We've Got a New Baby!

The daffodil season has been one of the best yet here at Our Little Acre, and amazingly enough, it's still going on. We even have one variety that is just emerging from the ground! (Narcissus 'Faith') I think I planted them too deeply and they've struggled to make their way to the sunshine, so I'll be surprised if they actually bloom. We'll see.



Most of our daffodils have come and gone, but a little charmer is at the height of its glory. 'New Baby' is a teeny weeny thing - so small that I nearly missed its first blooms. Each tiny flower is no more than an inch across. Its foliage is appropriately thin-bladed, making this a delicate addition to the spring palette. I just love it!




To give you a better perspective on just how tiny this daffodil is, here's a picture of them with their bedfellows:

Can you see them? They're at the right front of the bed, between the Tiarella and the Pulmonaria. Look very closely and you can see a couple of very tiny blooms. This is the first year I've had them and I expect them to bloom better next year. I think I'll need to move them though, because with as late as they bloom, too many leaves are on the trees by now for them to get as much sun as they like.

One little 'Thalia' is hanging on, but the rest have been gone for a week or so. It's the first spring for those, too, and I really like them. They're truly a white white.







One of my very favorites is 'Avalon'. It's sturdy-stemmed and has a large-sized flower. I like the white highlighting around its white cup. They didn't bloom as heavily this year as they did last, though.










I've only got a few 'Lemon Beauty' daffodils, but they're a nice accent to the other yellow petaled ones.

They have a split cup, though not as frilly as that other one I have that I keep threatening to dig up and feed to the squirrels. I don't think even the squirrels will want them though. They're so ugly, they're scary.


You can't really tell how ugly they are from this photo, though...

'Replete' Glamour Shot

'Sagitta' made its first appearance here this spring and I'm glad I bought two bags of them last fall. The cup is almost apricot and the flowers are quite large. They last a long time, too.

'Rick' borders on having a pink cup...

...but 'Pink Charm' truly is pink.

I thought 'Jetfire' would have a more orange cup than it did and that it would have a larger flower. It's on the smaller side. Regardless, I really like this one. I'll just look for another yellow with a solid orange cup to plant this fall.

'Delibes' is a real stunner.

'Pipit' is a reliable bloomer and is a somewhat smaller version of 'Avalon'. Many times it has multiple blooms on one stem.











There were various other unnamed daffodils that graced us with their presence...

This all-yellow is the largest daffodil we have.

Little 'Tete-a-Tete' never fails to bring cheer to the gardens. Just before Jenna's bridal shower in April, I bought more at Walmart and dotted them throughout the flower beds for some more color, since not a whole lot of anything else was blooming when these were.





'Rip van Winkle' only managed to produce one measly bloom this year, and 'Golden Bells' didn't bloom at all. I use bulb food, so I'm not sure what happened with these. Maybe they'll do better next year.







And of course, we've got the classic Poet's Daffodil spotted here and there around the yard. Some of them are thirty years old, because we dug them from a ditch down the road shortly after we moved here. But in all that time, did you know that I didn't realize they were highly fragrant? I accidentally caught a whiff this spring while weeding near them and I was so surprised by how good they smelled.


It's hard to believe we're so far into the growing season that the daffodils are nearly finished! It's been a lovely spring and it's gone far more quickly than winter did. Why is that always the case?

Captivating Bluebirds - A Book Review

The bluebird carries the sky on his back.
Henry David Thoreau ~ 1852

Romie and I saw our first bluebird last spring. We were working in the garden, near an ornamental birdhouse, and I saw a flash of brilliant blue out of the corner of my eye. I looked up and saw the bluebird perched atop the birdhouse. I whispered to Romie, "Look!"

We stood for a moment, in awe of the beauty of this rufous-chested bird and we knew we were in the presence of something special. Neither of us had ever seen one before. It took a look into the small hole of the birdhouse, and then it flew away.

The very next day, we bought a bluebird house and mounted it on the back side of a tall shagbark hickory at just about eye level, hoping the bluebird would return and make its home there. It didn't, but a small wren decided it was just right.

From this point on, we both were fascinated with bluebirds, which recently led me to discover a great new book about them. Captivating Bluebirds: Exceptional Images and Observations is written by Stan Tekiela. It's a treasure of a book, chock full of just about anything you'd want to know about bluebirds and amazing intimate photos of them.

We were familiar with Stan's work because we turn to his Birds of Ohio field guide time and time again to identify the various birds that visit the feeders and gardens at Our Little Acre. Just last night we looked up the Belted Kingfisher because we were sure we had seen one down by the creek that runs near our house. Stan's information confirmed it for us.

But back to this bluebird book he's written... All of the stunning photographs (more than 100) were taken by Stan and feature every aspect of a bluebird's fascinating life. Each is accompanied by text containing facts that confirm that this bird is truly special and unique among songbirds. For example, did you know that a bluebird's feathers don't contain blue pigment? Did you know that a female bluebird sometimes has three broods in a season?

Captivating Bluebirds is written in an easy-to-browse format and can easily be read in one sitting, if you so choose. But why do that, when there's so much to look at and savor? I've read and reread this book several times already and will no doubt turn to it again and again. In fact, we plan to place another bluebird house and Stan has included suggestions for purchase, construction, and placement of houses, at the back of the book.

The 9 x 7-inch book is softcover, but it's a "Perfect Paperback," meaning it's bound somewhat like a hardcover in the way its pages are grouped together. The front and back covers have a wrap-around section like a dustjacket has, and these add stability and strength to the edges of the softcover as well as being handy to use as a bookmark.


Captivating Bluebirds: Exceptional Images and Observations by Stan Tekiela, Adventures Publications, March 5, 2008. 144 pages. List price $14.95. (Amazon price $11.51.)

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Stan Tekiela is an award winning author, naturalist, columnist, wildlife photographer and radio personality. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Natural History Interpretation (Naturalist) from the University of Minnesota. He has been a professional naturalist for over 20 years and is a member of the Minnesota Naturalist Association, the Outdoor Writers Association of America, North American Nature Photography Association, and Canon Professional Services.


Stan actively studies and photographs nature throughout the U.S. You can visit his website at www.naturesmart.com.

_________________
The product or merchandise being reviewed in this blog post was the sole compensation for testing and reviewing the product. All opinions expressed here are mine, with no suggestions whatsoever by the manufacturer or distributor. If I like it, I'll say so. If I don't, I'll say that, too.

