couple of years ago by finding our class president enjoying his retirement on the east coast. He was interested in having a reunion but felt he couldn't be of much help since he too lived far away. I worked on our 25th reunion. We didn't have the resource of the internet then. Many of our group was not to be found.

At any rate, I volunteered to find almost 400 people. Since I live far away from my hometown, searching out my classmates seemed like something I could contribute to this once in a lifetime get together. So here is what I learned about finding folks.

My main site is called zabasearch. It allows you to search the entire country or just one state.
There are links to other sites as well as google searches. There is peoplesearch.com, very helpful. I also used whitepages.com and addresses.com. Some websites give the month and year a person was born. Others tell cities people have lived in during the past 20 years. Some give phone numbers and the approximate age range of the people at that number. You can put the phone number into google and sometimes will get an address for that number. Frankly, I don't think the sites that charge you money will give you any information that you can't find for free.

When I couldn't find people, I looked at the SSDI. That stands for the social security death index. I used the rootweb site that has a powerful search engine. It was sad to find the name of a classmate who was deceased but I could stop search for them. On the SSDI site, you can put in the year the person was born. Most of my class was born in 1940. That was a help.
This is a good site. http://ssdi.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi

I started with my year book from the year we graduated. I also had the booklets we published for the 10th and 25th reunions we had in the past. Some people were a real challenge to find. I could find no trace of one fellow. Finally I googled his name. I got one hit, he worked for Boeing Corp for 35 years in 2004. So I looked up the Boeing headquarters and called them, he was still working. Lo and behold, the operator connected me to his desk at his office in California. Finding women is a little harder, sometimes they've been married, divorced and remarried.

Most of all, I tried to phone everyone I found and verify their information. It was a hoot, talking to old friends from the past. I spoke to several people who I went to grade school and high school with, we shared so many old memories. I was impressed by the number of educators in our class. None of us would be where we are today without the dedication of our teachers. It was a lot of fun. I can hardly wait for the reunion.

Our reunion dinner will be held at a local restaurant that serves Lake Michigan perch. Many people were thrilled that we would meet there. Most of the eateries from our high school days have long since closed. I had quite a few dinners at the restaurant where we'll meet. We have fond memories.

We mailed out the first letter to the people I've found so far this week. Now we'll see how many are interested. Surprisingly, only a few said they weren't interested on the phone.

In case you're curious, here's how I looked then and today.

You'd think after 50 years I could change my hair style?
What can I say?

The Circle of Life

2007-09-13T21:18:00.000-07:00

Today was a day of meditation as we celebrated the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah. I inevitably think about my family members who have passed on and about my children and grandchildren who are completing the circle of life in our family.

I grew up in a close family, we lived in a two flat with my grandparents upstairs. As a little girl I sat on my grandmother's bed and listened to her stories about life in czarist Russia. I was fascinated, many of these memories are embedded in my memory as if they were yesterday. She was an independent woman for those days. She refused the arranged marriage her father set up and married my grandfather who she met in a bookstore. It was unusual that girls could read in those days. I think I have her independent streak.

My mother was crippled from polio that she contracted as a 2 year old. She had an amazing spirit and was very generous in nature. She always thought she could overcome anything. In her day, men didn't marry crippled women, and my grandfather arranged a marriage for her at the age of 29. She was happy that she had two daughters and a husband. My parents life was a struggle as they eked out a living in a corner grocery store. I know now that we were poor but I never felt poor. I had the joy of family, my sister, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins. It was a wonderful childhood with a lot of love to go around.

I met my husband in college. He was a divorced Catholic and seven years older than I was. I grew up in a conservative congregation. I only knew him 3 months when we went to a justice of the peace and got married. He was from a blue collar family that was also close. Even though he grew up in a different tradition, he was agreeable to being married by a rabbi. In those days, reform rabbis would perform interfaith weddings. So in the presence of our parents and siblings, we were married in the rabbi's study. My mother had a small reception in our crowded apartment. I was happy that my family accepted my new husband. I think the rabbi knew it was a good match. He welcomed my husband and we became members of that congregation. After 19 years of marriage, my husband announced to me that he had decided to convert. He had for all purposes been practicing Judaism for many years anyway. It's not your label that makes you the person you are but the way you live your life. I always knew he was a decent man and I still think so after 48 years of marriage.

We had three sons and many trials along the road. Whatever I wanted to do, my husband encouraged me. He worked in a steel mill and we saved enough to go into business after 12 years of marriage. I had been the editor of my college newspaper and I loved being the boss. I opened an ice cream store with a 4 year old staying in the back room. I was 31. My husband worked all day at the mill, then went home, changed and came to the store so I could spend the evening with the kids. The boys learned to cook at a young age, I think it was called self-preservation...they didn't want to starve to death. When they were 12, I let them come to work in my store. After the youngest went to school, I bought a second store. Our family worked hard. The boys learned a great work ethic. We stayed in that business for 25 years in all. But after 12 years I was getting bored and went back to school to study photography. My husband supported my efforts once again. By this time he was working full time with me so I had the freedom to take classes.

When our sons went off to the military and to college, it was a lot harder to take care of all of our commitments. We saw them begin their own lives and families. We now have 7 grandchildren. Our sons are professional men. One is an accountant and two are engineers. This year our oldest granddaughter started college. She had already spent her junior year in high school in Taiwan as an exchange student. She is studying Chinese and International business. To use a Yiddish expression, I am qvelling. This means: "Kvell" To chortle with pride and glow with pleasure (usually over the achievement of your child or grandchild).

So I finally know that my place is now among the older generation. I am happy in my heart that I have found my way in life. My grandparents embodied an amazing spirit to emigrate to a new life in the United States, they worked hard and took great pleasure in their family. My feelings surely reflect their joy in the family they were responsible for creating. My grandma used to say "the more you give, the more you get" This has been my mantra in life. Even though I think I will live another 25 years, I still reflect on the past as well as the promise of the future. It is exciting and I still want to make a difference in this world. I hope I instill this energy in my children and grandchildren as they pursue their lives.

I'm So Excited

2007-07-22T07:12:00.001-07:00

This is the new building our offices are moving to in a couple of weeks. It's a "green" building. It uses many recycled materials such as old blue jeans for insulation, 97% recycled steel and crushed glass counter tops. Our office will be on the 10th floor, we'll have great views of the mountains. The design maximizes natural light and adds diffused light bounced off the ceiling to reduce glare. We'll have indoor parking which will be wonderful in the summer. Your car can be an oven at the end of a workday from sitting in the sun all day in Las Vegas.

Molasky Corporate Center in downtown Las Vegas is 1 of only 200 buildings worldwide to be LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified as of June 2007. What's that, I asked myself? From my reading, it has to do with design. The most important way for this building to be certified is through its under-the-floor air distribution. Instead of bringing in air from the ceiling at 55 degrees and having it mingle with bad air, it comes in from the floor at 63 degrees and is fresher and cleaner. It will mean a healthier work environment for those of us who will be using this building.

There will be photovoltaic cells on the roof to create electricity. I've read that the cooling tower will capture 30,000 gallons of water a day to water the landscaping around the building and on the patio. The building is state of the art using low water use toilets, low maintenance materials, natural materials that don't emit gases and renewable resources such as bamboo cabinets. There will be great amenities and services such as a 24 hour fitness center and a deli on the lower floors, which will also have retail stores. The upper floors will be offices.

Above the 6 story parking garage, on the 7th floor will be a really cool patio with planters, seating and an oversized chess set. The main lobby for the organization I work for is on the 7th floor. We saw some snapshots of it the other day and I was impressed.

I have to compliment the developers who were willing to spend a lot more than office space typically costs to bring this first class building to Las Vegas. I work in conservation because I think its the right thing to do. I believe this building was constructed in that spirit and I'm feeling good about being among the first to work in the building.

Quick Colorado Getaway

2007-06-29T20:27:00.000-07:00

Ostensibly, I went to Colorado with my grandson who was going to Boy Scout camp south of Pueblo. I've never been to this area before and was very impressed with the natural beauty. The wildflowers were abundant and I stopped the car about every 10 feet to take a picture.

After delivering my grandson, I spent a couple of days with my cousin. I don't see her very often so it was a great get together. She took me to the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. Pikes Peak is visible behind the Garden and I have included a shot of that magnificent area. We went to High Tea at a tea room. That was a new and very pleasant experience. Who has time for tea in my busy life?

My cousin is leaving for a year to go to Prague to teach English for the Berlitz School there. We chatted up a storm. I will remember this visit for a long time. I don't know when we'll see each other again. Thank goodness for email. We had a ball trying on the funky hats and drinking our tea.

On Monday, I met some old friends to take a leisurely tour of the Denver Botanic Garden. I must say, it is one of the nicer gardens I have visited. Each area is designed to please the eye, the color schemes were very well done. I have been to other public gardens which seemed very disorganized. Not so with Denver, it was very well planned and immaculately clean. I highly reccommend it as a must see when you're visiting that part of the country.

Happy Birthday, Granddaughter

2007-05-29T12:59:00.000-07:00

This is a busy time, we have two of our grandchildren visiting us from Houston. They're having a ball. Today was the girl's birthday and we went to New York, New York. They have an arcade for kids there, I think they're teaching them to be gamblers. Not that I'm a gambler by any means. They each got $20 to spend and came home with an armload of stuffed toys. They were thrilled.

After a hot dog or two, they're in the pool. Later we're going to paint pottery and then have pizza with friends. I don't remember birthdays being so exhausting when our kids were little.

Oops, I hear yelling out at the pool. More later.

Welcome Spring

2007-04-15T20:38:00.000-07:00

This has to be my favorite time of the year. The yard is wonderful. The beavertail cactus are blooming, there is nothing like those magenta flowers. All sorts of plants are vigorously pushing blossoms, the dissodia is rampant through the yard. Those are those small yellow mounds. It is commonly called dogweed, I have no clue why.

The lovely purple shrub is called desert sage. Sages (salvias) are one of the largest groups of plants. Their main characteristic is their fragrant foliage. You tear off a leaf and crush it to see if it has an odor. There are another group of shrubs called Texas Rangers that some people call sage but they really aren't.

These lovely small flowers greet visitors near my front door, they are angelita daisies and freesias. The freesias have a fragrance that compliments the purple stock on the other side of the walkway to the front door. A few years ago I went to Death Valley and saw fields of spring flowers that were purple, yellow and white. They say Mother Nature is the best designer and that combination of colors is prominent in my garden's color scheme.

I really like native plants in my landscape. The grasses are so graceful blowing in the wind, this is purple three awn grass. Looks beautiful but very invasive. I'm constantly hoeing up volunteer plants. Thats what you get when you use native plants, some are more opportunistic than other. Last but not least is one of our native penstemons, Eatons or firecracker penstemon. It's been a good spring here in the desert.

Almost Done

2007-04-06T22:36:00.000-07:00

We've had a big push on to finish our remodeling. Although we're not quite through, I wanted you to see our fireplace. I think it exceeds my expectations for that part of the project. This isn't the best picture and we're going to paint the walls a light gold but you get the idea. The back wall is painting and you can see it's a soft color.

We celebrated Passover on Monday and my house needed to be in order. I know I should have cancelled but I love this holiday. There were 12 of us including 3 of our grandchildren from New York. We only get to see them a couple of times a year so it's always special.

Our yard is wonderful this spring. We've had weather in the 80's and are already swimming. My next post will be about the garden.

I'm Baaack

2007-03-14T17:58:00.000-07:00

Well friends, I have to apologize for my lengthy absence. I've been in construction hell. We are remodeling. It was going to be a small project, just remodeling the fireplace. It turned into one big project and 4 small ones. My contractor's mom passed away during the project, you know about circumstances beyond your control. It's happened to us all. So we're still waiting on some of our cabinets for the kitchen, laundry room, linen cabinet, etc. It will be gorgeous, just not at this moment. I'm trying to keep my cool and keep repeating: This too shall pass.

Here's a couple of pictures with the caveat that we are in progress. I'll add more as we finish. My husband is painting as we speak. That's kind of exciting. We've had white walls for over 20 years. We're finally adding some color. Most of it will be a light gold color. I don't want to go too crazy. The colors you see are accent colors.

I'm also excited about the fireplace. I demo'ed the man made stone, then I had a hearth and mantle built. Nest week we will have a stone from Spain called Rojo Allicante put on the fireplace. I will cover the hearth with the bricks and use the mosaic on the horizontal surfaces. I plan on painting the mantle black. I sure hope it turns out like my vision. I'll be interested in reading your comments.

The part above the mantle will be covered with an interesting product I read about at the doctor's office called American Clay. It's like Venetian plaster only easier to apply. It will be a dark dusty red color...I think. A woman has a right to change her mind.

Deep Freeze in Vegas

2007-01-21T07:30:00.000-08:00

We've been having the worst weather since moving to Las Vegas. They say it hasn't been this cold for 19 years. I wore my 40 below zero Eddie Bauer down jacket for the first time since we moved here 10 years ago. For the first time, I'm not enjoying my job. Being outside in this weather is no fun. The worst though, is that my plants are freezing and showing the effects of this freeze that has been going on for a week. Our pool heater froze and had to be replaced as did some of our irrigation. That was expensive to say the least.
Some of the cactus are looking pretty sad. My angel wing cactus (above) had large pieces just freeze and drop off. That's pretty resilient so I expect it will be all right. The teddy bear cholla (pronounced choy-a) dropped a lot of joints. That's a pretty nasty plant. It's sometimes called jumping cholla. I'm not looking forward to cleaning it up when the weather improves.

The aloe vera took a big hit from the cold. It was pretty spectacular and has wonderful spikes of bloom. I suspect it won't be so nice this year.

The lemon tree is really sad. I know how those citrus farmers in California feel. I should have cut them and brought them inside. I'm going to try making lemon juice and freezing it. Hopefully it won't be a total loss.

Yet there is always hope. I have stock and angelita daisies acting normal. They have suffered no apparent damage.
Mother Nature is sure hard to predict. You have to love a plant that knows no adverse weather. You can see why I love those daisies.

