AMEN!

And may The Force be with you in the coming year....
Sharon

...and may the Tooth Faery NOT visit a one of us.

Ugh - let's not talk about the freakin' tooth fairy, okay?

Peace, joy and lotsa good food for all!

Oh, and a new plant for all the good little gardeners....

>grin

May we all be Blessed with bountiful gardens and have a prosperous New Year!

Trudi

What kind of language is used here? "Screw"? What political correctness are we talking about? Are you watching Fox "false" news again? Too much time in your hands I see. Only those people with so much useless time in their hands, watching TV, would try to make an issue at Christmas time: shame on the grinches and have a merry Christmas or Navidad or Natal or Noel or festivus or whatever Saturnalia etc you celebrate. Sick and tired of pseudochristians that do not know that the first meaning of being christian is piety and love for other human beings especailly if downthrodden and in need, not for those that say something we like. Shameful to have such a post in a garden web site.

Since you missed the whole point...I'll draw you a picture. "screw political correctness" was meant that any one of any religion should be able to express it..anyone.
Did you have some gardening to share with us? Or were you simply showing up to be nasty? Shame on you pathgdp....

Belated Merry Christmas to all, even to the self-righteously indignant!

And Happy New Year, too!

(Spoken as I watch fair and balanced reporting on Fox News and sip a little hot cocoa - Yeah, I WISH! - I'm at work today...)

Since the Holidays include Christmas and New Year, how did that term ever become an afront to Christmas?

It only is when the exclusion of the word "Christmas" is obvious and borderline ridiculous, as in:

"Holiday Tree"
"Holiday Party"
"Winter Break"
"Annual Bonus"

All of which used to - in many, if not all - cases, include the word Christmas as the adjective.

Sometimes we bend so far over backward (or forward??) to avoid possibly offending "someone" that we end up offending almost everyone. It becomes an exercise in somewhat humorous, but ultimately painful, irony.

I believe there's something in the New Testament about straining a gnat and swallowing a camel. That seems to be what political correctness is all about.

Ya gotta LOVE "holiday tree" LOL!

Ahem.
Annual Bonus???
What's that?

LOL Aguane! "Annual Bonus" would be right up there with "Merit Increase". (Can you tell which government I work for?)

Happy Holidays to everyone! I hope everyone enjoys time with the people they love.

> shame on the grinches and have a merry Christmas or Navidad or Natal or Noel or festivus or whatever Saturnalia etc you celebrate. Sick and tired of pseudochristians that do not know that the first meaning of being christian is piety and love for other human beings especailly if downthrodden and in need, not for those that say something we like.

Just needed to see that again. Thats exactly how I read your post,garden, tho I was more polite in my response. But really. What in the heck is this War on Christmas? I am Jewish, and knew from an early age that I was in the minority, and that I either had to close my eyes and ears and pretend that Chrstmas wasn't omnipresent, or decide what part of the holiday I could accept without losing my heritage and beliefs. Happy Holidays, Happy Xmas, have been used for decades. Only now does the religious right want you to think that these greetings are an attack on the holiday. Good grief. Christmas starts in September and goes through December - I see no danger of it being snuffed out.

As for greetings - I usually assume that the greeter has the best intentions and is simply wishing me joy. I may not respond in the same manner, but know that I am also wishing the same to the other.

As for holiday trees, call them whatever you want. They are not part of the Christmas story in the bible. Their use was an attempt by the early Church to take some pagan celebrations and traditions and include them in their own, thus making conversion an easier and less painful thing to do. I call it a giving tree, because its a symbol of giving. But I'd not question anyone else what they call it.

As for the 'War' - why can't we use the time, energy and passion to fight one that matters, like the 'war on poverty' say....

On that note, have a very happy new year, and wishing good gardens to you all.

Cindy,

Cindy Ash,

How refreshing it would were you to exhibit the same amount of zeal and vigor in your description (or lack thereof) of your gardening interests when one decides to click on your ID and discover what you like to grow in our challenging climate...

That is why we are all REALLY here, right? Is that not the common interest that unifies us?

For another perspective.
I was raised a Methodist in Encino, California in a population largely Jewish. I was the only non-Jew in my Brownie and Girl Scout troops. We celebrated Hanukkah, not Christmas. I didn't go to school on Jewish Holidays because no one was at school. My neighborhood was mostly Jewish and everyone loved to garden. My mom and the ladies got together weekly and compared notes re their African Violets, Irises and roses. Luckily we young kids got to hang out with them and learn. I'm thankful to have this experience, its enriched my life tremendously.

Another perspective.

The whole thing about christmas was taken from much older myths than any biblical ones. They were adapted, as Cindyash says, to suit the new religions. So if you like the holiday and like celebrating it, there is probably something about it that will fit your traditions. It is not a strictly christian holiday though occasionally thought of as such in the USA. I get very tired of the constant commercial pounding of it, but many merchants depend on christmas to make their living. To each his (or her) own, I guess.

The holiday is mainly about the end of the old year and the start of a new one, and has been for millenia among most cultures. I'm glad I'm still here to enjoy the start of a new year and a new Arizona spring in which to plant lots of stuff that probably won't make it through the summer. :-( Oh well, it's fun trying. :-) Happy holidays.

Right back at ya Judy!

>How refreshing it would were you to exhibit the same amount of zeal and vigor in your description (or lack thereof) of your gardening interests when one decides to click on your ID and discover what you like to grow in our challenging climate...

Excuse me?! I am not allowed to respond to an obviously non-gardening thread because I do not desire to write something personal in my id? Of all the ridiculous...