How About Some Seeds With Your Gas?

Today we made a trip to Van Wert to pick up a few things we needed to complete some projects we're doing in the garden. We also stopped in to see the progress that's been made in the Smiley Park Children's Garden and WOW - it's really looking great!

Walmart is the only one-stop shopping place we have, so that's where we went to get some groceries, food and litter for the kitties, the supplies we needed for our projects, and oh yes, that refined black gold our car requires to get from one place to another.

Walmart's price for regular unleaded gas was $3.97 a gallon, but when you use a Walmart credit card or gift card to purchase it, you get three cents off, making it $3.94. On Thursday, it was $4.15 in Fort Wayne, so this seemed like somewhat of a bargain. Ha.

As we were checking out, Romie handed me a gift card for the checker to load with dollars we'd use to buy our gas. "Here," he said, "have some seeds."


Now this was pretty cool. They had two styles of cards where a small packet of seeds was attached. One had sunflowers pictured on the card with some sunflower seeds; the other pictured white baby's breath with a small packet of seeds for Gypsophilia elegans.

What a charming idea for spring!

Speaking of Lilacs...

As May draws to a close, so has the blooming season for lilacs here, and what a glorious season it was. Each time I walked by our neighbors' large lilac, which borders our property, and caught a whiff of its scent, I was reminded of what my grandma told me years ago. She said that people used to plant lilacs near their doors so when people came to visit, they could enjoy the scent too, as they entered the house.

Our own lilac history began with a white double one I received for my birthday in the early '90s from my friend Jane.


She knew I loved lilacs. When we chose a planting spot for the white lilac, we decided to put it in a place that had lain bare for a few years. There had been a white peony there, planted by the original owners of our house, but had strangely disappeared a few years before.

The white lilac grew and bloomed for many years, until one day, a few weeks after the lilac season was over, I was mowing the lawn and something white caught my eye as I went past the lilac bush. I got off the mower and walked over to it and couldn't believe what I saw. White peony flowers! That silly peony had come back to life! It was so enmeshed with the now well-established lilac bush, there was no way to separate the two. We dubbed it the "Peolac" and they continue to co-exist to this day, both giving us beautiful white blooms in their own seasons.

The "Peolac" - circa 2004

The second lilac we planted was a Syringa meyeri. It was planted near the trellis, which at that time didn't have a garden surrounding it. Only the honeysuckle clambered up and over it. The lilac grew and became a very nice small green shrub, but it never bloomed. I mentioned it to my mom one day, and she said it was likely not receiving enough sun, so we moved it, and sure enough, the next year we were rewarded with beautiful blooms. (Another reason a lilac might not bloom is if they're pruned in the fall or early spring. Lilacs bloom on old wood, so the best time to prune is right after the flowering season has ended. Like now.)


Then my grandma decided we needed a Japanese Maple. (Oh YEAH, baby!!) Where to put it? The perfect place for it was ... oh, dear ... where the meyeri lilac was. And the lilac was in bud, ready to bloom. Sometimes you just have to make choices that aren't fun to make. We moved the lilac and miraculously, it didn't show a single sign of transplant shock and gave us beautiful lavender blooms for the next few weeks. Then it promptly died.


Two years ago, we bought another lilac, Syringa vulgaris 'Sensation', which has beautiful deep purple blooms with white picotee edges. This year, I bought another. So now we're surrounded by beautiful lilacs and in early May, we're rewarded with heavenly scents when soft breezes blow.


Perhaps the most unusual lilac we have was purchased last year. It's a cut-leaf lilac (Syringa laciniata) and it has a very lacy open look.















The foliage is graceful and reminds me a bit of Corydalis foliage, and its blooms are petite and fragrant. This shrub gives a very different look and provides a more attractive foliage than the common lilacs when it's not in bloom.

Each kind of lilac has its own little bloom season, one overlapping the other. While this extends the lilac season a bit, it's over all too soon.

Here Comes the Bride!

All week, rain and wind and cold temperatures had been predicted for Saturday, May 17th, but when the day actually got here, only the wind decided to show up. It was nearly perfect for a spring afternoon wedding. Our younger daughter Jenna married her college sweetheart, Joe.

They'd become engaged in October 2006, so there was plenty of time for planning the wedding. Jenna planned the entire affair nearly single-handedly, arranging all the details down to a "t". We all were sure she hadn't allowed enough time for pictures, but we were proven wrong. (I'm sure we'll be reminded of this later. LOL)


The night before, we rehearsed the ceremony at the church, then traveled north a little ways to Lone Star, where Joe's parents hosted the rehearsal dinner. When we'd all filled our tummies and enjoyed the fellowship, we went our separate ways to get a good night's sleep for the big day ahead.



Two of Jenna's bridesmaids, as well as her sister Kara, who was her Matron of Honor, spent the night at our house, while several of Joe's groomsmen stayed with Joe at his apartment. In the morning, the girls headed out early, so they could get their hair and makeup done. We arrived at the church at noon, snacks in hand for the girls, and finished getting ready.

My mom was really worried the girls would spill food on their
dresses, so I provided bibs. LOL

We tried to get as much of the formal picture-taking completed as possible, including a four-generation photo with my grandma, who is 93 years old.


Finally, it was time for the main event. Jenna was escorted by her dad down the aisle to Canon in D as her sister stood teary-eyed, watching. I saw Joe wiping his eyes later, too. She truly was as beautiful as I've ever seen her.


After the ceremony, Jenna and Joe dismissed the guests by row, then came back into the sanctuary for more pictures. The wedding party left the church in a limo and traveled downtown to Freimann Square, where more pictures were taken.


Shortly after the wedding party arrived at the reception, toasts were made by the best man and the matron of honor. As Kara related stories about growing up with Jenna, she mentioned a time when Jenna was mad at her and was chasing her around the family room with a kitchen knife. (As Mom and Dad cringed in horror.) When Joe heard this, he scooted his chair back away from the table, looked at Jenna with shock, and promptly grabbed Jenna's knife and passed it down to the end of table. LOL.

Joe's mom gave the blessing after relating how we as parents had prayed for our children's spouses even before they were old enough to think about such things. She said while Joe believed he was going to Manchester College for education and to play football and Jenna was going there to become an athletic trainer and play golf, God's plans were for the two of them to meet. Amen!