Phantom of the Opera

2007-01-09T15:22:00.000-08:00

We went to see the lavish production of Phantom of the Opera last night here in Las Vegas. It is spectacular. If you're coming to Las Vegas, by all means, try to get tickets. The sets and costumes were remarkable.

The front of the theater looks like a baroque opera hall complete with box seats along the side. The boxes were populated with costumed (dummy) opera goers that were wearing period clothing.

There is an marvelous chandelier that splits into 4 parts and is flown over the audience. It was so gorgeous. The performers are from Broadway and are especially good. It is no wonder that the local paper said this production was the best entertainment in town. Coupled with a live orchestra, the costumes, lighting and wonderful lyrics, it was a perfect evening. Well done! Bravo!

Why I haven't been blogging

2006-12-25T14:37:00.000-08:00

I have this pesky little critter that sits on my monitor and refuses to let me see the screen. Every time I sit down at my computer, she jumps up on the desk and seems determined to get in my way. I don't know how she figured out if I am working on the computer, she isn't getting any attention.

I didn't really want a long haired cat. We've had many cats in our 47 year marriage. This particular one, named Cassie the kitty, is extremely demanding. I should have realized that when we went to the animal shelter to adopt a cat. She ran out and wrapped herself around my husband's ankles. End of story. She chose him, not the other way around. She and Tova, our female Canaan dog, got along from the beginning.

When I have a dinner party, she is very interested in all the activities. She liked the size of my serving bowl and I had to throw the napkins out that I put into it. She decided it was a good place to take a snooze. She hates it when we have company, hiding in the closet until they leave. Some of our friends never realized we had a cat and she's been around for 4 years now.

Often she wakes me up at 3 AM by scratching on her post which is in our bedroom. I think that's going to have to change. All in all, this is the most annoying cat I have ever owned, or should I say, has owned me.

Finally, I finished a project

2006-12-04T16:57:00.001-08:00

I am so bad about procrastinating. It's a burden when you have set a goal then just don't do it. About 10 years ago, I bought some beautiful handmade paper when we were in San Francisco. I had no idea at the time what I would do with the paper but it "spoke" to me. About 5 years ago, a co-worker, at my last job, was going to visit his parents in Japan and he had mentioned that his father did calligraphy. I asked if he would ask his father to write something for me on this paper that I had. I later learned that his father did calligraphy for the Emperor of Japan.

I thought the calligraphy was a good idea at the time. My friend, Kazuo, brought me back the phrase "long life" written in 5 different styles of calligraphy.

This weekend, I got my act together and I put the frames together, had special UV glass cut, mounted the paper on a black background and put it all together. This morning I hung them over our bed. I'm so pleased with how it came out.

Besides what could be better than having long life wished on you five times every single day. I hope that will be our karma.

Many Blessings

2006-11-24T06:08:00.000-08:00

It's 6AM and I'm finally finished cleaning up my kitchen. What a chore. I've been up since 4 trying to get things in order. I fell asleep in exhaustion after all our guests left last night. I don't know why I work myself into a frenzy getting everything ready. It's so wonderful to share these occasions with friends. I love using all my good dishes and silverware, I love cooking for everyone. My friends are great, they all bring a dish so I don't have to do all the cooking. These lovely lemons are from the bounty of my garden. I thought they would make a wonderful centerpiece, then everyone could take them home.

My husband brought me these lovely flowers, he knows how much I like fresh flowers when we're having company. I am so blessed. I was able to use both of my Waterford crystal vases that one of my sons and his family have sent as gifts over the years. I was able to use my keepsake pitcher that my mother received as a wedding gift. Even though none of our family was physically present, their spirit was with us. All of our sons called to wish us a happy Thanksgiving.

I dwell on all these treasures in my life because I met a man the other day who was a widower with no children. He was one of my customers and he became ill when I was at his house. I had to call the paramedics. He didn't want to go to the hospital because he had no one to watch his dog. I asked if a neighbor could take care of his dog, he gave me an address and off he went to the hospital. I tried to find the house he described and couldn't find it. Finally I put the dog into my car and started driving around until I found the house that had the welcome sign as he had described. No one was home. So I left the dog in the gated courtyard with a note. I asked the lady to call me and tell my she would take care of the dog. Several hours later, she called my cell phone and said she couldn't watch the dog. Her daughter was having surgery that day. I said I would come and pick up the dog after work and take her home for a few days until her owner came home from the hospital. When I went to pick up the dog, the gate was open and the dog was gone. I felt so bad, this poor fellow had no one in the world except his dog and now the dog had run away. I left a message on the lady's answering machine telling her the dog was gone. She called back at 9PM and said she would look for the dog. I woke up at 2AM worrying about the dog. What a dilemma! Finally, the next morning at 7:30, I was already at work, I got a call that one of the other neighbors had found the dog and taken it in. I was so totally relieved. I don't know how the fellow is doing but I will call him today and see if he's home from the hospital and reunited with his dog.

These events of the past few days have reinforced my appreciation for all I have in life. I do not know what the future will bring but for now I am surrounded by people who care about me, pets who love me, a job I love. I hope I contribute to the solution of the problems of the city where I live and when its my time, I will leave this earth a better place than I found it.

P.S. I spoke with the man and he is home with his dog. He's doing OK.

Happy Thanksgiving in advance

2006-11-20T05:05:00.000-08:00

I've been way too busy to blog this month. I'm feeling guilty. But I've been trying to keep up a bit with my friends. And getting ready for Thanksgiving. Yesterday I helped a friend all day, landscaping a house he's rehabbing. There is something about getting my hands in the dirt that I can't resist. I should have been cleaning house and shopping. What was I thinking? So my erstwhile blogging friends, I have a 5 day week-end coming up and will get back to business then. I will leave you with this thought.

Oh my aching back!

2006-11-06T14:58:00.000-08:00

I've spent the past two days cleaning up my yard and planting fall flowers. We had all our garbage cans full and I didn't want to face the garbage man with all the stuff we put out. There was a lot of debris out there.

What's the reason for all this activity? Tomorrow a photographer is coming to see my yard. There is some software being developed to help people design their yard in the desert style. One of the yards that may be used is our yard, so as usual I work myself into a frenzy cleaning up. It's worse than when I have people over at the house. At least it's more physical.

I bought 24 purple stock plants to add some color by the front door and the side flower bed. That's one of the fall plants that should last the winter, barring freezing weather. I've had some reseed for several years. The yard is looking pretty brown and tan except for some small desert perennials called dogweed and paperflower. They are both yellow. My whole concept when I designed the front yard was to look like the edge of the desert. I used elevational changes, natural rock and lots of native cacti and perennials. This lovely plant is Mexican tarragon. Crush a leaf and it smells distinctly like licorice. I've been told they are used in Day of the Dead wreathes in Mexico.

I also like to use various agaves, this one is called Queen Victoria agave. I have Parry's agave, Weber's smooth edge agave, Century plant or American agave. The little succulent plants are aloes. I forgot which ones they are but I like the way they get reddish on the tips in the fall.

The last plant I want to show you is my screwbean mesquite. It has these interesting seed pods that sort of look like screws. It was 15 inches tall last spring when I planted it. It was in a one gallon pot. Now it is over 8 feet tall after only 18 months. That's what planting an appropriate plant with the right kind of irrigation will get you. And those kids I work with were teasing me last year. One of them asked me if I thought I would live long enough to see it grow up. I guess I showed him.

Fall In The Desert

2006-10-29T15:22:00.000-08:00

It seems to be officially
fall here in the desert.
The ash trees are turning yellow and red and the Chinese pistache is also turning red. And my lemons are something to behold. I think they are a bit ahead of schedule. There are several hundred on my tree. I now have to think of creative ways to use some of them. Mostly they are given away. The nice thing about lemons is they will stay on the tree for a long, long time. I made some chicken picata the other day, with lemon juice and white wine. It was quite tasty.

With the advent of cool weather, some of our plants are bursting into bloom. It's an anomaly that many things stop blooming in summer but respond to cooler weather. I have a lovely array of things blooming 12 months out of the year. The excessive heat is gone and our days are gloriously comfortable. It's a bit chilly in the morning but shirt sleeve weather in the afternoon.
We've had about an inch and a half of rain in the past two weeks and that is contributing to blooming in several species. One is the little fuzzy blue flower called Boot Hill Eupatorium amongst the Radiation lantana. It's a little hidden treasure that you have to walk near to notice. The nice thing about cool weather here is that we can plant annuals that would be crispy critters here in July and August. I like to add pansies and stock to some of the pots that have succulents in them. The pansies will bloom until the weather gets hot in the spring, around March or April. All in all, this is the nicest time of year, after spring of course. It's a very lovely time of year to visit as well. All of you snow bunnies should think about a nice trip to Las Vegas. I'll be happy to show you my garden.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

2006-10-16T09:02:00.001-07:00

Wow, who ever thought I'd be saying that. Our annual rainfall is about 4" a year. Pretty skimpy. Until Friday, we have only had about 1/2 inch of rain for the entire year. It's really been hampering our water conservation efforts. For the first time in 4 years we are using more water than in 2002. Of course our population has exploded by about 5000 people per month moving here.

Back to the rain: It rained on Friday, causing a major problem at the PGA golf tournament. The second round was suspended on Friday the 13th due to dangerous weather conditions -- marking the first time in over 75 years that it had rained on Oct. 13th in Las Vegas. It caused major traffic delays on the highway so some players were late for their tee times. We got about 1/2" of rain on Friday.

Saturday was a day I was looking forward to. It was our annual Day with the Experts at The Gardens at the Las Vegas Springs Preserve. I was honored to be asked to conduct tours through the gardens to talk to people about the plants. I was so excited. Last week I presented a program to the new Master Gardener class about designing with desert plants. Nothing I like more than talking about plants, I must have some teacher genes in my personality, and I love helping people find the right plant for the right place. I woke up to very overcast gray skies, but didn't worry too much. I figured if it rained on Friday, it sure wouldn't rain on Saturday. Usually, if there is any moisture in the clouds, it dumps it on its way on the mountains just to the west of Las Vegas. So I got up and got going a little early. When I entered the expressway, I should have had a clue. It took me 30 minutes to get about 5 miles. I later found out that it was raining south of us and standing water on U.S. Highway 95 forced the closure of that freeway at Decatur Boulevard from Saturday morning until late afternoon, snarling traffic for hours. Rain caused an embankment on Interstate 215 to collapse, closing the Beltway for about five hours. I finally reached the gardens on surface streets, and you guessed it, it started pouring down rain. I've been a volunteer at this event for 10 years and its the first time it's ever rained. Bah humbug.

Well, needless to say, I was majorly disappointed. But we did get another inch of desperately needed water. I'm hoping for better weather next Saturday. I'm working at an event called Bite of Vegas at one of the local parks. I'll be giving people information on the conservation program I work with to save water. So wish us clear skies and NO RAIN.

Junk Mail

2006-10-08T18:15:00.000-07:00

I spent about an hour this morning sorting through the weeks mail. Junk mail seems to get worse, like the traffic, it increases every year. Then there's the junk advertising in the Sunday paper and the junk they stuff in your screen door. You can't seem to lessen the amount of paper that clogs your life. How many trees die every year for all this paper? If that isn't bad enough, there's spam on your computer. I really hate it when some anonymous person puts advertising under my windshield wiper on the car. What's a person to do?

Your name, address, and buying habits are a commodity that is regularly sold & traded on the open market. These days organizations you deal with virtually all sell your name unless you specifically ask them to stop. Here are some general techniques:
Whenever you donate money, order a product or service, or fill out a warranty card, write in large letters, "Please do not sell my name or address". Most organizations will properly mark your name in the computer.

Product warranty cards are are often used to collection information on your habits and income, for the sole purpose of targeting direct mail. They are not required in most situations - avoid sending them.
On the telephone, ask "Please mark my account so that my name is not traded or sold to other companies".
Your credit card company probably sells your name the most often. Call them and ask them to stop.
"Contests" where you fill in a little entry blank are almost always fishing expeditions for names. If you fill one out at a football game, for example, expect to get a catalog of football merchandise within a few months. Avoid these if you don't want the mail.

To stop specific types of unwanted paper mail:

The amount of paper junk mail sent each year in the USA is staggering -- some 4 million tons, nearly half of which is never opened. Even if you recycle there are still enormous environmental costs in terms of ink, energy to produce deliver and recycle the paper, recycling inefficiencies and loss of virgin forest to create the high quality glossy paper much junk mail uses. There is a lot you can do to reduce the cost to the environment and your own time:
First class mail: Cross out the address and bar code, circle the first class postage and write "refused: return to sender". Drop in any mail box, it will be returned to the sender.
Bulk mail: The post office throws away bulk mail it can't deliver, so returning it does no good. Bulk mail is the hardest to deal with because the USPS actively provides addresses, support and encouragement to mailers. However, if "address correction requested" is written on the label: circle "address correction requested" and treat like first class mail.

Credit offers: The major credit agencies all sell aggregate credit information any bidder. Direct mail and credit companies generate mail based on demographics including zip code, income band and credit payment patterns. Stopping this is easy, you just need your address, former address within two years, and social security number. One call does it all for agencies Equifax, Trans Union, Experian and Innovis. Dial 1-888-5 OPT OUT (or 1-888-567-8688) 24 hours a day.

Catalogs:Call the company's 800 number and have the label handy.Write your instructions on the mailing label and fax it to the company. Mark "ATTN: customer service".

AOL (America On-Line): You could pave the nation with the free discs these people send out, call 1-800-605-4297 (24 hours a day) to get off the list. Tell them your first name is "current", last name "resident".

Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes: You can get the Clearinghouse to stop clogging your mailbox by contacting customer service at 1-800-645-9242 (8:30 am to 8:30 EST), sending a fax to 1-800-453-0272, mailing to 101 Channel Drive, Port Washington, NY 11050, or you can send email to pch@ant.net. PCH will remove any number of names from a specific address, but you have to list each name exactly and insist nicely.

