James flew out today, so we're back to just the two of us. We'll miss him. (wry smile) one day, looking back he may come to long for the good old days of only having to pay for his own petrol, without all those hassles like rent, vehicle, food, telephone, internet etc. Anyway, he's a married man now, and, provided he can sort out his visa back into Zim, he and Alana are very close to the point where they will have to be reliant on no-one but themselves. heh. Like yours truly did way back when, I think he may find that's harder than he realized. As parents we do our best to prepare the kids for this, but only reality really does. Anyway, I think we all went through it. Now- far too late - I really appreciate my poor parents efforts to steer us along, and to make life easier, safer, and more comfortable. They gave us so much we didn't appreciate and wasted rather. They weren't always right, sometimes we actually did know better, and the world had changed, but, um, I got it wrong a lot. By heavens I was stupid and pig-headed, and unbelievably ignorant and arrogant. I wish I'd done a better job of telling them that in the living years. Like most of us, I just didn't listen and had to learn.

In the tiniest of insignificant ways I had a little window on the US disaster this morning (and I emphasize it was really nothing to compare)- For some reason the drip irrigation had lost a bung, and flooded the one tank. - about a foot over the veg seedlings. Much bailing ensued. I at least had somewhere dry to bail to, and nice bright sun and a still day. It looks like most of the plants will be OK. And int another bed... the hoppers have arrived en masse. They are TINY. But in millions... I need to get a turkey really soon. I also need to figure how to kill the beggars.