I recounted how Jenna had always been her dad's shadow as she was growing up and that now she would likely be Joe's. But both sets of parents would always be behind them, supporting them and being available when they needed us.


As they prepared to cut the cake and Jenna grabbed the long-bladed knife, someone in the crowd yelled, "Joe! She's got a knife! RUN!" I have a feeling we won't ever forget the knife moments!

Much celebrating and dancing ensued. Even Nannie was coaxed onto the floor, and loved every second of it. When she left the party, she declared, "If I die tonight, I'll die happy." Her entire family was together in one place (minus one grandchild's husband) and she'd danced at her great-granddaughter's wedding.































My shoes were quite popular with several people, to the point that I was afraid to take them off or they'd be stolen! (Just kidding!) I was asked what size they were, where did I get them, were they comfortable, did I want to sell them, etc., and more than once they were declared to be "hot". They really were great shoes!

Jenna and Joe left Sunday night for Indianapolis, from where they departed the next morning for Riviera Maya, on the Pacific side of Mexico, for their week-long honeymoon. I'll leave you with more photos from the wedding and reception...









Again, thank you to my mom, who did the flowers, as she had done for Kara and Adam's wedding. She's a true gardener in every way.

Other photos can be seen here and here, as well as on the wedding photographer's website (click on DeCraene Wedding).

Wedding Trivia

• The flower girl wore the same dress that Jenna wore in 1989 in her cousin's wedding.
  
  
• Jenna and Joe got married on the same date that Romie and I became engaged in 1974.
  
  
• Joe's mom and I were escorted down the aisle to The Carpenters' Sometimes. This is the same song that Romie's mom and my mom walked down the aisle to at our wedding in 1975, and Kara had it in her wedding as well.
  
  
• Jenna's Something Old was her great-great-grandmother's gold wedding band, Something New was her wedding dress, Something Borrowed was her sister's veil, Something Blue was my blue wedding garter, and she had a 1982 penny in her shoe (the year she was born).

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The pictures here are a collection of those taken by my Aunt Kay, Kara, Lisa Johnson and me.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day For May 2008 - A Little Late!

It's been a busy time here at Our Little Acre, both in the garden, with my running, and of course, the wedding of our younger daughter, Jenna. (I promise to post pictures of the wedding soon!)

The garden just seemed to explode as May came on the scene. It was as if it experienced a month's worth of growth overnight. Perhaps my memory of past springs is fuzzy, but this one has been one of the best I can remember. Things look so good!

Just look what's blooming!

I love Lewisia (Lewisia cotyledon), and added a couple more to the one
I already had in my garden. These are 'Sunset Strain'.


'Rainbow Mix'
They grow well in the rock garden on the west side of our house. My Lewisia probably don't count for actually blooming at this time of year, since they're new. The one I already had isn't even close. But they were so pretty, I wanted to show them off!


I also have many sedums in this same rock garden and they also
do very well. I'm not certain which one this is.

The pink Lily-of-the-Valley (Convallaria majalis 'Rosea') is blooming right along with the white version, which is much more vigorous. It's amazing how the underground runners can wiggle their way under, around, and through things like brick patios. I'd never be without it, though. The scent is amazing.

I've got two pink Bleeding Heart (Dicentra spectabilis) plants and I'm always charmed by their puffy hearts strung all in a row.


Mom gave me a start of these Buttercups (Ranunculus acris 'Flore Pleno') several years ago. I have to keep an eye on them because they can be invasive, but they're not too difficult to remove, as they spread by above-ground runners.


The perennial Candytuft (Iberis sempervirens) is lush and strikingly white, especially at dusk.


The citronella-scented geranium (Pelargonium citrosum) that I bought at the Lilac Festival continues to bloom. We repotted it and it's absolutely HUGE!


Columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris 'Clementine Salmon Rose')


English Daisy (Bellis perennis) I've got this red-tipped one, as well as a white one and a pink-tipped one, and the blooms are huge, as far as English daisies go. The ones I grew from seed last year, that were blooming in January, are also blooming now, with much tinier red blooms. In the end, only three of those plants survived the winter.


The Fern-leaf Peony (Paeonia tenuifolia 'Rubra Flora Plena') is opening. I posted a picture of the 'Sahohime' tree peony earlier, but with its 23 blooms nearly all open now, I'll post a photo of it in a future post. It's an amazing sight!

The Manchurian Violet (Viola mandshurica 'Fuji Dawn') surprised me by surviving the winter in its open wet location quite well, even though Bluestone Perennials lists it as only hardy to Zone 6. In fact, it was putting out blooms before I saw much foliage. It's looking better and better each day and I noticed new little sprouts all around it from last year's seeds that dropped.

11-23-07

Triumph Tulip 'Leen van der Mark' is one of the later tulips in our gardens. 'Elegant Lady' was a later one also, and in its first year here, I was disappointed in the paleness of its color. Just above a creamy yellow white with very subtle and sparse pink shading.


This unknown cultivar pink fringed tulip hangs heavy with rain.
It's one of my very favorites.


Jacob's Ladder (Polemonium caeruleum 'Apricot Delight') has been a blooming machine, with its buds that appear in apricot hues, progressing to lavender as it opens.


I love the uniqueness of Primula vialli 'Miracle'.


Columbine (Aquilegia) has been growing here at Our Little Acre for as long as I can remember. This purple one is one of the originals. There's a white one, amauve one, and a pink one that have been here for a very long time, too.


Pulmonaria 'Trevi Fountain' got a little bit of a slow start due to the kitties using that flower bed as a litter box. (It kept getting buried.) But it's off and running now, and as soon as everything in that bed is large enough to fill the area with foliage, the kitties will stay out and I can remove the cloches, upside-down flower pots, stakes, rocks, etc. that I've got in there to keep them out.


Geum coccineum 'Cooky' is an early bloomer and has always performed well for me. It's one of the first things I planted in Max's Garden two years ago. It will bloom all summer long.


The Solomon's Seal (Polygonatum biflorum) has grown to be quite large and I might have to do some moving of it or other things. It looks rather out of place where it is. I suspect it may be the larger variety (P. biflorum var. commutatum)


Heuchera sanguinea 'Firefly' is one of many cultivars here in the gardens, but is always the first one to bloom.


The Red Twig Dogwood (Cornus sericea 'Cardinal') is wearing its green twigs for summer, but will return to the brilliant red when fall's cooler temperatures are here. Now it's blooming big heads of white.


