The lone cherry tomato plant got itself properly replanted today, amen. It's labelled "Sweet 100". I left Jimmie alone for 3 full hours this afternoon, while I did all the errands. When I returned he had planted 4 -- count 'em, four -- marigolds. Oh, dear... Something happend to the weather -- it maxed out at 68*, and threatend thunderstorms the entire day. I feel a falling barometer something awful -- makes me want to crawl into a ball.. My tree man's office returned my call this morning. I had left a message asking if I could safely lop off half of a branch of a redbud tree at this time of year, before the storm tore it away -- I know that one cannot prune an oak tree until August 1st, in fear of causing an incurable microbial invasion, so I was just checking. The reply came back that I should give them a call and schedule an appointment to remove the tree.. WHAT...??? Now I have a very formal relationship with that arborist. I insist that I be right here when his truck comes to apply the oil spray to the 60 ft white pines and maples and the 20 ft hemlocks, and he checks the lower tier for wooly adelgid or spider mite, and such. And I make the men help me cover the raspberries very carefully with sheets of clear plastic and clothes pins, to keep off the spray. I'm very polite and very business-like. So there is no explanation for what happened next ... He got on the phone and I said, "Hello, baby, there must be something missing here....".. I got a terrifically warm reply, but that's not exactly what I had been looking for. In fact, I'm still blushing. Just what can you do with an Irish temper...? Penny, NY _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]