American Family Sweepstakes: Ed McMahon and Dick Clark will stop telling you "You have definitely won 11 million dollars (maybe) " if you call them at 1-800-237-2400.

ADVO (Mail comes with pictures of missing children). Call 1-860-285-6100 to get off the list. You may have to send a postcard to "ADVO Consumer Assistance, POB 249, Windsor CT 06095-4176".

Val-Pak Coupons: click the link and fill out the form - easy, but don't give them your email address.

Carol Wright Call 1-800-67-TARGET to get off the list.Your local newspaper & supermarket (look for a phone number on the piece).

Too much junk to deal with individually: Start by sending a postcard or letter to Mail Preference Service, Direct Marketing Association, PO Box 643, Carmel, NY 15012-0643 Include your complete name, address, zip code and a request to "activate the preference service". For up to five years, this will stop mail from all member organizations that you have not specifically ordered products from.
The Direct Marketing Association estimates that listing with their mail preference service will stop 75% of all national mailings. They process 50,000 requests a month and requests are kept active for five years. If you fill out the post office change of address form, the DMA will track the new address (you'll get a few months of mailings to the new address before they catch up to you). It can take up to six months for your request to be fully processed. You can also opt-out online, but they charge $5. The best way is to fill out their online form, then mail them a printout.

This is a great idea and it works:

If you rent you are probably familiar with receiving mail for a dozen or more former residents of your dwelling. Since you probably don't want any of the stuff, you can use two powerful techniques that might not be appropriate for yourself:
First class and some bulk mail: If the former residents neglected to fill out a Post Office change of address card, or it expired, you can fill one out for them. You must fill out one card for each unique last name. Write "Moved, Left No Forwarding Address" as the new address. Sign your own name and write "Form filled in by current resident of the house, [Your Name], agent for the above". You must write "agent for the above". Hand this form directly to your carrier, if possible, as your carrier must approve the form and see that it gets entered into the post service National Change of Address (NCOA) database. This is very effective.

To stop specific types of unwanted telephone marketing calls

Federal law prohibits telemarketers from "Initiating an outbound telephone call to a person when that person previously has stated that he or she does not wish to receive an outbound telephone call made by or on behalf of the seller whose goods or services are being offered.". You may simply interrupt the telemarketer and say "Please permanently remove me from your calling list". Remember that they just interrupted you. If the same people call back, they are violating the law. Ask them for their company name, supervisor name and phone number.

If you wish to quote Federal law to the telemarketer, you may read it at Federal Trade Commission: Telemarketing Sales Rule.General Telemarketing calls: Send a postcard with your complete telephone number, area code, address, and names of people receiving calls to DMA Telephone Preference Service, PO Box 9014, Farmingdale NY 11735-9014.
To stop unwanted electronic mail ("SPAM")It is very hard to effectively combat junk electronic mail. It costs nothing to send out a few million email messages, so there is no disincentive for people to do so. Most SPAM mailers forge the headers, email return address and sending machine name because they are sick of reading the thousands of inevitable complaints. The offers to remove your name from a list are generally untrue, and often result in your name getting added to yet another list. Many internet providers have policies against SPAM, and will take action. Unfortunately some providers either don't care or are SPAM-friendly. There are ways you can reduce exposure and complain:Never never never reply to a SPAM email.
Stamp out Get Rich Quick schemes: If you suspect fraud, send a copy of the mail to the National Fraud Information Center. If it relates to selling stocks, send to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Use care with newsgroup postings: Post to a newgroup these days and you can be sure of getting both target SPAM (sports messages for posting in a sports group) and untargeted email. You can use an obviously false return address on postings: most news programs let you set this to whatever you want. Include your real email address in body of the message.

Complain to your Senator or Representative: Laws will be needed to regulate the eventual legitimate email advertising industry.

So now that I've learned some new techniques, I will be on the phone early tomorrow morning. I've already called the Do NOT Call list and warned Publisher's Clearing House to leave me alone. It's time to fight back.

Centenarians

2006-10-01T07:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I met a remarkable lady, she was 101 years old. Her grandson and his wife stayed with her because she decided at 99 that she needed a little help. I was amazed at how cogent her questions were. She certainly hadn't lost many brain cells.

Since I've always said I wanted to live until at least 95 so nothing would happen without me, I decided to do a little research. Centenarians are the fastest growing segment of our population. The second fastest is the age group 85+.

Currently, there are about 40,000 centenarians in the United States, or a little more than 1 centenarian per 10,000 in the population; 85% of them are women, 15% are men.

More and more people are now able to achieve their individual life expectancy potentials. This is a dramatic change from the turn of the 20th century, when many people died prematurely especially in infancy and the average life expectancy was 46 years. Families on average would lose a quarter of their children to infectious diseases. With the advent of clean water supplies and other public health measures, much of this high childhood mortality disappeared resulting in an average life expectancy of 64 years by 1960.

By the first decade of the next century, there will be as many seniors as there are people under the age of 20. An important component of senior's ability to achieve extreme age is their relatively high level of education, income and attention to good health habits.

There are several geographical areas that have claimed inhabitants with extreme longevity, but after closer examination, these claims have been found to be false. These regions of purported exceptional longevity still merit careful study however. Though claims of extreme age are untrue, there still may be an unusually high prevalence of very old fit people in these regions. In the Tibetan mountains for instance, octogenarian and nonagenarian elders, impressively many of them men, still herd live stock and still lead physically strenuous lives.

One important finding shows that nearly all of the centenarians were independently functioning at least to the age of ninety. Many centenarians could come from ethnic backgrounds (e.g. Celtic, French/Acadian, Scottish) that predispose them to extreme longevity. This hypothesis is based upon the supposition that extreme old age does in fact run in families.

There are likely two types of genes influencing longevity. One is the type that has already been discovered; that is, "disease genes" that have variations that make it more likely for a person to develop a specific disease. Centenarians are more likely to lack such variations. The other type of gene, as of yet not discovered has been called a "longevity enabling gene." Such genes would influence aging at its most basic levels, thus affecting the rate of aging and how it increases a person's susceptibility to age-related diseases.

It is suspected that the ability to live to 100 results from getting a combination of factors correct. These factors, such as specific genetic traits or certain health related behaviors might be quite common. However, like the lottery, it is getting the right combination of these factors and behaviors that becomes the rare event. It makes sense that the actual factors and the correct combination of those factors varies from one person to the next. Some factors such as lacking a genetic predisposition to early heart disease or smoking tobacco are likely more potent and important than others.

A long healthy life is no accident. It begins with good genes, but it also depends on good habits. If you adopt the right lifestyle, experts say, chances are you may live up to a decade longer.

So what can you do? “You don’t stop laughing because you grow old; you grow old because you stop laughing.” Cultivating a sense of humor is one of the best ways to stay youthful. Appreciating humor can keep you “mentally fit” and add fun and enjoyment to your life. It is a great stress reliever. Keep you mind active. My aunt and uncle did the crossword puzzle in the newspaper everyday well into their 90's. Exercise, it doesn't have to be a half hour walk. Recent research indicates that even a small amount of exercise makes a big difference in health and fitness. As actress Helen Hayes put it, “If you rest, you rust.”

And last but not least, stay positive. Keep life's events in perspective. And drinking a little green tea can't hurt. L'chaim...to life!

Dieting

2006-09-24T19:21:00.000-07:00

This is somewhat in the realm of procrastinating, my last post. Let me say from the get-go that I hate dieting. I know I need to watch my weight. I was a slim girl, it seems not too long ago. Actually it has been 47 years since I was married. The excess weight seems to creep up on you. First you have babies, you gain a little with each one. I kept playing tennis which I did since age 12. I played until 42 when I decided to go back to school to study photography. Being in the ice cream business for 25 years did nothing to help my weight problems. I love to cook and my husband loves to eat. It's a problem. I've been reading and thinking about what I need to do.

There are many choices that we hear about. Healthy tossed salads are common diet fare.Dieting is one of those things that is completely integrated into American culture. On any given day, a huge portion of the U.S. population is "on a diet" and "counting calories" in one way or another. And look at how many of the diet names that you recognize:
The Atkins Diet
The Cabbage Soup Diet
The Grapefruit Diet
The Hollywood Miracle Diet
The Rice Diet
The Scarsdale Diet
The South Beach Diet
You probably recognize many of these names because you hear them all the time!

Have you ever wondered why, for so many people (and especially for anyone older than 30 years old), weight gain seems to be a fact of life? It's because the human body is way too efficient! It just does not take that much energy to maintain the human body at rest; and when exercising, the human body is amazingly frugal when it comes to turning food into motion. At rest (for example, while sitting and watching television, the human body burns only about 12 calories per pound of body weight per day. That means that if you weigh 150 pounds, your body uses only about:
150 X 12 = 1,800 calories per day
Twelve calories per pound per day is a rough estimate -- Those 1,800 calories are used to do everything you need to stay alive:
They keep your heart beating and lungs breathing.
They keep your internal organs operating properly.
They keep your brain running.
They keep your body warm. In motion, the human body also uses energy very efficiently. For example, a person running a marathon burns only about 2,600 calories. In other words, you burn only about 100 calories per mile when you are running.

You can see just how efficient the human body is if you compare your body to a car. A typical car in the United States gets between 15 and 30 miles per gallon of gasoline. A gallon of gas contains about 31,000 calories. That means that if a human being could drink gasoline instead of eating hamburgers to take in calories, a human being could run 26 miles on about one-twelfth of a gallon of gas. In other words, a human being gets more than 300 miles per gallon! If you put a human being on a bicycle to increase the efficiency, a human being can get well over 1,000 miles per gallon!

The 1,800 calories that a typical person at rest needs per day is just not that many. For example, if you go to your neighborhood McDonald's restaurant and order the Big Xtra meal, you will get a sandwich, a large order of french fries and a large Coke®. This meal contains:
710 calories in the sandwich
540 calories in the french fries
310 calories in the drink
A meal at McDonald's can add up to almost a whole day's worth of calories.
In other words, just this one meal provides 1,560 calories you need during a day. If you get an M&M® McFlurry™ with it for dessert, you'll get 630 more calories, so you are already consuming almost 2,200 calories just at this one meal!
Similarly, if you eat 12 SnackWell's Crème Sandwich Cookies -- which, if you think about it, really is not that hard to do -- you've taken in 660 calories. That's more than one-third of the daily caloric intake.
Three cookies contain 165 calories.

The point is that, in America and most other developed countries, it is incredibly easy to find and consume calories. You can see how the number of calories coming in can easily reach 3,000, 4,000 or 5,000 per day without any effort at all. That's the problem.

The only way to lose fat is to consume fewer calories per day than your body needs. For every 3,500 calories that your body takes from its fat reserves, you lose 1 pound of body fat. You can create the deficit either by monitoring and restricting your intake of calories, or by exercising or both.

The idea behind most diets is simply to help you somehow lower the number of calories that you consume each day. That's all they do. In an effort to reduce the number calories you take in per day, here are several strategies:

Be conscious of every calorie you consume, and keep a daily journal.
Eliminate all calories that come in through drinking. In other words, drink water.
Eliminate white sugar. This eliminates all sorts of high-calorie foods:
cookies
cake
ice cream
cola
candy
candy bars
Similarly, try eliminating all fried foods, including:
potato chips
cheese crisps
french fries
onion rings
donuts
fried chicken
Try to replace high-density foods with low-density foods.
Just about any fruit or vegetable in its natural state
Many non-sugared breakfast cereals, like shredded wheat
Rice cakes
Unbuttered popcorn
Whole-grain bread, preferably with lots of fiber
Brown rice
Try wearing form-fitting clothes instead of sweats. The tight clothing acts as a subliminal reminder of what you are trying to accomplish.

Exercise is one tool you have to control your weight because exercise is a way to increase the number of calories that you burn in a day.

In the end, I think you need to make a life style change. You need an incentive to motivate you. My cousin's daughter is getting married in January in the Florida Keys. I'd like to look better so it's time to lose some weight. That would be my incentive. So I decided to try eDiets again. It's on the internet and you pay about $4 a week for their program. They offer different programs similar to Weight Watchers or Atkins. I lost 30 pounds with them about 6 years ago. Gained most of it back. You tell them about yourself, then you choose your meals once a week when you check in and post your current weight. You know what you have to shop for the week at the grocery story because they give you a shopping list. It works really well if you stick to it. Like most diets.

I've instituted a new regime in my kitchen. We weigh our portions and eat lots of fresh food. What is bad is when you eat out or go to friends for dinner. That happened to us this weekend. Oh no, I have to weigh in tomorrow morning. I'm so embarrassed, thank goodness it won't be at a meeting.

I found a great diet tip:

A great way to lose weight is to eat while you are naked and standing in front of a mirror. Restaurants will almost always throw you out before you can eat too much.

Procrastination

2006-09-17T17:31:00.000-07:00

The best way to get something done is to begin. Boy, that's easier said than done. Do you have those nagging tasks that have to be finished but you never seem to get around to it? I have a fair amount of those round to-its in my life.

Well I started this post around 6 AM and it's now 5 PM. How's that for procrastinating? In my defense, I did have 8 guests for lunch and swimming today. Is that an excuse? I was having a hard time getting my brain around this subject. Even though I have many unfinished projects, I know someone worse than me. He hasn't done his taxes in 10 years. That's playing with fire. The IRS is nothing to mess with. I know a lot of people who got themselves in trouble not filing the required irritating, annoying, aggravating tax returns. You can tell, I hate doing them too. I think it's the deadline that bothers me more than the forms. I must admit, I am smart enough to go to a smart tax accountant.

My worst procrastinating right now is not finishing up my darkroom. Also not framing some wonderful Japanese calligraphy. Now neither of these projects is very hard. I just have to get motivated.

I've taken time management courses and I make lists; the problem is I start 10 things at once and bounce from one to another. Eventually I get things done, but I cause myself a lot of grief in the process. So my blogging friends, give me some help here. What do you do to keep from procrastinating?