Others in bloom are:

• Alpine Rock Cress (Arabis alpina subsp. caucasica 'Snow Cap')
  
• Daffodils of various sorts (future post)
• Lilacs (future post)
• Epimedium
• Primula vulgaris
  
• White daisies (Don't ask me which ones, but they bloom early and they're small)
  
• Tall Bearded Iris 'Immortality' (a rebloomer)
• Tradescantia x andersoniana 'Sweet Kate'
• Anemone multifida
• Summer Snowflake (Leucojum aestivum)
• Ornithogalum nutans
• Brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost'
• Brunnera macrophylla (green)
• Vinca minor
• Coreopsis auriculata 'Nana'
  
• Pasque Flower (Pulsatilla vulgaris 'Rubra')
• Ajuga reptans (not sure of the cultivar - maybe 'Bronze Beauty')
• Strawberries (Fragaria x ananassa 'Honeoye')
• Ornamental Strawberry (Fragaria 'Lipstick')
• Spirea (Spiraea x vanhouttei)
• Doublefile Viburnum (Viburnum plicatum var. tomentosum)

I'm sure I've forgotten a couple, and I didn't include the annuals blooming, but that's a subject for another post. But it's obvious that the gardening season in well upon us! (See me smiling?)

More Important Things Than the Garden and Blogging

Really? What could be more important than doing two of the things that I love most? I am obsessed with gardening and I love to write. I'm already late for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day for May, and my version of it is just going to have to wait a few days longer. Because, you see, tomorrow our baby girl is getting married. Our kids have always been more important than anything else in the world to us.

I'll return soon, with flowers in bloom and pictures of the new bride and groom, but until then, here's just one of what's in bloom at Our Little Acre:

Tree Peony
(Paeonia suffruticosa 'Sahohime')

Troy-Bilt Pro-Line FRT Garden Tiller - A Review

When Troy-Bilt contacted me about the possibility of testing one of their products, it couldn't have come at a better time. We'd literally run our old tiller into the ground. Just getting it to start wore Romie out and it had been repaired countless times. But it had served us well over the thirty years we'd had it.

We chose a mid-size tiller that had enough oomph to work its way through our horrendous clay. The one we'd chosen was out of stock, so Troy-Bilt suggested another model, the Pro-Line FRT. This is a real workhorse of a tiller, and we had some work for it to do.

In the last couple of years, we'd run out of garden space to plant all the vegetables we'd wanted to plant. Two years ago, we even 'borrowed' our neighbor's garden plot that he wasn't using, except for a couple of tomato plants. So this year, we decided to enlarge our own. Would the Pro-Line be up for it?

We weren't able to get started quite as soon as we'd liked, because when the tiller arrived, it had somehow been damaged in transit and was leaking oil. There were also a couple of parts missing - a lever knob and a keyed washer. It was several weeks before we finally were able to get the oil seal replaced and the missing parts we needed, but Heritage Farm Equipment came to our house, picked the tiller up, and delivered it back to us - repaired - the very next morning. Kudos to Heritage for such quick service! Troy-Bilt was also quite concerned about getting it taken care of, and because we'd had so much rain this spring, we weren't quite ready for the tiller anyway when it first got here.

Once we were able to use it for its intended purpose, we gave it a workout. Romie worked up the garden so we could get it planted and wow - the Pro-Line made quick work of it. A swipe across the garden just two times and the soil was wonderfully workable. With the old tiller, it would have taken more than a couple times across the garden, been harder to control, and taken much more time.

The Pro-Line, with its forward-rotating tines, can be guided with just one hand. While Romie is the one that does the tilling around here, I just had to try it to see if it really was as easy to guide as it looked. It was.

But how, I wondered, would it do when it came time to break new ground? Ideally, it would have been nice to have all the sod removed before trying to work up the ground, but this is a heavy-duty tiller and we felt that it should be able to dig right in and work up the ground anyway. So Romie moved on from the previously tilled garden to the edges, where we were enlarging.

It's a good thing I wasn't standing in the way of the tiller. As soon as the tines hit the sod, it was like the tiller had a mind of its own and it was getting the heck out of Dodge. It presented a pretty comical picture to see Romie trying to hang on and get it stopped before it reached the new flowering crab tree we'd just planted and tore it to smithereens.

He got it stopped and we looked at each other and started laughing. Okay, there must be a better way. After a discussion with my dad, we tried again, this time slowing the speed down as slow as it would go. There, that was better. It tore up the ground this time, although it didn't move with nearly the ease it had in the garden, of course. Our turf back there is pretty dense and is growing in clay, so that was some heavy duty groundbreaking it was being asked to do. Once we figured out better how to do it, the tiller rewarded us with new ground for gardening.

This is one powerful tiller. If you need to tear up new ground, this will do it. As far as the cultivating and tilling of a present garden, it handles that with no problems at all - and quickly.
It's got a power reverse feature, which makes it easier to handle when backing up. And surprisingly, this tiller is much quieter than our old one, which was a bit smaller. I thought it would be louder.

Romie was especially thrilled with how easily it started. When we were looking at the various tillers, we discussed getting one with an electric start, but we felt that it isn't worth the extra expense on the those models where it's available. One pull on this one and it started right up, every single time.

Troy-Bilt Pro-Line FRT Garden Tiller

Starting System	Recoil start
Transmission	Cast-iron transmission with bronze gear drive
Tine Direction	Forward-rotating
Frame Size	Medium frame - Accepts a variety of attachments
Speeds	1 forward with power reverse
Tilling Width	16"
Tines	12" diameter Bolo
Tilling Depth	Adjustable up to 8"
Attachments	Factory-installed protective front bumper included
PTO	N/A
Wheels	13" Ag
Side Shields	N/A
Warranty	Limited lifetime
Engine	160cc Honda OHV GX

Does it have any cons? For us, somewhat. At this point, we don't foresee tearing up any more new ground in the near or distant future. This tiller's strong point is the fact that it can do that if you need it to. But for working up present gardens, it's a bit of overkill and the size makes it a bit awkward to maneuver in non-standard shaped gardens with curvy edges or narrow spaces. It's doable, but a smaller tiller or cultivator would be better for us in this respect. Having both would be just the ticket.

