Big YEAH!  Glad you're back Trudy!  You've got lots of catching up to do, but post when you can to let us know how you are....

I really miss the persimmons & peaches, tesla.  Nothing like a local tree-ripened southern peach.  My brother who still lives in SC said they had a bad drought there this summer too, along with all the neighboring states.  There were arguments over allocation of water in rivers that ran through several states.  That whole region must gotten hit hard this year.  Maybe everyone should start studying vegetable gardening methods in AZ & NM in preparation for climate change!

I can see a book in the making with the beautiful pics teamed up with the poetry quotes.  There is a real art to that.

Oh this is some great news!  So glad it turned out to be "just" IBD and not lymphoma.  At least that can be managed for life.  That's wonderful the home diet is working so well. 

Prayers to Sophers and her people that she will get the diagnosis and proper treatment she needs!  I hope that other clinic turns out much better than the first one.

Poor Remy!  I hope they are able to find out what is going on and get him on a treatment plan that will help.  Prayers to all of you that he is home again quickly and on the mend.

We did have a few threads on here discussing the ingredient changes, but these complaints have piled up since then.  This does not sound good.  It would be good to know if all the problems are because of new ingredients to the pets, or if there is actually something wrong with the food. 

tesla, can you grow pears where you are or is it too dry?  When I lived in lowland SC, no one could grow apples but certain pear varieties did really well.  And of course peaches, but it wasn't the right conditions for citrus.  Too cold in winter I think.  Native blackberries & persimmons were about the only other fruits I remember growing there.. 

That's a good point about that geese pic Poco - that's really an interesting contrast with the horizontal lines of the water in the background and all the geese facing one way with their slopey little faces and chin straps.  Can't remember the artsy term for it, but there's a tension to it.

Aha, Virginia Creeper, that's the name I was trying to recall!  It is pretty in autumn colors, but I have heard it can be a little too eager to take over everything.  Not nearly as bad as the kudzu in the southeast though!

I wish I could get up to the mountains again before the first big snowfall.  Talk about red - the huckleberries turn fire red all over up there, and are mixed with dark green heather and yellow shrubby mountain ash.  That is really a beautiful sight, even on a cloudy day. 

Thanks for the heirloom seed link straybaby!  I love seed catalogs, whether they are online or paper.

Oh, neat!  We have one of those up here too, but it's a different species with skinny leaves and smaller heads.  Here's a pic from the internet of it:

http://www.woodbrook.net/images/AnM-Olympic%20National%20Forest8-10-05.jpg

(I can't for the life of me remember the name of the red plant on the tree trunk)

That sounds bad!  I hope the damage is fixable and you can move back in soon.  It's great you have a place to stay, but it can be difficult not being in your own place.  Please keep us up to date on how things are going for you.

I like the Canada geese even though they do make a mess where they crowd up. Look at those cute little chin-straps.  They've caused a lot of controversy up here because they no longer go south, and the parks around the lakes get really polluted from their doo.

I love seeing all the plants from different areas of the country.  Do you know what that white flowering plant at the base of the tree is, catbird?

Thanks!  I was hoping to get some of the native purple asters and goldenrods, but waited too long.  It is pouring rain now and everything is flattened out on the ground.

Here are a few more somber pics, but a good prep for winter coming up.  These were actually taken the last day of July, but at 5000' elevation and a cool wet summer, lots of snow was left, and ice on the lake in the bottom pic:

The woolly bears are scarce this year around here, but I have seen a few.  Some years they are all over.  We had a very wet, cool gray summer, so that may have affected them.

Up here in Western Washington, almost all our deciduous trees turn yellow in fall, and usually not that great a display because we don't get the right conditions.  The vine maple is one of the few that turn red so I really like them.  Top pic is a closeup and second is looking down my driveway into the cul-de-sac.  One of our last sunny days.