A Tribute to Catherine A. Nardella, a 9/11 victim

2006-09-07T19:15:00.000-07:00

I volunteered to write a tribute to Catherine A. Nardella on the 5th anniversary of her death. This is a project started by Bloggers to honor the innocent victims of that awful day...

I only know of Catherine through comments left on various websites. She was a person we would all be proud to know. She was brilliant, beautiful, gentle and loving. Her grieving sisters and niece made reference to her generous nature, her ever-present smile and the way she gave of herself to her family and community. High school friends grieve for her and co-workers gave the warmest assessment of her attitude and friendliness. She impacted many lives and is remembered by many as a very special person.

Her parents must have been so proud of Catherine. She was caring and giving, never expecting anything in return. From a large Italian-American family, one can only imagine the empty place in their hearts that can never be filled.

Catherine always strived to be a better person. She was active at her church and lent a helping hand to those in need. In particular, her priest spoke of her waiting each Sunday to help an elderly man down the stairs of the church. She was devoted to the church choir and she participated as a lector in the services. She was an individual who lived her best life. Catherine Nardella chose the person she wanted to be. Her loss is a loss to all of us.

Eye Candy

2006-09-05T18:39:00.000-07:00

Eye Candy is an expression I've never used before but somehow it is appropriate to describe the show we saw at the Mirage Hotel on Sunday. It is called Love and is based on the Beatles song. I don't really like crowds and noise but my best friend wanted to see it so we went. We were celebrating their 45th and our 47th anniversaries.

View a trailer here from the Mirage hotel
This is a little longer and is fun to watch, see a tidbit here
And one more link for Love

Check out these websites. They have videos but the third one is longer and gives you a better idea about the show. It is worth sitting through to get a taste of the music and costumes.

The ushers were all wearing Bobby costumes and spoke with a British accent, it was very cute. The theater is 360 degrees and there are 2014 seats. We sat in the upper orchestra behind the sound booth. One of our friends is on the crew so he told me where to get the best seats. There are over 20 segments in the show, each is spectacular in their own way. We loved the one where the Beetle car comes apart on stage. You are overwhelmed, the volume of the music is an assault on your senses. There is so much visual and auditory stimuli that I felt uncomfortable at first. There are speakers built into each of the very comfortable seats. The costumes are amazing, the timing of the energetic cast was incredible to see. They were so graceful. I loved the segments with the yellow boots. The skateboarders were like ballet dancers who kept me mesmerized. But the part I absolutely loved was when a huge sheet of white parachute nylon came out of the stage and covered the entire audience. There are hanging transparent screens that have images projected that add to the visuals. At times, confetti and strands of colored streamers enveloped the audience. You felt as if you were a part of this happening. Believe me, I could see this show again. They have some really creative talent who put this show together, I understand it cost over a hundred million dollars to build. The crowds are filling this theater for 10 shows a week and Las Vegas has never seen advance ticket sales like this before. If you're coming to Las Vegas, you won't go wrong if you can get tickets to this show. It is worth every penny. Oh, did I tell you I saw the Beatles perform live at Comisky Park in Chicago? I couldn't even hear them that time (around 1965) because the teenyboppers were all screaming. This time, the original sound tracks were remastered by George Martin and his son, he was the Beatles original producer. It sounds like they are performing live in surround sound. Try it, you'll like it.

Happy Anniversary

2006-09-02T07:11:00.004-07:00

Last weekend it was the 45th anniversary of our best friends. We have known each other for almost 40 years. This weekend (on Labor Day) it is my anniversary, or I should say, our anniversary. My hubby and I will be married 47 years. The 4 of us will celebrate by seeing one of the overpriced shows here on the Las Vegas strip. I hope it's good. More on that in another post.

I find it hard to believe that we have been married that long. When we first got married, I would warn hubby threateningly (when he displeased me), that he only had 49 years left on his contract. Then it became 45 years, 40 years, always a long time off in the future. Now he only has 3 years left, it isn't so funny anymore. I wonder how the years have gone by so quickly.

I was only 18 when I met my future husband, he was 26 and we were in college. He was going to school on the GI bill after serving 4 years in the Navy. We didn't start dating until the end of the school year, around the end of May. We married 3 months later. Most people didn't give us half a chance. They didn't think our marriage would survive. We were from different ethnic backgrounds and different religions. We barely knew each but I knew he was a decent guy and he impressed me with his worldly experience. Hubby had been all over the world, I had lived in the same place all my life. It was flattering that he loved me.

We planned a secret wedding, we were going to run off to the Justice of the Peace. One of my friends blew it, they said something to my sister, known to you as motherkitty. She spilled the beans to our mother. Oh, there was hell to pay, but we were adamant, we got married at the JP's with both our mothers in attendance. 10 days later we got married in the rabbi's study with all parents attending. None were really happy about the way we went about this. My new husband was a divorced Catholic. Against all odds, we have survived and endured.

We've shared our joys and hardships, we had 3 sons who have grown into decent adults. We had financial problems and worked together to build a business. We supported each other through health problems. Since we're both the oldest child in our respective families, we butted heads a lot...almost daily. It has to be a personality thing. Some of our friends call us the Bickersons. It's easy to let the rough spots overshadow the good parts of a life together. I feel blessed that my husband supported me in all my endeavors. We have a shared history, we still love each other and that's our life story. Happy Anniversary, Honey.

Football widow

2006-08-24T20:35:00.000-07:00

I admit it, I'm unAmerican. I hate football. My husband loves football. It's only August and the games have already started at least 3 nights a week. The season lasts interminably. I have to watch TV alone, relegated to the bedroom. I looked up the schedule for the NFL. There's like 15 games a weekend!

It all started when I was a freshman in high school and I was in the marching band. We played at half time at every home game. It wasn't so bad in September but by the end of the season, we were freezing. Who wants to sit outside in a thin band uniform holding an ice cold French horn? After 4 years of that, I made a life long decision that I would never attend another football game.

My luck, I married a frustrated football player. He was such a skinny thing in high school that the coach never let him play in a game. So he enjoys this sport vicariously. Often our son in Houston calls and they watch the game together. How's that for father-son bonding?

I'm just grumbling because I didn't want to spend the evening watching my husband watch football on TV. There is only one thing that could get me to watch a game.

More Bloggers needed

2006-08-20T12:02:00.000-07:00

On the 5th anniversary of 9/11, I volunteered to write a tribute about Catherine A. Nardella, in memory, on the 5th anniversary of her death at the World Trade Center. This is a project started by Bloggers to honor the innocent victims of that awful day... They are trying to have each person honored by a blogger on their website.
You can sign up here.
http://www.jamulian.com/db911/

For more information about this project:
http://www.dcroe.com/2996/

There is information attached to the names of the 2996 people who died that day. You will be assigned a name at random. It will take a couple of hours to research the various links and write your tribute. Last time I checked, they still needed 1000 bloggers to sign up to write a tribute. I was blogger 1996.

I hope we never forgot this crime against so many innocent people. I want to honor the life of Catherine A. Nardella so her family will know she has not been forgotten.

If you are inclined, sign up today.

My Pond

2006-08-13T21:56:00.000-07:00

One aspect of my garden I haven’t written about is my pond. This is the 6th pond I have built and I’ve learned from every single one. A pond adds such a peaceful aspect to your garden. If you have a waterfall, the sound of running water is so peaceful. Relaxing next to your pond is an ideal spot to read a book.

Funny how I got started with this hobby. About 15 years ago, I got an assignment to photograph a magazine article about a man who built ponds as a hobby. This particular man had cut a hole in his driveway and built a pond in it. I had to meet this guy, how strange was that? Well, we became fast friends at our first meeting and we’re still friends to this day. He still has the pond in the driveway along with 3 other ponds in his yard. He actually put a new door into his garage on the alley side so he could put his car in the garage.

Bob, my pond friend, had started a pond club and invited me and my husband to a meeting. Well, I thought, I’ll get a chance to meet others who have built ponds. I was a big time gardener but had never thought about a water garden. I thought it was pretty neat, some of these folks built some pretty elaborate ponds. Everyone kept asking when we were going to build a pond. They all said everyone built their first pond too small. I could fix that. One night about 8 PM, I laid the hose on the lawn in a shape I later realized looked like a molar. We started digging. And digging, and digging. We put out lights and the neighbors came over to help dig. It was like “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. Eventually we ended up with a 1900-gallon pond. I timed how long it took to fill a 5-gallon pail, and then extrapolated the amount of time it took to fill the pail. The first time around I bought some kind of plastic liner that didn’t hold up worth a damn. It only lasted about a year. What a chore to move all the rocks and get a rubber liner installed. It’s called Pond Gard and its made by Firestone. All the good advice from my new friends at the pond club was a big help. Once a month we shared experiences and problems.

One thing led to another and I built another pond in my own yard. Then other people wanted me to build a pond for them. Never let it be said that ignorance stopped me. I was a problem solver and I could do anything. I built 3 more ponds of various sizes. So we eventually moved to Nevada and then the fun began. We have really rocky soil here and a pick is our favorite garden tool. My husband started digging with a pick and shovel. We sifted all the rocks out of the soil he dug. There were lots of rocks and since there was no house next door, we threw them over the wall. It took him 3 months of picking and sifting to dig a 6-foot by 12-foot hole that was 44 inches deep. He said it was his grave. Actually, we later learned about electric jackhammers and could have done this in a day with a couple of laborers. So now we had this huge hole, and it stayed empty for about 4 years until we managed to get all our sons here at one time. We lined the hole with carpet padding. Remember all the rocks, I was afraid it would puncture the liner. We bought a piece of EPDM, the Pond Gard, and it was too heavy for us to handle. It took all 5 of us to handle this monster-sized piece of rubber.

Finally, we situated it in the hole, folded it so the liner was as flat as possible, and put some water in it. But even I admitted this was not working. I finally broke down and hired Chris, a pond builder, (that's him in the white T-shirt) and he helped us finish the project. We bought river rock, large smooth rocks and lined the entire pond. Chris installed a skimmer box and a waterfall box. We added water and turned on the pump. The first pump I bought only pumped 900 gallons an hour and we didn’t get much sound from the waterfall. I would fix that by buying a 2300 hundred gallon an hour pump. Great sound from that puppy. It took a 2-inch line to send the water to the top of the waterfall. I bought plants, I bought gold fish and filled it with water. Finally we had a pond.

I have 3 water lilies, miniature cattails, some black taro and parrots feather. The water lilies are Attraction (a red), Gonnere (a gorgeous double white) and Charlene Strawn (a yellow). I used a pallet of petrified wood I found at a supply yard for the edge stones. The dozen feeder fish have grown multiple generations of babies. I never feed the fish, they spawn until they reach the limit of their food supply. You create a biosystem in your pond, just like nature creates. It's so hot here that algae really thrives. When your water gets enough cover from the leaves of the lilies, the algae mostly disappears. Algae doesn’t grow in the shade. I was disappointed to find out it is too hot here to grow lotus. I grew it in Indiana and loved it. I never got many flowers a year from it but when it did bloom, it was spectacular. Every time we try to tweak Mother Nature, it’s a challenge to see if it works. I’ve become very pragmatic, if a plant does well, it stays. If something doesn’t thrive, it’s out of here. I am a crazed plant collector but I don’t have an emotional attachment to all of the plants in the yard, just 99 and 44/100th % of them. The last photo is how the pond looks today. You can see how big the blue Mexican fan palms have grown. It's our little oasis in the desert.

Tomato Contest

2006-08-07T07:10:00.000-07:00

I have to enter Dr. Charles tomato contest as the worst tomatoes ever. These are so pathetic, meager and shriveled, you can barely call them tomatoes. First picture shows my volunteer plants, cherry tomatoes barely as big as your thumb nail. The 10 tomatoes plants we planted dried up yielding about 3 tomatoes before their demise.

Next we have the plum tomato, barely reminiscent of the plum tomatoes we grew in Indiana. Of course there we had real dirt and real rain. Here we build raised beds and bring in "garden mix" soil. We add worm compost, mulch and whatever with really poor results.

Here is one of my two tomatillos. I admit I have had better luck with these in past years. I usually have good luck with peppers and onions, so I can whip up a batch of salsa. Of course by the time the tomatillos are ready, I'm buying cilantro at the grocery store. Looking at the pictures of the glorious tomatoes grown by other bloggers, I am envious.
Here are my two early morning companions in the garden, my Canaan dogs, Tova and Simcha. They check the perimeter of the yard every morning to make sure nothing has invaded "their" territory. I'm always embarrassed when they bark at dogs being walked by their owners past our house at 5:30 AM. I know the neighbors must hate it.

A Cog in the Wheel

2006-08-01T21:04:00.000-07:00

I'm a little cog in a big wheel. All my years of living have given me the experience to do what I do really well. I serendipitously found a job two years ago that uses all my skills. Since I live in the desert where water is a precious commodity, my job is to help people save water. I love to talk. I love to talk about gardening. I get paid to talk about my favorite subject all day. I get to influence how people approach the conversion of their water thirsty yards into beautiful conservation-conscious water smart landscapes. I am very passionate about what I do. This is my perfect job.

This is how I got here. We had lived and worked in the same place all our lives. 10 years ago, I decided it was time for a new life, we should retire to the sun. All our kids had graduated from college and moved to warm climates. What the heck were we doing shoveling snow?

Talk about culture shock, garden shock, isolation shock. The first few months were very lonely. I was a Master Gardener in Indiana so I signed up for the Master Gardener program in Nevada. I was back in my element. I had new friends whose eyes didn't glaze over when I wanted to talk about plants. People from that class 10 years ago are my friends today. I started volunteering to work at the Demonstration Gardens, helping give programs at schools, guiding school children on tours of the gardens, presenting afterschool workshops. I've always thought that you don't know what will motivate a child to become interested in something. Give them the opportunity to experience as much of life as possible. All along the way, I was learning as much as I taught. I took a botany class called Plants of the Southwest Deserts, I worked at horticulture conferences. Anyone I met who worked in horticulture was bound to have me asking if I could visit. I helped out at a revegetation project at a gold mine in California, visited a grower of ornamental grasses in Pomona. 5 friends and I went on an Elderhostel trip to Big Sur to study the flora. We visited 5 botanic gardens as well as the Hearst Castle to see the wonderful grounds. Death Valley became a yearly field trip to see the wildflowers in the spring. I was on a roll. When a botanic garden for Las Vegas became a plan, I participated in plant surveys to harvest native plants for the Las Vegas Springs Preserve. I was soaking up knowledge like a sponge.