Our overall experience with the Troy-Bilt company and this product wasn't perfect, but we felt that they were indeed concerned with making it the best possible and we were pleased to have the opportunity to test their product. They encouraged us to be absolutely forthcoming with all impressions, both good and bad, in an effort to help them make improvements, if necessary. The quality of the product can't be disputed and we wouldn't hesitate to consider Troy-Bilt in the future for any product the company makes.



_________________
The product or merchandise being reviewed in this blog post was the sole compensation for testing and reviewing the product. All opinions expressed here are mine, with no suggestions whatsoever by the manufacturer or distributor. If I like it, I'll say so. If I don't, I'll say that, too.

Thanks, Mom

My mom paid me a really big compliment on Sunday. Everyone was here for Mother's Day - Grandma, Mom and Dad, Kara and Adam, and Jenna. Oh, and Bella. Boisterous Bouncing Bella. It was a rainy day, but we grabbed umbrellas and walked out through the gardens in the mist.

Mom has mentioned several times in the past that I have a gazillion plants. Well, yes I do. I have a big palette here to work with. And I'm like Jodi, I just can't resist a charming plant. There are worse things than plant addiction, aren't there?

As we walked up to the back door through the gardens that are closest to the house, Mom said, "Your yard and gardens just look gorgeous. I thought maybe it might be a jungle out here, but it's not. Everything looks so nice."

This, from a Master Gardener, a creative designer, and most importantly, my mother, from whom I've learned so much, not just about gardening. When I think back to how far I've come as a gardener since I started three years ago and the countless times I've sought Mom's advice, her saying what she did meant a lot. I mean, who doesn't love a mother's approval?

The Power of One

As I drove through historic West Central Neighborhood in Fort Wayne, Indiana, this afternoon on the way to training, it was a beautiful sunny day. This was much appreciated after the cold, rainy Sunday we'd had.

The West Central area is charming , with its large old Victorian homes, many of them beautifully restored. There's a home and garden tour there each fall, and I've walked the tour a few times.

School had just let out and children were walking home. To my right, a small girl with long blonde hair, no older than five or six, was making her way down the sidewalk, backpack in tow. Just ahead of her, there was a walkway leading to the front door of one of the big old houses, lined with big yellow tulips on each side of it. They were in their prime, standing there like big yellow lollipops, glowing in the sun.

The little girl saw them, too. She walked a little ways past the walkway, then stopped. She quickly turned around, went back and plucked a single yellow tulip and went on her way. The temptation was just too much. I imagined what went through her mind in the course of just a few seconds...

"Ooooh, those flowers are pretty. I really would love to take one home. There are a lot of them. I bet they won't miss one."

Missed or not, the little act of a little girl wanting that flower just because its beauty was calling to her, brought a smile to my face. I don't know if the homeowner saw her take it nor do I know if they would care that she did. If it had been my tulips, it wouldn't have bothered me. It was only one.

I went on my way, too. The little girl was likely smiling as she walked home with her tulip, and I was smiling because I had witnessed her taking it. She probably didn't guess that perhaps when she got home and presented it to her mother, she'd have to account for how she came to have it. And that reminded me of a couple of days long ago in my own childhood.

I called my mom on my cell phone to share with her what I'd seen, and she giggled and said, "I remember a little girl that came home once with pockets full of peony buds." She'd remembered the same thing I had. More than forty years ago, my next-door-neighbor and I had taken all the ready-to-open peony buds off another neighbor's two peony bushes that were right in front of her house. She'd seen us do it and called our mothers.

I had to go and apologize and of course, I was embarrassed. But not half as embarrassed as my mother was the day a few years later when the same next-door-neighbor and I each brought home a beautiful bouquet of roses, daisies, mums, and who knows what else. My mom owned her own beauty shop and I walked in, pleased as punch with the flowers as I presented them to her, in front of several customers.

"Here, Mom! Look what I brought you!"

She looked at me funny - not nearly as excited or pleased as I'd expected, and she asked where I'd gotten them. (She likely was recalling the peony bud incident.) Kelly and I had been out riding bikes and we'd ridden to the cemetery. I don't need to tell you the rest, do I?

She gently told me that you shouldn't take flowers from a grave, something she never dreamed she would have to explain to me. In our young minds, they had served their purpose and they were just going to die out there anyway. I like to think that whomever the flowers were meant for was smiling down from heaven, knowing that yet another person was getting enjoyment from them.

All those memories brought back by a little blonde girl and a yellow tulip...



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Photo of yellow tulips from Flowerella.com

Otherworldly Offerings in Unlikely Places

Sometimes you find them in the places where you'd least expect them. And when you do find them, you're not quite sure what you've found. But there's something strangely compelling about them and before you know it, it's on its way to a new home - yours.

This week, while waiting to get my Medrol Dosepak prescription filled, I had to kill some time walking around one of our local Meijer stores. Meijer has a rather nice garden center and many of my plants have been purchased there, so of course I had to take a look. It was raining, windy and cold out there, so it was a very quick look, but I'd already seen what they had to offer last Saturday in Defiance, after attending The Lilac Festival.

Inside, however, it was warm and toasty so I browsed the houseplants, which are pretty nice, too. They've always got some beautiful orchids, many of them unusual varieties that I've not seen elsewhere. I resisted those, but a tiny little thing caught my eye and I walked over to it, not even sure if what I was seeing was a real live plant.


See? Looks like a plant right off the set of The Jetsons, doesn't it? It's called Syngonanthus chrysanthus 'Mikado' and it's a Brazilian native. Fully grown at 10-12 inches tall, it likes loose, humusy soil and high humidity. The tag said not to let it dry out and put it in a bright window out of direct sunlight. It can live outside, as long as temperatures don't go below 50° or so.



The flowers in bud form are a metallic gold, as if they've been spray-painted. The bud at the right is about the size of the pearl on the head of a fancy straight pin, and is the largest one on my plant.

Mine doesn't have a fully-open flower on it yet, but this one is getting there:



Flowering year-round if they're happy, a fully-open flower resembles a strawflower in appearance and in texture and they last a relatively long time. Online research tells me they've been around for several years, especially in Europe. A Dutch company owns the exclusive rights for propagating this patented plant.

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Coping With Loss

It happens every year. Spring rolls around and as the garden begins to awaken, I anxiously make the rounds to see what has survived whatever kind of winter we've had. Some things burst out of their winter coats like gangbusters to let you know right away that they're ready to get on with the show. Others are shy and keep you wondering if there's any life left in them.

