On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 00:50:37 GMT, "Pam - gardengal"
wrote:

Six weeks, hundreds of dollars and countless hours on the phone to tech
support later and I finally have a working computer again - YAHOO!! But all
bookmarks, email addresses and any saved email/newsgroup messages have now
gone to that great computer in the sky.

And your backup schedule is...? :-) I fear I don't practice what I
preach, but regular backups can save you a lot of grief. People ask
"how often" and I reply "how much are you willing to lose?"

The news here (SE Virginia) was hurricane Isabel that knocked down
trees, flooded low-lying areas in Tidewater (the name isn't a fiction)
and N. Carolina, and knocked out power for a couple million people. 9+
days chez nous with no lights, computer, 'fridge, etc. Sooo happy to
have a number of black walnut trees down with only minor damage to
roof and chimney. And to have found a moderately-priced contractor to
remove same. It was like living in a time warp for 2 weeks.

See:

http://oldewythe.org/isabel.htm

for some snapshots. I wish I'd had the presence of mind to get pics of
neighborhood cookouts and people helping one another righting and
bracing (small) downed trees. Must check to see if a next door
Arborvitae has uncurled yet -- the winds gave it a sort of swooping
permanent wave.

I discovered that robins like dogwood berries. Every year, vast flocks
of black birds (blackbirds? grackles? don't know) come through, land
in hundreds on each dogwood, and strip every single berry in about 10
minutes, dropping an average of 3 on the ground. The storm, just
slightly pre-blackbird invasion, knocked a lot of berries to the
ground and robins were busy.

Glad to see you back.