After 4 years of retirement, it was no longer fun. I got a job, as an office manager, it was fine. I met a lot of nice people. After 3 years business slowed down and half the staff was laid off. So I was on the street, looking to do something interesting. One Saturday, I was volunteering at the gardens and asked my friend who was the education director to let me know if she heard about any opportunities. She said they were looking for people to work on the Water Smart Landscaping program. I knew about that, I had done the conversion at my house about 4 years earlier. This was right up my alley.

I was hired, the only senior citizen I might add. I get a lot of kidding about my age, those young whippersnappers all give me the business. I've been doing my job for over 2 years now and I couldn't be happier. I think I am influencing what is happening in the Las Vegas Valley one person at a time and I want to do a good job. On average, I speak to around 4 people a day, that's 20 people a week and 1000 people a year. I have more than 4 appointments in a day but some folks aren't home and some folks aren't too interested. So I've had a chance to give information to about 2000 people since I started this job. That's a pretty good number I think. When a letter from a customer comes in praising my help, I know I've done my job well. I am a happy camper. What can be better than that?

Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem

2006-07-30T17:13:00.002-07:00

I don’t like to write about politics, everyone has their own opinion. I am making an exception today. After I watched “Face the Nation” today I felt like I had to say something. Bob Schieffer had Fuad Siniora, Prime Minister of Lebanon on via satellite from Beirut and Deputy Prime Minister of Israel, Shimon Peres, who was in New York. The most telling statement was from Peres, he said Israel has no quarrel with Lebanon. They do not want their territory or to influence their politics. He stated that Hezbollah has about 6000 to 8000 men, the Lebanese army numbers 80,000. If the Lebanese government wants a cease-fire, they must order the army to stop Hezbollah forces that are firing over 200 rockets a day into Israel. Prime Minister Siniora has it within his power to stop this terrible fighting. He refused to acknowledge Bob Schieffer’s question about why he wasn’t doing this.

I am not surprised that the Lebanese government cannot or will not stop the fighting. I am sick at heart over all the civilian deaths in Israel and Lebanon. Deep in my heart, I knew 20 years ago that war would plague Israel forever until they overcame each enemy. After 2 wars, Egypt made peace with Israel. After 4 wars, Jordan made peace with Israel. I visited those countries 10 years ago. Their economies were better, they are poor countries without the resources of Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and other oil rich countries. I made my first visit to Israel 20 years ago with 12 Christian ministers. Most of them came from black Baptist churches. Several incidents happened made me realize that the Muslim Arabs did not have our values, most were angry, even though they were citizens of Israel. I will say that the Christian Arabs had a different attitude. I think peace will come eventually because nothing stays the same. But the loss of innocents makes me want to do something, I just don’t know how or what. Israel is an awesome place, it's history is in our psyche.
Here are some images I took over 20 years ago on my first visit to Israel. As you can see, the Dome of the Rock is right next to the Western Wall, sometimes called the Wailing Wall. People come to pray, they write prayers on scraps of paper and push them into crevices. The Roman ruin is on the shore of the Sea of Galilee or Kinneret. It is where Jesus walked. We should pray for peace for ourselves, our children and our children's children. I hope this will happen in our lifetime.

The Circle of Life

2006-07-24T08:32:00.000-07:00

I've been taking a bit of a hiatus from blogging since our 3 oldest grandchildren are here for a visit. We just returned from a trip to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We enjoyed the trip and it reminds me of the quality time I was fortunate enough to spend with my grandparents. They passed away a long time ago but not before enjoying the pleasures of grandchildren and great grandchildren. Being with our grandkids for an extended period gives us a chance to bond with them. Since they live on Long Island and we're almost a continent away, it's pretty hard to maintain the closeness I had with my grandparents. They lived upstairs from us in a 2-flat when I was 6 and older. The kids are now busy with their own lives so we have to make a real effort to keep up that contact. I want them to tell their grandchildren stories about us and the experiences we had together.

So we plan trips where we aren't distracted by TV, work and life's distractions. Here we are sitting on the porch of our cabin playing Scrabble. I love Scrabble. I have had my set for over 40 years. Would you believe we lost 2 pieces, an e and a u through the floorboards of our cabins? It was worth it. There was much laughter and silliness going on. I beat them 3 games in a row. Did I ever tell you how competitive I am at games? No one wants to play with me. Finally they ganged up on me and won a game.

We went on some nature walks and visited some archaeological ruins left from the time when indigenous natives, the Anasazi, lived in and around the Grand Canyon. It is such an awesome place. You realize how insignificant you are in the scheme of things. Also at 8000 feet above sea level, you realize how out of shape you are. I realize I'm sinking into decrepitude. Nonetheless, experiencing this wondrous place and sharing it with your grandchildren has to make it even more special. The rock formations are breathtaking. It's been over 20 years since we visited this grand park, pun intended. The visions from that prior visit remained in my head and I felt privileged that I had the opportunity for another visit. A lot of the forest on the canyon's rim has been burned in recent years. The drought in the west has affected remote places like the Grand Canyon. We saw acres and acres of burned Ponderosa pines and white fir. The fires are nature's way of managing the landscape.

It was an opportunity to extend my knowledge and interest in wildflowers and photography. The two eldest are taking photography classes in school this year. I didn't develop my interest in photography until my 40's. I pursued my education by studying it for 5 years and having a successful career in it. Never say no to an opportunity. I hope the message that you should pursue what interests you and do it with a passion comes across. I see way too much apathy in people. They make "safe" choices in life. My philosophy is that you only go around once, have the best time you can. I'm having a great time getting this message across to my grandchildren. I hope they are enjoying it as much as I am.

Memories of my Mother

2006-07-12T20:40:00.000-07:00

July 13th is the anniversary of my mother’s death and I wanted to reminisce about her. She was a remarkable woman and she was respected and admired by many people. I am honored to be her daughter.

As a child, she was stricken with polio, there was a big epidemic in 1912 when she contracted it. Many children died and she was one of the lucky survivors. As a result of her polio, she had a withered leg and walked with a pronounced limp all of her life. Her parents were immigrants who did as much as they could but there wasn’t much information in those days. Of six children in her family, she was number 4. I think she was born with a kind spirit and catered to everyone in the family, she mended and ironed, cleaned house and cooked. She always gave more than she received. This was the story of her life.

When she was 29, her father arranged a marriage with my father. Men didn’t marry crippled women in those days so I think she felt lucky. I was born a year after their marriage and my sister was born two years later. My father wasn’t much of a prize but he loved her and their marriage endured for over 54 years.

My grandfather set them up in a little corner grocery store and they eked out a living. We lived behind the store in 3 rooms. There was no shower or tub so we had to go next door to bathe at our grandparent’s apartment. My mom sewed our clothes and we were embarrassed because we didn’t have store bought clothes like the rest of the kids. One of my earliest memories of my mother sewing was for a professional ballerina from Chicago. She spent untold hours sewing sequins by hand on costumes that I thought were so exotic. Later in life, I realized what a generous person she was when she mended and sewed for many people. I loved the clothes and dolls she sewed for my sons and my grandchildren. I “lent” her my new Sears sewing machine in 1970 on the condition that she mend my families clothes when we needed something repaired. When she died in 1993, I got it back and couldn’t bear to touch it for almost 5 years. I finally had so much mending to do that I forced myself to open the cabinet and sewed up a storm.

I was a headstrong kid and my mother never tried to break my spirit. When I was 5 and starting school, she arranged for someone to walk me to school. That lasted 2 days. I announced that if I was old enough to go to school, I was old enough to walk alone. I guess she wanted me to be an independent person.

My son’s loved going to Grandma’s house. She had infinite patience. She and her mother taught them to play canasta, kalookie, go fish, war, crazy eights and Scrabble. She imbued them with a love of science fiction that endures to this day. She taught them to sew buttons on their clothes. Everyone was cooked a special breakfast when they stayed the weekend, sometimes she would cook 3 different things so everyone had what they wanted. I don’t think kids ever felt more loved. She was thrilled when our middle son married and had a daughter a year later. My mother made her quilts, clothes and appliquéd wall hangings. She made a gorgeous Raggedy Ann doll that will be a keepsake for Jane’s children. With infinite care she made a book that had all sorts of closings like buttons, zippers, Velcro, I don’t remember what it was called but it had all sorts of things for youngsters to touch and feel. I treasure the photos I took of my mother and my kids, there aren’t nearly enough. I took this photo when I was studying photography at Columbia College while in my 40’s. I thought I should take some portraits of my parents. I had no inkling how much this photo would mean to me.

At age 75 she fell and broke her bad leg. It required surgery with pins and a steel plate. She never walked again and was confined to a wheel chair for the next 7 years. The doctor said she would be in the hospital a month and in a nursing home for 3 months. After just 3 weeks, she told the doctor she was going home, send her a physical therapist. She basically rehabilitated herself as much as possible. Just because she was incapacitated didn’t mean she retired from life. She was a dynamo, sewing, calling, and mailing. Her many acts of loving-kindness extended to friends as well as family. If a calling committee was needed, she volunteered. She was a one woman mailing committee to thank people for their donations or to remember the passing of a loved one. She proudly chaired the kitchen committee for our synagogue.

No one was as determined as she was, she overcame all obstacles except the last one. At 82 she elected to have surgery to replace a valve in her heart. She had congestive heart failure and wanted to feel better. I was opposed to the surgery, I never had a good feeling about it but never voiced my opinion. She was entitled to make the decision on her own. Her last words to me and my sister were "don’t worry, I’ll be alright." She stroked out when they tried to restart her heart and never regained consciousness. After 2 days they did a CAT scan and it was apparent that she wouldn’t recover. We asked her heart surgeon what would he do if it were his mother. He said he would let her go. Those were her wishes. She signed an advanced directive that no life supports were to be used if her surgery didn’t have a good result. My sister and I took turns staying with her 24 hours a day. After 12 days the hospital administrator decided he couldn’t have someone “starve to death in his hospital.” He and 5 administrators marched into her room at 5:30 PM on a Friday and said we had to move her or allow them to start tube feeding her. I told him he would have a problem if they did this to my mother. They came in at 6 AM to start the tube feeding. I was there with the biggest malpractice attorney in the county and a newspaper reporter. We negotiated with them all day that tube feeding was against her wishes, it violated the papers she signed on her admission to the hospital. She gave my sister and me her durable power of attorney. Finally we agreed to let them start the feeding provided they would remove the tube when she would be moved to hospice on Monday. It was a nightmare, she was over hydrated and literally drowned in her own fluids. Her kidneys were shutting down, it was agony to see her die like this. Her death came Monday evening and it was a blessing.
But true to my word, I made a lot of trouble for that hospital. We were on the front page of the paper for 2 days. I asked for a meeting with the president of the board of the hospital. I met with him and the medical ethicist from the hospital several weeks after my mother’s death. He asked what I wanted from the meeting. I asked that the hospital policies should be changed, especially what people were told when they signed the forms. I then asked for a personal apology from the director of the hospital. They agreed to my requests. Eventually, I testified before the Indiana legislature and helped get the living will law changed in the State of Indiana. I vowed that no family would go through what we went through. I think my mother would have been proud of me. Her memory is a blessing, she left a meaningful legacy worth preserving. I’ve always said the only thing that matters in the end is whom you loved and who loves you. Many people loved my mother.

HGTV

2006-07-07T21:09:00.000-07:00

House and Garden Television:
I swear I am addicted to this particular channel. We never had cable or a satellite dish until 10 months ago. Occasionally I would watch HGTV when we visited my cousin in San Diego. Now I watch it incessantly. My favorite shows are Curb Appeal and House Hunters. I also like Landscapers Challenge and What You Get for the Money. This is a perfectly acceptable way of peeking into other people's lives. Come to think of it, this is real reality TV, not those silly shows where people eat worms and let spiders crawl on their faces. This is not my living room but one I hunger to have. No country, no clutter, just sleek modern space and furniture.

HGTV also has a web site and they send out an email newsletter. Once a year they raffle off a dream house. It was pretty neat. I was drooling over that dream house. That's how they hook you, you have to go on line every day and enter. The next home will be in Colorado, you can watch the progress at: http://www.hgtv.com/. They spare no expense building these houses. All I can say is they're making a lot of money from the advertisers on their web site. I'm never lucky, never won anything to speak of. I think I won a fishing rod from a punch board once. So I can vicariously enjoy the thrill of winning when the actual winners are picked. I always say "good for them" and hope it brings them some happiness.

But the best part of HGTV is learning how to remodel things in your house and yard. This is the fireplace I want to do over. I love projects and this station feeds my ideas. The next project is to take the man-made stone off our fireplace and put in real stone. I'd like a mantel too. So far, I've gone to some stone places and brought home several samples. Our ceiling is almost 15 feet tall and even though I'd like to put the stone to the ceiling, it may be overwhelming. Everything has to be coordinated so I drag my floor tile and photos to the stone yards, I visit model houses looking for ideas and eventually we'll get to the real work. We will live a long time with the results of this project. I'm not sure enough research has been done. I savor the project, the planning, the execution and the compliments after it's finished. Anyone have any ideas or suggestions? All suggestions welcome.

Germs

2006-07-03T08:50:00.000-07:00

I don't think I'm a germophobe, if there is such a word. My friend Gary did a list of 6 things that were weird about himself and the 6th and final weird fact was he didn't touch bathroom door handles. I admit that grosses me out too. I will take my shirt tail out and grip the handle so I don't have to touch it. Mostly I will use my paper towel from washing my hands so I can cover the handle. I started thinking about it and checked it out on Google, here is what I found:

Dirty Door Handles
Claim: The bathroom-door handle on the public restroom is the germiest place.
False. Door handles actually have the least bacteria of any surface in public restrooms, according to a test by Chuck Gerba, PhD, a professor of environmental microbiology at the University of Arizona in Tucson. 68 percent of people wash their hands before leaving the restroom.