But the time eventually comes when you know that last year's show was actually the swan song for some of them, and it's hard to take. God has said that He doesn't want a single soul to be lost, and so it is with us and the plants we lovingly care for.

I had said earlier that I was making a rule for myself that I wouldn't plant any perennials in the fall. The purpose of making that decision was to plant only in spring and summer so that there was enough time for the plant to become established and better able to withstand the rigors of winter. Of course, I always see something I'd not seen before and want it, so I'm always breaking my own rule. So it should come as no surprise when some of these plants that should make it through the winter, don't.

This year, so far, I've determined that these are goners:

Gaura lindheimeri
Coreopsis 'Autumn Blush'
Cape Fuschia
4 out of 5 Lavenders
Echinacea 'Harvest Moon'
Perennial Flax (Linum perenne)
Caryopteris 'Black Knight'
Lobelia cardinalis 'Queen Victoria'
Astrantia 'Moulin Rouge'
Sedum 'Cape Blanco'
A great deal of Gaillardia
Rose 'Sutter's Gold' (and I've had this one for years!)
Burning Bush (Euonymus alata)
Variegated Brunnera
Heuchera 'Marmalade'
Blue-eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium angustifolium)
Sunset Foxglove (Digitalis obscura)
Mums (duh)
Rose 'Diana Princess of Wales'

Ouch.

Some of those were planted last fall, but a few of them I've had for a couple of years or more. Romie finds it much harder to deal with losing a plant than I do, and when it happens, he can be heard to declare, "Well, don't buy any of that anymore." Then I have to explain that there can be many reasons that a plant doesn't survive and that no gardener worth his or her salt will last unless they learn early on that you win some and lose some, and sometimes you have no idea why.

So we remember their beauty, mourn their loss, and move on. There is, after all, a bright side to this. Losing a plant means there's a vacancy in the garden. A vacancy that is waiting to be filled by that new introduction you've had your eye on or maybe more of an old tried-and-true favorite.

If you've figured out why the plant was lost, maybe you'll try it again if it's one that you particularly long to have in your garden. I'll usually give a plant two tries before I give up on growing it, especially if it's supposed to grow well in our area.

Then there are those plants that you just really, really want and hate to throw in the towel with them. For me, it's the Himalayan Blue Poppy (Meconopsis betonicifolia). I'm sad to say that not a single one of the plants that I planted from Michigan Bulb is yet alive. But I do think I see sprouts in my winter sown container! Just a couple of fuzzy-leaved seedlings poking up out of the soil give me hope.





Isn't this just one of the challenges of gardening? What you kill makes you stronger, isn't that what they say? Well okay, not quite, but we do need to learn to roll with the punches and now I hope you feel better about your own losses. Misery loves company. :-)

Meet the Blogger!

Last month, Troy-Bilt, maker of garden tools and products such as lawn tractors, tillers, trimmers etc. (even log-splitters!), launched a new feature on their monthly newsletter The Dirt. Called "Meet the Bloggers", they started featuring guest articles from the writers of the hundreds of garden blogs out there.

I was thrilled when they asked me to write an article for them and it was featured in their first issue with "Meet the Blogger":


The article in its entirety can be read here.

The newsletter is chock full of tips, advice, and just enjoyable reading about gardening and lawn care. You can receive the monthly newsletter by going to the Troy-Bilt website and creating a free account with The Lawn and Garden Club.

Other bloggers will be featured each month, many of them your favorites and maybe you'll discover some new favorites!

Leaves of Three - Let Them Be

I've got poison ivy. Bad. About a week ago, I noticed a small spot on my forearm that itched. Over the course of the next week, it started popping up all over both my arms and hands, and two days ago, it appeared on my face. Yes, that's right - the left side of my face looks like I've got a severe case of hives and if it progresses to look like some of the blistered areas on my hands and arms, I'll be quite attractive for Jenna's wedding on the 17th.

Where did I get it? I'm certain it was in my very own hometown. Romie and I had gone back to dig the mullein we'd seen when we walked the old railroad bed back in January. We found some wild geraniums growing and blooming and of course, I had to have some. I noticed the poison ivy beginning to grow in various places there, but I didn't see any where we were digging. I was the one that actually got down and dirty, putting the plants into the container. Romie just wielded the spade.

So, you see, even if you think you're being careful, you can get burned. This is what the little finger on my right hand looks like. Now imagine that, spread all over my hands and arms. Actually, that's one of the more "attractive" spots. Some of the others have gotten quite a bit uglier, but I thought I'd spare you.

Poison Ivy Facts:

• The offending substance in poison ivy is urushiol and it's so potent that only ¼ ounce of it would be enough to infect every single person on earth.
  
  
• Poison ivy only grows in the eastern United States, so you can get away from it by moving to California, where they have poison oak.
  
  
• One to five years is the normal length of time for urushiol to stay active on any surface.
  
  
• You cannot get poison ivy from another person unless they still have the urushiol on their skin. It also doesn't spread by opening the blisters. It's only spread by the oil from the plant itself.
  
  
• 90% of the population is allergic to urushiol.

There are many remedies out there for the intense itching poison ivy causes. I discovered my own personal method of dealing with it by accident. I like to take very hot showers and I found that exposing the affected area to the hottest water I could stand eventually caused the itching to stop. At first, it itches worse than ever, then it just stops.

Of course, the best way to not get poison ivy is to not come in contact with it. But you have to know what it looks like. It's grouped in three leaves on a stem, many times with a reddish color (but not always), and it doesn't always grow as a vining plant. Sometimes it's just a normal plant on the ground, growing approximately 6-12 inches tall.

This is what poison ivy looks like around here.

A great site for more information about poison ivy is the Poison Ivy, Oak, and Sumac Information Center, where much of the information in this post is from.

Gilmour Reel Mower RM30 - A Review (Part II)

With the spring rains and warm temperatures, we're back to mowing the lawn on a regular basis here at Our Little Acre. That's okay, because I love the look of a freshly-mown lawn. It smells good, too.

We've been giving the new Gilmour Reel Mower we got last month a real workout. I like using it and Romie likes it even better than I do.

When I told people we'd gotten a reel mower, there were several questions they asked:

1. Is it hard to push?

Not any harder than our gasoline-powered push mower. We didn't find it noticeably more difficult to push with longer grass than shorter grass either. I did find it somewhat awkward when turning corners or turning around to go back the way I'd just come.


2. Do you have to sharpen it from time to time?

This is one of the greatest attributes of the Gilmour. It's self-sharpening!