Unclean Office Objects
Claim: Your office desk is way dirtier than a toilet bowl.
True. The average desktop has 400 times more bacteria than a toilet bowl, simply because people usually don't clean their desks on a regular basis, The germiest object: the phone. Viruses such as the flu can survive for two or three days on desktops, phones, and computer keyboards. (By the way, the door handle on the microwave in the office kitchen is also a very germy place. So be sure to wash your hands after heating up your lunch.)

Filthy Floors
Claim: You can get plantar warts and athlete's foot from walking barefoot on the gym floor.
True. Both plantar warts, caused by a virus that produces flat gray or brown bumps on the soles of the feet, and athlete's foot, a fungus that causes flaking and itching between the toes and on the soles of the feet, are often contracted from walking barefoot in the locker room. Always walk around the locker room in flip-flops, and never go barefoot in any public place.

Scuzzy Sponges
Claim: Washing a sponge in the dishwasher removes germs.
True. Running sponges in the dishwasher with detergent gets rid of a lot of germs, but putting the sponge in the microwave for a minute will zap even more, since it gets much hotter in there. Whatever method you use, be sure to do it every other day. It's also wise to rinse sponges well and keep them out of the sink so they can dry out between uses. "Drying kills a lot of germs." You should also change sponges frequently, definitely toss them after three weeks.

Unsanitary Kitchen Sinks
Claim: You need to clean the kitchen sink every day with bleach.
False. Kitchen sinks are brimming with germs, but a daily rinse with soap and water prevents bacteria buildup. If you've been handling raw meat or poultry, however, be sure to wash your hands, then clean your sink with hot soapy water before you touch anything else or place another food or kitchen tool (knife, strainer) in the sink. Also, every now and then pour some diluted bleach down the drain or garbage disposal. Bacteria from the sink can spread throughout the kitchen, including faucets and door handles, if you don't wash your hands after you prepare a meal. If you clean raw chicken in the sink, then touch the faucets, or a sponge drops in there before you wash your hands or the sink, you've potentially contaminated the sponge and the faucet.

Bunking with Bacteria
Claim: If you've had the same pillow for years, you're bunking with billions of bacteria.
True. But don't lose any sleep over it. The organisms found on pillows are normally harmless bacteria that live on your skin. Pillows themselves aren't breeding grounds for germs. Wash pillowcases once a week and pillows regularly (most can go in the washing machine).

Bedbug Elimination
Claim: You must wash your sheets every week in hot water or you'll get bedbugs.
False. Washing sheets will get rid of dust mites, microscopic bugs that live on dead skin cells and other allergens. People often confuse dust mites with bedbugs, which are parasites that feed solely on animal blood. They're spread mainly through luggage (if a hotel room you're staying in has them, for example) and clothing.
Dust mites, on the other hand, are harmful only to those who are allergic to the protein they produce. Otherwise, they're helpful, because they actually remove the dead skin cells that you continuously shed.

Toothbrush Trouble
Claim: Every time you flush the toilet, your toothbrush gets sprayed with bacteria.
Gross but true. Microorganisms are ejected when you flush the toilet and land all over the bathroom, even if you close the lid. But you probably won't get sick from this. "When the toothbrush dries, most of the organisms will die anyway." Just keep your toothbrush as far away from the toilet as possible.

Bathroom Bacteria Buildup
Claim: Wash your shower curtain, tiles, and tub once a week to prevent an overgrowth of bacteria.
True. Doing a thorough cleaning once a week prevents the growth of mildew, a fungus that feeds on body oils and soap scum and can cause allergy symptoms including headaches and coughing.

Laundry Mildew
Claim: Letting wet clothes sit in the washer allows mildew to form.
True. But they'd usually have to sit for 24 hours. If your clothes have a funky odor, you'll have to run the washing machine again. Laundry is a significant source of organisms, says Gerba, who swabbed 100 washing machines and found that 44 percent of them contained fecal bacteria. Drying will kill e. coli, but salmonella and viruses can remain. The risk of getting sick is small if you're healthy, but if someone in your home is ill, you may want to wash their clothes separately and then do a bleach cycle. You could transfer a virus by touching the clothes and then rubbing your eyes or nose. It's also a good idea to wash your hands after handling dirty laundry.

Contaminated Makeup
Claim: Your makeup is a breeding ground for bacteria.
True. "Any bacteria on your hands or face contaminates the makeup when they come in contact." Two possible problems can result: pimples, which are caused by bacteria trapped inside pores; and pinkeye, a bacterial infection caused by staphylococcus. And never share makeup; you can easily transfer infections this way.

Dirty Money
Claim: Money is by far the germiest stuff around.
False. In general, because dollar bills are dry, they don't give bacteria a chance to multiply to levels that would make you sick. Plus, the metal in coins actually acts as an antibacterial agent. You certainly don't have to run to the bathroom and wash up after each transaction -- unless you sit down to eat afterward, you should always wash your hands before eating anyway!

Should You Use Antibacterial Products?
Not unless someone in the house is sick. Alcohol- and bleach-based products work best at killing germs without promoting the growth of dangerous "super bugs."

So my friends, this is a list that I discovered and edited. Don't get crazy about it, just be aware of the facts. And WASH YOUR HANDS!

I've got it

2006-06-28T05:43:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally got the DSL line installed and all the bugs worked out. It is so nice. I spent hours reading other people's blogs last night. I don't know what happened to my computer but I lost all my favorites when my husband flipped the power on and off. So I was looking at new people through Motherkitty, bornfool and Gary's blogs. They have a lot of interesting friends. Some make you laugh til you cry. But what I find is most amazing is that people from all walks of life from all over the world can touch each other. Then you understand that we all suffer from the human condition. We make mistakes and can laugh at ourselves. We have joy, sorrow, pride and love in our lives. We are fortunate that we have the privilege to access the internet. Blogging gives us the opportunity to express ourselves without fear of criticism, I suspect that's what makes it so appealing. Thank you Motherkitty for opening up a whole new world for me.

BTW, that's the flower from a new plant I got recently. It's called a cotelydon.

I'm out of commission

2006-06-21T15:14:00.000-07:00

Here are some pots that I have under my mesquite tree. They have filtered light and do quite nicely. Most of the plants are succulents.

Due to husband error, my modem has been fried. At least I can't figure out how to reconfigure it. I was having some work done at the house and the ground fault interrupter was tripped. So my husband went and flipped all the switches in the breaker box instead of resetting the ground fault. Unfortunately, my computer was on. It hasn't been the same. After 5 days of calling computer expert friends and trying to diagnose my problem, I finally broke down and ordered high speed DSL. It's only taken me 5 years to make that decision. No one can believe I still had dial-up. It's really frustrating that I don't even have that at the moment.

So dear blog friends, on Saturday, my home computer will have a new modem installed and I'll be back in business. I will be happy to be back in blogland at home. It's a little hard to catch up with everyone while I'm supposed to be working. So until Sunday, ciao.

What did you do on Sunday?

2006-06-04T20:51:00.000-07:00

As long as I've been married, I've been a messy housekeeper. So I invite people over when my house needs cleaning. That's because I would be embarrassed if the house was dirty when I had company. I know, it's weird, what can I be thinking? That's just the way I am.

Well, I invited my girlfriends over for a swim. This place was a flurry of activity from about 6AM on. Almost everything is dusted or swept or mopped. There are no dishes in the dish rack and the sink is clean. The patio was swept and the pool was sparkling by 10:30 in the morning. Wow, this place looks good.

Now my friends love to come here but feel they have to bring lunch. Who am I to argue? It's great that I don't have to cook too. Usually it's something from the deli at the supermarket but today we had Trader Joe's crab cakes and breaded tilapia. We had fresh fruit salad, hummous, pico de gallo, guacamole and cookies. It was a feast. And I was really proud of the yard, my water lilies were blooming in the pond, the chaste tree was glorious and all the flowers were blooming. This is when I enjoy my garden. I don't feel as if I have to go and pick weeds when I'm admiring it. I can show it off to friends and just appreciate how the plants have matured.

My friend Grace doesn't know how to swim. So friend Bob, Jann's husband, gave her a swimming lesson. He's good, he had her kicking and splashing and swimming in no time. And I don't think he minded being the only guy among 6 women. Most of the husband's stay home but they're welcome anytime. I think the girls just like their gab time though.

The Chaste tree and other wonderful flowers in my yard

2006-05-30T05:37:00.000-07:00

Here it is, barely the crack of dawn and
I've been meandering around my yard appreciating all the beautiful flowers. I have a wonderful bush/tree growing in my back yard. It's planted so you can see it from our breakfast table on the far side of the pool. It's in its full glory right now. I only planted it 2 springs ago, it was a distressed specimen I got from the nursery for $12. I trimmed off all the dead parts and planted it, now it probably reaches 10 feet tall. It's called a chaste tree, (Vitex agnus-castus). The story goes that the peppercorn seeds it produces were used to keep monk's chaste. So this morning as a passing thought, I was curious and looked it up on Google. It has a Mediterranean origin. This amazing plant was mentioned far back by ancient Greeks and many other cultures. The web site I found mentions the name in 32 languages, from Albanian to Turkish. It was used as a weak pepper substitute though not much in demand nowadays. Anyway, I just wanted to share my beautiful plant with you.

This amazing flower is from the passion vine. I saw one at a Master Gardener friend's house a few years back and really liked it. Some plants need to be right in your face so you can appreciate their complexity. So I planted one right by my front door on a trellis I built of redwood.

I found this plant, an angel wing primrose, on a plant salvage about 10 years ago. The BLM or Bureau of Land Management allows you to harvest plants on land that will be developed for public purposes, like a new road being built. We were new to Nevada and decided this would be an interesting thing to do. At the time, we knew very little about desert plants. This was a little rosette in the ground. I thought it was cute. I had no idea that it was a fragrant, night blooming plant. My original thought was if it was invasive, I could kill it. Of course, this isn't the original, but one of it's many offspring. They volunteer around the yard, something I love.

One more little gem is called Mexican Hat, I took a seed head from a garden I visited. I promised to give it a good home. My garden is never static, it should always be changing and renewing itself, that's what I love about gardens.
Last but not least is the Red Bird of Paradise. As you can imagine, this is a popular plant. These are the first blossoms of the year in my yard.

Thanks to our Veterans

2006-05-29T06:50:00.000-07:00

I've been watching the specials on Memorial Day and they are pretty moving. We often overlook and take for granted the freedoms that we have. Thanks to the men and women who sacrificed for us, we enjoy an unprecedented lifestyle. We worship as we choose, work at jobs that are our choice and live anywhere we like. These freedoms are protected by those men and women that we honor today.

National Geographic did a special on Arlington National cemetery yesterday. I was privileged to visit there 5 years ago. What history is written on those gravestones! So many people sacrificed their lives to protect our freedom. Few led extraordinary lives, most were citizen soldiers. What made them extraordinary was their willingness to go when their country called and the valor they showed in performing their duty. Visiting the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier brings awe to those who watch the changing of the guard. Everyone is silent as the honor guard performs it's impressive routine.

It seems as if every generation has had to send our military forces somewhere to protect freedom. I am opposed to the war in Iraq but I honor those brave men and women who serve there. History will tell us if fighting there was the right thing to do. My 87 year old aunt supports the president. The love of her life was killed in the Battle of the Bulge. She knows what sacrifice is. My heart cries whenever there is an obituary for a young man who died in Iraq or Afghanistan. They fight because their country asked them to. None want to die, but many do. I want it to be over in the middle east so no more Americans die. But we have to ask ourselves if this enemy is any less guilty of crimes against humanity than the Nazis. We all feel ambivalence, for or against our involvement in this war. But for the armed forces of the United States of America, we honor those who are serving and sacrificing yesterday and today.

I want to personally thank those veterans in my family who have served this country. My husband, Navy and Coast Guard. My oldest son, National Guard. My middle son, Navy. My youngest son, Army. My brother-in-law, Navy. My nephew, Navy. All are just regular guys who served this great country.

Goodbye old friend

2006-05-21T22:20:00.000-07:00

You know how there are people who come into your life who are special. This week, one of those people in my life, passed away. She was an educator, a friend, a mentor and an amazing woman. Her name was Aggie Roberts. I met her 10 years ago when I became a Nevada Master Gardener. Aggie was one of the educators who helped teach our classes. She was an expert horticulturist, her specialty was houseplants and just about every thing else that grows in Las Vegas. I went to her memorial service yesterday and wasn't surprised so many people loved and admired her. It was wonderful to meet her children and grandchildren, many of whom resembled her. There was a grade school named after her. That's where the memorial was held. Some of Aggie's grandchildren attend that school. She was a presence at her namesake school who always came to special functions. She read to the children during Reading Week, not just for an hour but for a whole day. She planned an Arbor Day celebration every year. Kids were her concern. I helped Aggie a number of times at various schools and libraries around town when she worked with school kids. She taught them how to grow plants and to take care of them. Aggie was tireless when it came to making herself available when someone needed help. I took this picture of Aggie last fall at The Day with the Experts. We have a Garden at the Las Vegas Springs Preserve and one of the highlights of the year is this particular day. Thousands of people in the community come to hear the lectures, visit garden booths, and have their questions answered. It's a big deal around here. People especially wanted to talk to Aggie, she wrote a gardening column and was very well known. Since I got my job with the Southern Nevada Water Authority, I've said I wanted to be the Aggie Roberts of the Water Authority. That has to be the highest compliment you can give a person is to emulate them. She never wanted to retire and worked until a short time before her passing. We never knew how old she was, she kept us guessing until this week. She was 87 years old and she left an indelible mark on Las Vegas. I will miss her and I know many others will too.

New Car Shopping

2006-05-15T05:34:00.000-07:00

We decided it was time for a new vehicle, the old truck is 11 years old and has only 82,000 miles on it. It's starting to need some repairs and we don't think it's worth putting a couple thousand into something that's only worth that much. Some young guy who can fix it himself will have a great work vehicle. I always felt it was hard to garden if you didn't have some way to haul stuff. But time has taken it's toll on the old truck. Vanity about transportation is not a part of our decision even though the truck looks pretty bad with its dents, dings, and scratches. The clear coat is degrading and makes the old black finish look even worse. Right now, it only gets driven a hundred miles a week, so even the high cost of gas isn't part of this decision. This is my husband's vehicle, you need to know that he doesn't take very good car of his truck. It seldom gets washed or vacuumed. When he was cleaning it out in preparation for selling it, I commented that I didn't know the temperature in Hades had gotten below 32 degrees. John got a big grin on his face, our running joke is the truck gets washed twice a year whether it needs it or not. As with all good things, they get used up and worn out. It's been a very good vehicle but its time to move on.
So we began our dance with the car salesmen. Some are really nice and some are really pushy. When we were younger, we once got trapped in an office and they didn't let us go until we bought a truck. That will never happen again. I make it very clear, up front, that we are only looking and test driving to see what is available and what we might like to buy. Our thinking is we should get something practical, good gas mileage, something to use to shop for groceries and to take the dogs to the dog park. Their hair sure makes a mess in my van. They are cream color so we want something with light upholstery....so the dog hair doesn't show . The truck is a Dodge so we went over and looked at the small Dodge wagon, called a Caliber. It was OK but not as peppy as we expected. The Dodge store is close to our house which makes service easier. My work car is a Pontiac Vibe made by Toyota in Fremont, California. The Matrix is its twin and that's one of our options. It's been pretty economical, I've driven it 30,000 miles in a year. I'm doing some highway and some city driving. I actually get between 25 and 30 miles to the gallon. It's done pretty well. The back end is covered with a rubber mat, the seats fold flat and it would work for us. But I want the side airbags and that is a $600 option if you can find one with airbags. Holy cow, I might take my grandchildren in this car and I want it to be as safe as possible.
The other day, I saw something new in the parking lot at work, it was a Honda Fit. I guess they've been selling them in Europe and Japan for years and just started importing them to the US. It's kind of ugly but the floor folds flat and it has a lot of cargo room. I haven't driven one yet but maybe today. It does have the side airbags as standard equipment.

The next stop is the Mazda dealer. The Mazda 3 looks nice on the Internet but you have to drive a car to see if it fits the bill. I've been haunting Edmunds.com to see what the various cars are equipted with, what colors they are and the various safety options and gas mileage.

So we're off to do some car shopping. Any comments or recommendations are welcome. It's been over 5 years since we bought a car. We tend to keep them a long time if they are reliable. Any personal experience with this type of vehicle would be helpful. Wish us luck.

My beautiful garden

2006-05-04T15:47:00.000-07:00

You can probably tell that I LOVE spring.

The earth is renewing itself. I went home for lunch today and noticed one of my bird of paradise plants outdoing itself. I wanted to share my pictures with my blog friends.
This one is the yellow bird sometimes called Mexican bird of paradise. This is a particularly nice specimen.

The pink flower is called a penstemmon and it is a native plant. The purple shrub behind it is called desert sage. I am the envy of all my Master Gardener friends because of that plant. Off to the right is gopher weed, I don't know if it keeps gophers out, we don't have any so maybe it does work.

The last picture shows the native beavertail cactus blooming. The magenta flowers are a show stopper. Off to the right of the cactus is dogweed. I have no idea why it's called that but it blooms prolifically for about 9 months, it dies, you pull out the plants and next spring there are hundreds of little dogweeds. Some people call it invasive but I love it. Anything pretty that wants to volunteer in my yard is welcome!

Beautiful Gardens

2006-05-03T22:31:00.000-07:00

In Las Vegas, they have an annual landscape contest. I was privileged to be asked to be one of the judges. It was very interesting to see how differently people perceive their space. We went to homes, commercial property, a church and public spaces. Beauty is so subjective. I know what I like but our differences are what make life fascinating. I can appreciate other peoples ideas. The end result is that the community becomes more interesting and creates a better quality of life. The bottom line is saving water. We are using less water with more people due to conservation efforts. A common misconception is most of the water is used by hotels and visitors, not true. Most water is used by homes. Water used inside is recycled and we return purified water to Lake Mead and the Colorado River. This is important because we can take out a gallon for every gallon that is returned. The biggest water use is for landscapes, none of that can be returned to qualify for return water credits. So xeriscaping (dry gardening) becomes an important goal. No new houses can have grass in the front yard anymore. We have saved millions of gallons of water and that's the greatest thing in our desert. I wanted to show you a few of the places that entered the landscape contest. You've seen my house in an earlier post so you know what xeriscaping can look like. When I converted my yard 6 years ago, I had just finished a botany class called Plants of the Southwest Deserts. I wanted my yard to look like the edge of the desert. One thing I believe strongly about is that a garden should never remain static. It should always grow and change. That maturity is what gives me so much satisfaction about what I created. I'm sure the other folks who designed these gardens feel equally satisfied. We have a very interesting plant palette in the Mojave Desert. The ground is salty and the water is salty, plants that come for other places generally struggle here. So the best idea is to use salt tolerant plant material. I think I fooled you, the green stuff is artificial turf. It uses zero water. This is a public park. As you can see, desert landscaping is not just rocks, it can be glorious.

Banana Plantation -Part 6

2006-04-23T09:31:00.000-07:00

For some reason a lot of expressions have permeated our culture having to do with bananas. Going bananas, stepping on a banana peel, a banana republic (either a small Latin American country or a trendy clothing store), second banana, Chiquita banana are all terms we're familiar with. Why there's even a banana museum! One of the first fruits we feed our kids is the banana. It is purported to have all sorts of health benefits. Bananas are rich in vitamin B6 and they are a good source of fiber, vitamin C, magnesium and potassium. Wow, can you think of anything better than a banana split? On this trip I even learned to enjoy fried plantains...a type of banana.

Do you ever think about how they're grown? I had a vague idea but loved seeing an actual banana plantation. They're not actually grown on trees, it's more like a stalk that only bears fruit once. It's cut down and and a sucker grows for the next crop. The bananas are covered with plastic bags to protect them from insects while they ripen. The farm we visited was run by Del Monte and they went to great lengths to ensure all the critters were cleaned off before they were boxed and shipped off to our supermarkets. Unfortunately we visited on a Sunday so we didn't see the actual operation at work. I do know I have a new appreciation for what it takes to put that banana into my cereal in the morning.

Tortuguero-Sea Turtle refuge - Part 5 continued

2006-04-16T15:03:00.000-07:00

For our river cruises, we were required to wear life jackets, and because it was raining, a slicker. Here's John strapping on his life jacket and me looking like a 200 lb. canary in my slicker. We learned it rains 180 inches a year here, in Las Vegas, it rains less than 4" per year. We saw snowy egrets, great egrets, chestnut mandible toucans, great blue herons, anhinguas, black river turtles, spider monkeys, sloths, iguana and Jesus Christ lizards. When they are juveniles, they can run across the surface of the water, hence the name. At the end of one cruise, there was a giant crocodile. They are really scary beasts. We were about 25 feet away from one that was laying on the shore. He didn't like our visit and he moved really, really fast. The next day we went on the second cruise and ended up in Nicaragua, actually, it was just a sign, and we only went about 10 feet over the border. We saw a spider web that was as tight as a soccer goal. There were bats hugging a tree trunk and you could barely distinguish them from the tree. Our guides had very sharp eyes.

Tortuguero-Sea Turtle refuge - Part 5

2006-04-16T13:51:00.000-07:00

I think visiting Tortuguero was one of my favorite parts of our trip to Costa Rica. It is home to more than 300 species of birds. I was glad we brought our binoculars. We stayed for two nights in wonderful wooden cottages built on stilts. My least favorite part was being awakened early in the morning by the howler monkeys. The meals were buffet style with lots of rice and beans, plenty of fresh fruit, and pleasant dinner companions. We took two cruises on the rivers in Tortuguero National Park and it was the only time we were rained on. No matter, it was still fun, and besides we were in the rainforest. We were treated to Carribean style music in the evenings. Interestingly enough, some of the young people working at the lodge were from Nicaragua. They have immigrated to have greater opportunities in a more politically stable country. Many of the locals go to the cities to work at the hotels. Our guide, a local man, used to hunt sea turtles with his father. They sold the meat for export to restaurants in Europe and North America. Because of the hunting, the sea turtle population declined. He is showing our group a turtle egg shell left on the beach after hatching. Currently, eco-tourism is providing jobs so people can support their families. A large conservation program was started by a Florida man and it promotes habitat protection, research, conservation and education. Many Americans volunteer with the Carribean Conservation Corporation to preserve the last major green turtle nesting beach in the western hemisphere. We were a couple of weeks too early to see the Green Sea Turtle arrive at the nesting habitat but during our visit we saw a life size model in a display of the work being done there.

The Rain Forest - Part 4

2006-04-14T23:07:00.000-07:00

The aerial tram through the rainforest was amazing. In order to preserve the pristine forest, as well as giving visitors the chance to observe many different types of plants, everyone is required to take the tram. First we went on a lower level, then through the top of the canopy of the forest. It amazed me to see how plants have adapted to this environment. Some change color to protect itself from being eaten. We seldom think of plants that way.
Some are bright to attract pollinators... birds, bees, etc. The little beauty on the right is a lipstick plant, the petals look like lips. Some plants have adapted so they can actually move into the light. On the left is a walking palm, if I remember correctly, it can move a foot a year. It is very bright at the top of the rainforest but quite dim near the floor. The picture on the left is near the floor of the canopy, the right picture shows the top of the forest. The last picture shows the lowly ant, cleaning the debris from the floor of the rainforest. One ant carries it back to the nest and others sit on top of the cut leaf cleaning it's surface. Look closely and you'll see these determined insects.

More about Costa Rica-Part 3

2006-04-14T21:17:00.000-07:00

POAS VOLCANO
One of our trips was to
Poas Volcano, it is in a national park. It has been dormant since 1991. The crater is over a mile wide and is usually covered in clouds, due to humidity and sulfur fumes. We arrived at a perfect break in the weather, in another 10 minutes, you couldn't see a thing. There were a lot of interesting plants and birds there. It was a good hike up to the observation platform and I have to admit to taking a break along the way. I wasn't successful at getting any bird pictures but we saw lots of little birds along the paths.

More about Costa Rica-Part 2

2006-04-14T19:42:00.000-07:00

I thought the gold, the carvings and the pottery done in pre-Columbian times was very advanced. We were able to see specimans quite close, not like most US museums.
For example, the metates, a kind of grinding stone, were laborately carved. The metates I have seen in the southwestern US are very plain, mainly a hollowed out spot in the center of a flat rock used to grind corn with another rounded stone. The advanced methods used by the indigenous people was quite impressive. I believe they used the lost wax method to create many of the gold objects they created. The gold was often mixed with copper because it had a lower melting point. I wondered how many centuries it took to develop and create so much skill at producing these objects. In addition, they were skilled at trade and used semi-precious stones that could only have been acquired by trading.

In San Jose, the landscape was fairly urban. We did travel in some areas where the people lived very poorly. Since I was an architectural photographer in another life, I find unique buildings interesting. This is a metal building, one of two we saw, that was imported from Belgium. It is currently being used as a girl's school. Education is mandatory through the 12th grade, so the literacy rate is an amazing 95%.

This is the central park in San Jose, people stroll through the area, admire the interesting plants and enjoy the serenity of the day.

More to come in part 3.

Pura Vida-Costa Rica Part 1

2006-04-14T15:19:00.000-07:00

This lovely greeting was taught to us by our guide on our recent trip to Costa Rica, it is the national 'hello' and 'good bye' and is the affirmation of 'pure life' or 'pura vida'. . It is how Tico's greet each other, that's slang for a native. Since we're getting older, we decided an escorted tour would be the best way to see as much of the country as we could. It was a good decision. No driving on unfamiliar roads, no decisions about restaurants, no hassles with hotels. By and large, we were very satisfied with the company sponsoring the tour, Caravan tours. Our guide was an affable young man, Elston Valentin. He was extremely knowledgeable, didn't ruffle anyone's feathers and saw to it that all problems were solved in a reasonable way. He is a credit to his country.

In San Jose, the capital city,

we visited the Gold Museum and the National Museum. I was impressed by the detail of the pre-Columbian gold objects we saw. As in most Central and South American city, the center of town is a plaza with fountains and parks. We wandered the center of the city and had lunch in a local restaurant. I bought some macadamia nuts, my favorite, for a very reasonable price. We stopped in a souvenir shop which sold lovely wooden object made by local artisans. If only I had known they had the best prices we would find in Costa Rica, I would have bought more. I treated myself to a lovely box made of rosewood with a blue morpho butterfly sandwiched between two pieces of glass. It is my treasure from this trip.
Our hotel was the lovely Barcelo Palacio, and it was indeed palatial.

Since I am having a problem uploading my pictures, this is to be continued in another entry.

Spring in the desert-It's no place for sissies

2006-03-26T06:06:00.000-08:00

Last Monday, I went hiking with my friends on the north shore of Lake Mead. It is an awesome place, some would describe it as desolate. For those who appreciate the hardy plants and animals who survive here, we love the renewal that spring brings. The first thing we saw was an incredible display of the endangered Bear Paw Poppy, the plants thrive only in gypsum-rich soils. Technically, they are Arctomecon califonica.

Besides the fact that they are rare, their existence has held the land hungry developers in the Las Vegas Valley at bay. Expansion here has created many problems, not the least of which is congestion, a shortage of teachers, medical help and poor air quality. The BLM is protecting this innocuous little plant and slowing down development, so hooray for the Bear Paw Poppy.