3. Does it do a good job of cutting the grass?

One of the benefits of using a reel mower is that it cuts the grass more cleanly than a traditional gas-powered mower, which tends to tear the grass. I found that it doesn't always cut the tougher things that unfortunately grow in lawns. For example - dandelions. Sometimes it cuts them, sometimes it doesn't.


4. What happens when you come across a small twig?

We have always tried to pick up most of the sticks in the yard prior to mowing, but we inevitably miss some. It's true, the reel mower doesn't like them, but my experience is that if you keep your speed up when pushing it, it will go right over them. Slow down and it will grab the stick and stop the mower. Still, that's better than the mower picking it up and throwing it at a high speed, as our gas mowers do.


The Gilmour cuts a 20" wide swath, which is a big advantage and time-saver over some other reel mowers that have a smaller cutting width. You have to allow for more overlap with these mowers than with gas mowers, so the wider it cuts, the better. The blade on gas mowers reaches all the way to the outside of the wheels; the blades on a reel mower lie entirely between the wheels.

Speaking of wheels, the Gilmour has four, as opposed to two, which some reel mowers have. I can't imagine how much more work it would be to mow with just two wheels. Four wheels makes it more stable, requiring less effort on my part to control the mower.

During my research prior to getting the Gilmour, I'd read reviews of other mowers and one thing that people complained about was the handle. The handle on the Gilmour is very solid and gives you a good feel of control. It's got padding on it too, which provides more comfort while pushing it.




A large lever makes it easy to raise and lower the cutting blades. You can set them from 1 to 3 inches.




A grass catcher is standard on this mower, which is nice, because we can collect the clippings and add them to our compost. It attaches very easily and it's lightweight, not adding much at all to the overall weight of the mower.

One small thing that I don't like is that they don't recommend cleaning the mower with water. It's so much easier to just hose a mower off when you're finished, but they recommend brushing it or using a soft cloth to clean the grass clippings from it.

I've heard others say they like the soft whirring sound that reel mowers make. I can't describe the sound that the Gilmour makes as whirring. It's much louder than I expected it to be and perhaps it's due to the self-sharpening feature, but it's still quieter than a gas mower.

Gilmour has made reel mowers for two years now and it's available at some hardware stores nationwide (if they choose to carry it), such as TrueValue, Ace, and Do It Best. Amazon. com also carries it for $129.99 with free shipping and no sales tax.

The final verdict? Two thumbs up. It's environmentally responsible, too.

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Gilmour Reel Mower RM30 - A Review (Part I)



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The product or merchandise being reviewed in this blog post was the sole compensation for testing and reviewing the product. All opinions expressed here are mine, with no suggestions whatsoever by the manufacturer or distributor. If I like it, I'll say so. If I don't, I'll say that, too.

The Lilac Festival in Defiance, Ohio

For the third year in a row, Defiance, Ohio, whose official city flower is the lilac, celebrated their Lilac Festival. Saturday, Kara, her friend Brandi, and I spent the morning downtown, walking among the various vendors set up along both sides of the street.

This is the time of year that the lilacs bloom here and their telltale fragrance wafted through the street. The garden centers had lilac shrubs for sale, many vendors had lilac floral arrangements decorating their booths, and the Master Gardeners of Defiance County were giving away rooted cuttings of lilac shrubs.


Of course, the first place we stopped was in the area where the local garden centers were set up. Marcella Ciccotelli from Colorscapes was there, as was Kircher's. Romie loves the scented geranium (Pelargonium citrosum) that smells like lemon and I was talking to him on the cell phone as I walked by a large one in Kircher's display. I told him about it and he said, "Buy it." Didn't have to tell me twice! It really was a nice one and was even blooming.


A rainbow of Adirondack chairs caught our attention and we sat in them to see if they were comfortable. Surprisingly, they were! These are made of recycled materials and they come in a reclining version, which can be seen in brown, behind us.

A littler further up the street was a business called Indigo. They carry unique art items and selections of artisan jewelry, but the heart of their business is therapeutic massage. Today, on the sidewalk in front of the store, Missy was offering one-minute chair massages for a dollar. Kara and I neither one could resist and we left there feeling better than when we'd arrived. I'm going to schedule a massage with them as a reward to myself for completing the half-marathon I'm training for.


Just as there was a grouping of vendor displays focusing on horticulture, the artists had their own area. Here, there was pottery, jewelry, and fine art. We spent quite a bit of time here, looking at and admiring the beautiful offerings, as well as chatting with a delightful artist as she worked (Rosie Bryant).

Kara especially enjoyed this, because two of her art professors from Defiance College were there, selling their works, and she had some fun bantering back and forth with them. (Kara has a B.A. degree in graphic design.)









Steve Smith was there with his pottery, as well as some done by his daughter.







Doug Fiely had many of his woodcuts, engravings and paintings offered for sale. I like his Picasso-like style of depicting people and his contemporary style in general. I saw a couple of paintings that I would love to see in our house, but finances don't allow for it at the moment. Hopefully, one will come to live here someday.


We spent quite a bit of time at a table filled with pottery made by the art students from Bryan High School in nearby Bryan, Ohio. There were some fabulous pieces there, costing anywhere from $1-15 and we each left there with one. I wish we'd had such classes when I was in high school, but I wonder if I would have signed up for them if we'd had. As I've said before, I don't have an artistic bone in my body, but that's what art teachers are for, right?


With the exception of a little too much wind, the weather was nearly perfect for coming out to mingle and leisurely stroll down "Main Street" (actually, it's Clinton/SR66). Daisy the poodle even got dolled up for the occasion.

Getting To Know My Hoe

This post is my RSVP to Carol of May Dreams Gardens' "Garden Bloggers Hoe Down".

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I have a confession to make. I'm not a hoer. Oops. That doesn't look right and it sure doesn't sound right when you say it out loud, so let me rephrase that. I don't use a hoe. Carol is shocked, I know, but I've never really felt the need for one. Why use a hoe?

I know there are a couple of good reasons - to aerate the soil around plants and to remove weeds. I don't have a weed problem since I use mulch everywhere except the vegetable gardens, and we use Preen there, prior to planting the veggie seeds. But cultivating the soil might be reason enough for me to think about hoeing.

Now that I do think about it, I've used a different garden tool to accomplish the cultivation task. It's a long-handled forky thing.