Many of the plants are very small, like Sun Cups and Phacelia or desert primrose (the purple flower). Each is a little treasure when we find it and identify it. Very tiny flowers are called belly flowers, you have to lay down on your belly to see and appreciate them. Yellow seems to be a predominant color in desert plants. I think it makes them more attractive to pollinators, like bees. Once I was in Death Valley and saw a whole field of yellow, purple and white flowers. It inspired me to go home and create a flower bed in those colors.

These spectacular beauties are called Sun Rays. They will often grow in distrurbed soils along the road. I think the infrequent rain helps them thrive because it washes off the roads and gives the plants a little more water. It's pretty dry here so I have so much admiration for these tough plants that are so showy.

This is where we stopped for lunch, it's called Rogers Spring. It was a welcome break because there are bathrooms. It's a thermal hot spring and home to many unusual fish and turtles. There is an unusual amoeba that lives in these waters, a sign warns prospective swimmers that it can cause death if it enters your nose or ears. That's one of the reasons the desert is no place for sissies. This area is a haven to many birds including migratory birds so it's a favorite stop for the people who love birding. Rogers spring is a part of a national wildlife refuge. The stream that runs off of this 30 foot pond waters the many species of plants that surround the area. I love going to the desert, it brings peace to my soul.

P.S. For all my blogger friends who are waiting for the Costa Rica pictures, I'm still working on editing them, I took over 700 pictures.

Greetings from Costa Rica

2006-03-12T14:39:00.000-08:00

Even though we are on vacation in a gardeners paradise, I am still able to reach out to my blog friends. This has been an amazing experience. We have seen a vocano, a turtle refuge, a rain forest, and many species of wild life. I am so sorry that I cannot include some photos with this message. Today we saw an 18 foot crocodile, from about 30 feet away. They are awesome creatures. We had howler monkey waken us at dawn and toucans sitting on a branch outside our room. The flowers are gorgeous. They plant tree fences here by cutting branches off of trees then sticking them into the ground. One thing I have to mention tho are the really skinny cows, they have a lot of brahmin cows from India. For someone born in the middle West, they are pretty darn ugly. People here have manditory education up through the 12th grade so they have a high literacy rate (95%). But it seems the average person only makes about $400 a month. People in the countryside live pretty poor lives. It gives you pause when you realize what a privileged life we have in the United States. I am grateful for all that I have in my life and will count my blessings even more often than I do now. I feel fortunate that we can experience this country and the Costa Rican people who have greeted us with friendship. I will post some of my pictures next week when we come home.

Dick Tracy would be proud

2006-03-04T14:41:00.000-08:00

I was thinking about motherkitty's blog the other day about not keeping up with the times and learning new computer skills. I thought about all our childhood toys..Dick Tracy watches, walkie talkies, etc. We pretended to really talk to our playmates.

Well, I've come a long way. Today I'm surfing from my wireless laptop toughbook computer. I'm eating lunch, and I can entertain myself by reading my email and the news, while signed in wirelessly. I will read various blogs to catch up with all my blog friends.

I just love a good toy, I have two cell phones, one personal, one for work. Then there are three computers, home, work and mobile. Digital cameras for work and instant gratification. We have digital voice recorders, atomic clocks, satellite television. I even have a washing machine that weighs the load, uses 40% less soap and water, computes agitation time and sends a message to the dryer via a computer cable telling it how long to dry the clothes. Our grandkids have gameboys, x-boxes and PS2's. Just go to Costco and Fry's Electronics, the possibilities are endless.

I don't get nostalgic for party lines, ice boxes, wringer washers, or manual typewriters. I remember sitting on my grandmother's bed, listening to her stories of the old country. She emigrated here in 1905. It seems they had electric street cars in Kiev and horsedrawn streetcars in Chicago. As kids we had radio shows like "The Shadow" and Amos and Andy. Finally some neighbors got a TV, we went over to see Howdy Doody. My parents used an old mechanical cash register in their grocery store and an adding machine that had a handle you pulled every time you wanted to enter an item.

Now we have bar codes, self check out, wireless everything. We can talk across the world instantly on our cell phones. Personally, I'm loving every minute of the electronic revolution. You'd have to drag me kicking and screaming back to the "simpler life". I'm just waiting for those teleporters so I won't have to commute to work.

I love a project

2006-03-02T22:04:00.000-08:00

Nothing makes me happier than having a project. As if I can't think up enough on my own, I now have HGTV. It's very addicting. Everyday my husband says Oh no, not that again. But I love Curb Appeal, Designed to Sell, Designing for the Sexes, Designers Challenge...do you see a pattern here? I've been designing gardens for many years, I love my private space. Other people seem to like what I do and it's easy to get sucked into a project for someone else. I once worked on a guys yard for two years, my grandchildren call it the job that never ends. It was great fun, no budget and I got to do whatever I wanted.

Here are a couple of projects I did in my front yard, I had a seating wall and arched stone gateway built. Then I hired a couple of kids to help me. We put in a flagstone patio and path, lighting and lots of plants. My husband helped me build the trellis. It's redwood that I ripped on my table saw and screwed together with coated deck screws. I have a grape vine and a passion vine planted on it. When I landscaped the front, I wanted it to look like the edge of the desert. I had recently completed a botany class called Plants of the Southwest Deserts. I was in love with all the native species. Not many desert gardens looked good. Unfortunately, a lot of people plant a tree, spread gravel and drop a boulder on the yard and think they have a desert landscape. As a photographer, I notice things. I think Mother Nature is the best gardener. When I'm hiking, I will photograph natural settings that I think can be translated to the home landscape. I created rolling elevations and buried the boulders in my yard making them look as if they're erupting from the soil. Nearby plantings of native grasses or other plants give them a more natural look. My biggest turnoff is the alien boulders that dropped from outer space. I also like to create a transition from the public space to the private space. It only has to be a visual barrier, not a wall. Small plants planted in masses can create a big impact.

I never had any training in landscape design but I've bought a lot of books along the way and I guess you could say I'm self taught. The results look pretty good if I do say so myself. A lot of people stop to ask questions when I'm working in the yard. But it's all in the planning and the execution. Maintenance is a drag but part of the game. Make no mistake, a desert landscape is low water use but not low maintenance. The big payoff is the satisfaction I get when the plants mature and I see my vision become reality.

Dogs of the desert

2006-02-28T11:49:00.000-08:00

I have two "real" dogs of the desert. I stumbled across this breed by accident. My elderly Brittany was in poor health, he mourned his mother who we put down a few months earlier. He needed company. The dog shelter had a lot of pit bulls which was out of the question. So I answered a quiz on AOL and it came up: Canaan dog. What in the heck is a Canaan dog? I put the question to Google, as I often do. I found about 10,000 websites and proceeded write to breeders all over the world. For about 9 months I lurked on a Yahoo discussion group called Canaani-L. I was fascinated. Finally I decided to get one. They are the only dogs mentioned in the bible, kelev canaani...dog of canaan. As fate would have it, a friend who takes church groups to the holyland was going to Israel. I asked her to go see this puppy who was available. I sure didn't want to spend a lot of money on some weird dog. Long story short, we got our first CD. We named her B'sorah Tovah, which means good news in Hebrew. A couple of years later we got a male who is named Simcha, or happiness. They are the perfect desert dogs. Tova's sire was a free born or wild dog that the breeder got from a Bedouin tribe. The Bedouins use these dogs for herding their goats and sheep. The dogs are said to be so ferocious that they will chase mountain lions away from their herds. I didn't mention that the dogs from the desert are cream colored and the ones from the mountains are black and white.

I was amazed when Tova first got here, she flew from Tel Aviv to Zurich, Switzerland, then on to Los Angeles, where we picked her up. She was 3 months old and in a crate for 22 hours and never even peed. Two days after she arrived, we were watching television and a character in the show said a blessing on his grandson in Hebrew. This puppy ran up to the front of the set and froze, she didn't move until he stopped speaking. Some months later, I was watching a training tape from our obedience trainer and she watched it with me. NO LIE, she was intent on the section about breaking your dog of stealing food from the counter. A few minutes later, she jumped off the couch where she was sitting next to me. She went into the kitchen and took a piece of fish off the counter and ate it. She has never done it before or since. She will growl at the TV when dogs are shown, I think she is protecting us from those evil TV dogs. National Geographic had a special last year called Search for the First Dog. They visited areas of the planet where indigenous dogs still existed in the wild. First they visited Tova's breeder in Israel, then to Australia to see the Dingos, Carolina to see the Carolina Yaller Dogs, India to see Santal dogs, these are breeds called pariah dogs. Common characteristics are a short double coat, prick ears and a curled tail. Thought to be descended from wolves, they all look amazingly similar. Tova watched the tape that motherkitty made for me from her satellite dish. She only paid attention when the Canaan dogs were on. The other dogs didn't get a second glance. Maybe it was because Tova recognized Myrna, her breeder. Maybe it was a fluke. Since then, I've shown the tape several more times to guests, same thing, Tova only watches the Canaan dogs.

We like the way she protects us. I hired a guy to plant a tree for me and when he came running toward me to help carry a bag of mulch, Tova got between us and there was no way he was getting near me. She was very concerned when my husband had surgery last fall. One sniff of his bandage and she was right there keeping people and dogs a safe distance when we went to the dog park. She may sound ferocious but you should see her with kids, especially my grandkids. She thinks they're part of her pack, I guess. And that's the way we like it.

Simi is just a lover, he loves everyone. Two dogs couldn't be more different. He is happy to see anyone and everyone. His name fits him perfectly. He is totally dominated by Tova, except for his bone. The female is the alpha dog in this pack. These are not dogs for everyone, they don't sit in your lap. We like them because they are our early alarm system. And they do have their moments.

More about Spring in the Desert

2006-02-27T17:28:00.001-08:00

Lemons
I'm sitting at my desk and looked up this morning to see my apricot tree beginning to bloom. That means more work, picking fresh fruit, cooking jam and sauce, fighting the birds and cleaning up the dropped fruit. It's an amazing tree, very prolific. Right beside it is my lemon tree with literally lemons hanging and blossoms for this years fruit already opening. It's a dwarf Meyer Improved lemon. We didn't get any fruit the first 3 years but since then, we get hundreds of lemons every year. It isn't possible to use them all so my husband and I pass them out to everyone we know. No one leaves without a bag of lemons. So the saying goes, when life (or your friend) gives you lemons, make lemonade.

What's in bloom in my yard

2006-02-27T17:28:00.000-08:00

Gopher weed
This is supposed to repel gophers but I don't have any so I can't verify this. The sulfurous yellow flowers really brighten up the yard.

2006-02-27T17:25:00.000-08:00

Desert marigolds

The Latin name for this plant is Baileya multiradiata, meaning many rays. It survives in our alkaline soil and is such a wonderful plant, this is growing my my front yard with many other native species.

Desert mallow

2006-02-27T17:24:00.000-08:00

Desert mallow
This is almost a weed, it grows along the road in disturbed soil but what a winner. I have this volunteer in my front yard. I think it's related to hollyhocks. I also have a red one and a pink one. I love this plant.

2006-02-27T17:23:00.000-08:00

Desert sage

This is a little native beauty growing in my yard. It's very hard to establish in the home landscape. The plant is about 18" tall and is glorious in full bloom.

Spring in the desert

2006-02-24T00:37:00.000-08:00

Freesias and Angelita Daisies

I love spring in the desert, it's so much earlier than spring in Indiana where I come from. If we have a wet fall and winter, it is glorious. You have to admire all these sturdy plants that survive the coldest and the hottest of the 5 western deserts, the Mojave Desert. I remember the first year we lived here and there were the El Niño rains, Death Valley was amazing. I left at 5 in the morning to go photograph flowers and didn't leave there until dark. It's a couple of hours drive from Las Vegas, so I was pretty late getting home. My husband was really worried that something happened. Well it wasn't the first time I got yelled at for making him worry, nor the last. I pretty much do as I please, it can cause some friction.
Anyway, the show was splendid. Purple! Yellow! White! I was so impressed I built a 23 foot long flower bed in those colors. There are low growing flowers called belly flowers. The prize though is finding the desert five spot. You cannot imagine the thousands of people who visit Death Valley to see the desert bloom.
Closer to home is Red Rock National Recreation area, a few miles west of Las Vegas. There are amazing plants that grow there and grow no where else in the world. A redbud that has to be a hundred years old puts on the most spectacular display. There are terrestial orchids growing along a stream. Discovering canyons with petroglyphs and pictographs left by ancient native Piutes, with amazing wildlife and spectacular views has led me to love this "barren" desert. If you come to Las Vegas, I hope you'll venture off the strip and find the real Las Vegas.

Going on Vacation

2006-02-23T23:53:00.000-08:00

It doesn't always seem worth all the trouble, getting ready to go on a trip. It takes twice as long to get ready before and to put all your stuff away after you come home, as the time you were away on "Vacation." We don't go on vacation very often, there's the dogs, the cat, the garden, the pool, the planning, the packing, stopping the mail, stopping the paper, paying all the bills ahead of time. Holy moly, it's exhausting. Of course, I had to arrange for new passports and shop for new clothes. And if I forget one little thing, it's my fault. My husband just has to go. And that's the way it is.
This year we are taking a real vacation, we won't be visiting our kids, or other assorted relatives. In our married life, I can count on one hand the times we've taken a trip just to do something fun for ourselves. We're going to Costa Rica. But I admit, even with all the arrangments to be made, I am getting excited. I'll see a real volcano, a rainforest, a butterfly garden, and many other exotic treats. I'm ready, I bought a 1 GB memory card for my camera. Boy, in the old days, I'd be hauling loads of film in lead bags, extra lenses, a flash, a tripod and of course, extra camera bodies. Now I can tuck that digital camera in my purse and off we go. Our trip is still two weeks off, but I'm ready. I'll post lots of exotic pictures when I get home, if I can figure out how to download the darn things!

Are you ready?

2006-02-21T11:46:00.000-08:00

This is heady stuff, writing anonymously, knowing the world can view your opinions. The very thought makes me feel vulnerable. Who will read and comment on my words? Will they think them trivial? I am someone who has been outspoken and never cared much what others think, so here goes nothing. You're welcome to give me moral support.