I know it has a proper name - something like a "4-tined cultivator" - but I just call it a forky thing. I've got a short-handled one, too. These come in really handy also when I want to plant something and the soil is really too wet for it. They let me dig a hole without compacting the wet soil.


We have an old hoe that I have no idea where it came from. It might be an old one passed down to me by my parents. I'll have to ask them. Romie uses it once in awhile between the corn rows throughout the growing season.


But this past Christmas, my mom gave me a Winged Weeder. I haven't used it yet, so it still looks brand spanking new. In fact, I had to take off the packaging to take photos of it for this blog post.


It's shaped in such a way that it actually looks like it might be fun to use. Maybe I'll try it. Maybe I'll even like it enough to keep using it.

Apologies, Explanations . . . and SHOES!

This post has a little to do with gardening and a lot to do with life around here. I feel like I'm being pulled in about ten different directions. When that happens and I try to do them all (as most of us usually do), none of them get done well. When I started blogging in January 2007, I did so at the urging of our older daughter Kara, who thought I needed a writing outlet because in her opinion, I was good at it. I'd always hated writing and loved editing, doing some of both for Today's Cacher magazine for about two years.

I did want to keep a journal of sorts, of what was going on in our gardens and whatever else was going on in our lives besides gardening. Both the girls were grown and gone and since I only work half a day a week, Jenna had this idea that I didn't do anything the rest of the time except watch All My Children and eat bon-bons. Okay, so I can tell you that Erica is in prison at the moment and that Emma is really Kate.

Now I love writing and I need to do it. There's something strangely addictive about putting what's in your head in writing, and sharing your passion for gardening with others through blogging.

As most gardeners know, this is an incredibly busy time if you live in a climate that experiences all four seasons. Winter is mostly for resting up for the spring, when the gardens come alive again and no, they won't wait for whatever else you have going on in your life to get over with. The rains come, the temperatures warm up, and the plants grow.

It's the best time to plant new things, since the weather conditions won't stress them as much as the hot, dry summer would. And if you don't get the seeds planted now, you'll run out of growing season before you have time to enjoy the fruits of your labor. So you clean out the beds, work up the soil that's gotten compacted from the winter's snow and ice, prune the dead away, prepare the vegetable garden for planting and plant the seeds, plant new perennials, spread mulch, water if needed, start the projects you've dreamed up over the winter, and a myriad of other tasks.

All the gardening work is fun, but tiring, and hard on the muscles and joints. And speaking of muscles and joints, many of you know that I'm training to run a half-marathon in September. We have group training in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, two nights a week and the rest of the days we're on our own with running and core strengthening exercises. It's been hard, as I knew it would be, but my body feels healthier because of it. The pain of fibromyalgia hasn't lessened yet, but I'm still hopeful. I ran a 5K last Saturday and surprised myself by coming in second in my age group! If you'd told me two months ago that I would be doing that, I would have asked what you'd been drinking.

Our younger daughter Jenna is getting married in two weeks and while I haven't had much responsibility as far as the planning of the wedding, there was a bridal shower held here at our house two weeks ago, so there was some preparation for that.

I have a lot of writing assignments lined up and I'm devoting this weekend to those. They include two product reviews, a book review, and as the webmaster for our church's website, I need to get that updated. It takes me a long time to write each blog entry, because I also try to include photos, which need to be taken and edited. And the editor in me makes me write and rewrite, and a lot of times, I'm still not really happy with it, but there it is.

Don't ask me about laundry, housecleaning, dishes, or cooking. I'm sporadic about the housework, and in the grand scheme of things, it comes last, when and if I've got the energy to do it. My saint of a husband must really love me, because he generally doesn't say much about it unless he's out of clean underwear or we've already had the same leftovers two nights in a row. Even then, he really doesn't complain much, and if the floor needs vacuuming, he'll vacuum it. He does dishes and windows and laundry, too.

Now that I've explained a few things, here comes the apology...

I love reading so many wonderful gardening blogs and leaving comments to let the respective bloggers know that I've been there and that I've enjoyed my visits. The number of garden blogs has grown exponentially in a very short time and I'm finding it hard to keep up. I'm finding it hard to keep up with writing my own blog much of the time lately!

So if you are the writer of a garden blog that I've frequented in the past, I haven't deserted you, I promise. My apologies if I've given that impression. It's just that this past month and the one before us both have dibs on my time, leaving less for me to just kick back and browse the garden blogosphere, which is how I relax.

I want to thank you, both loyal and new readers, for your comments and suggestions and advice. I read them all and appreciate each and every one of them. I'm going to try and reply to them this weekend.

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Now . . . "Why are shoes in the title for this post?" you ask. They really don't have anything to do with apologies and explanations, but I don't know when I've been this excited about a pair of shoes. I mentioned them in an earlier post and I picked them up yesterday.


I needed them to go with my dress for Jenna's wedding and as the sales associate at Macy's said to me, "These shoes look like they were made for that dress! You can't not buy them!" I agree! Don't you?

The Rainbow Garden

Work on the Van Wert Smiley Park Children's Garden is coming along. This is a busy time in that garden, just like in our own personal gardens, and today I joined my mom and dad there, helping with the planting of the Rainbow Garden. This part of the garden is personal to all of us, since my grandma provided the funds for creating it, in honor of the four generations of our family.

Mom and I had driven to Columbus to pick up plants for the beds in the Rainbow Garden last Friday and with the threat of rain looming over us later today, we planned and planted and mulched. Both Mom and Dad have spent countless hours out here, working themselves to exhaustion, trying to get projects completed. It's amazing the number of things that need doing that many people don't realize. But it's getting there and the entire garden is going to be charming, beautiful, and a joy to behold.


Today, Dad continued work on the sundial. It's astronomically correct with the sun right now and when you stand on the square with the name of the current month and hold your arm up, your arm's shadow will tell you the approximate time. Each year, the earth is in a slightly different place in its orbit, so the accuracy of the sundial will change, but it will still be close.

In addition to the beautifully planted flower beds, the cement in this garden will be painted in rainbow colors. I can't wait to see it in all its "ROY G BIV" glory!

As I walked back to my car to leave, I noticed a "centerpiece" had appeared on the little mushroom table in one of the other gardens:


Proof positive that children are already enjoying this enchanting place. :-)

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As we labored in the garden today, I thought about where I was and what I was doing 28 years ago. I was laboring then, too. Happy Birthday, Kara!