I don't know you at all, and you certainly don't know me. I have been here for a couple of years (lurking lately) and have expressed my gardening interests in the appropriate threads with quite a bit of zeal and vigor. But this thread about the so called war on Christmas would hardly be the thread for those interests.

Yes, gardening is the thread that binds us. But since this thread is not about gardening, and attempts to call attention to the so called war, I felt the need to speak up. I do hope you will notice my gardening comments in other threads that are actually related to gardening.

On that note, a very happy, joyful, peaceful and prosperous new year to all of you and your loved ones.

Cindy, (and others, too)
I've seen that you post on other threads and I don't understand why anyone is upset about what you've posted on this one. You made no slams at anyone and only stated that being a non-christian has put you in an uncomfortable minority as far as christmas is concerned. I'm a free-thinker so I get tired of the religious overload most of the time. ;-/ Many people enjoy christmas, and I think the current PC holidays thing is to cut a little slack for those of us who don't find that christmas suits our traditions. I don't mean to be PC when I say Happy Holidays, it's just that I'm aware, and I'm sure that you all are, that everyone is not thrilled about being wished "Merry Christmas" if they feel strongly that their own holidays are more meaningful for them.

OK. I've said my bit. Give me a dollar and you'll get $.98 in change. :-)

The whole point of this thread was to wish my garden buddies a merry Christmas, regardless of your religious affiliation. Any anyone else that wished to do the same, regardless of their religious affiliation.....oh well....

Oops Cindy, sorry. It wasn't you who said you were non-christian. But I am and I usually take the sentiments expressed for the user's good intentions, which I figure most have. Garden trolip, I bet all of your garden buddies wish you merry whatever. I know I do.

There has been a couple of messages that have lacked real christmas cheer. Those who made them will taken out back and soundly thwacked and removed from Santa's list. :-(

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you, everyone.
This has been a wonderful experience and I've totally enjoyed reading this thread. Its really been a great opportunity to looking into each of our ways of expressing ourselves ... the way, not the content. Content is interesting too, though.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
-Susie

I just re-read the messages in this thread. Cindy, I see I was right the first time. Hey,It's not fun getting old and losing my...what was I saying? I forgot. ;-/

GT, you have an appropriate little gif for everything, don't you? :-) Love the thwacks.

Aguane, I love your sense of humor.

Why, thank you very much, Judy!!
Humor is very important. His Holiness the Dalai Lama teaches us through Tibetan Buddhism that achieving happiness is our work in life, the reward. I figure that since we humans are the only mammals on this planet who can really laugh we should do it as often as possible!!! What a GIFT!!! Oooooooooooooops, hope I didn't offend anyone who may think that Golden Retrievers laugh! ;~)))
Happiness to All through the millennium.

Golden retrievers don't laugh. My little pomeranian does, though. :-) I don't actually hear her, you understand, but she sure is happy.

I agree about happiness. I'm happiest when I'm happy. ;-)

I have personally seen Binky laugh...it's true

Now I know that Golden Retrievers don't laugh but I know my Standard Poodle does smile, at least. Bert will look at me and walk over to my Brandy rose bush and take a big bite out of a lovely opening bud. He likes to wait to taste when its just beginning to open and blossom. Then "snap" and he turns and looks at me.... the petals falling out of his mouth as he smiles (no laughing, only humans can do that). So vicious. Between him and the bunnies my garden is a real challenge. What to do? Easy? Any ideas?

I'm not sure there's much you can do. My dogs love roses. They love it when I deadhead and throw the spent roses to them. They appear to like the ovary best. Lucky they're all little and can't reach many of the roses. Besides the poms I have 2 toy poodles that really enjoy the flowers. One of our sheep is a real rose-freak, too. She sorts through prunings to find blooms and will come running for a handout when I deadhead.

My, what an interesting turn this has taken!

Our dog Hershe (because she's a girl, not because she's brown) ate flowers as a pup, but she grew out of that. A few years ago she contracted Valley Fever and that apparently does a number on a dog's (person's) system. She started eating all kinds of things (and still does root around in the grass for who knows what!), but mainly she was eating water cress and water hyacinths. You hear that dogs eat stuff because they are lacking something so I did some research and found out water cress used to be used to treat scurvy because of it's high Vit C content. I started setting out a bowl of water cress for her and kept it filled.

A friend has a dog with it too and her vet said to give her Vit C (ours never did)- well I went straight out and got a big bottle (and some treats to stick them in :-). There was an immediate change in her behavior- don't get me wrong, girl has a taste for those hyacinths and I have to keep them out her gymnast-like reach, but it is nothing like before thankfully! Dog was driving us nuts.

Not the same as eating flowers, I know, but it's a dog eating something story! And what is it with dog's eating stinky stuff anyways?! I'll be throwing those old water lily stems out of the pond and here she comes, SNEAKING up behind me to steal some away, eeeewwwwwww. And rolling in stuff....is my dog the only one that likes to roll in stinky stuff? :-(

Lynn

Oh my goodness. We had a dog once, a collie mix, and she thought no camping trip was complete unless she got sprayed by a skunk! And she would just strut her stuff when she was stinky. I don't know what it is but some dogs just love to roll in stinky stuff. Weird.

Spike loves the tiny purple fowers on Mexican Heather. He will gingerly pick them with his front teeth. All dogs like to roll on top of dead stuff. I remember reading something about it a long time ago. Something to do with when they were wild?

Who said dogs can't/don't smile? My girlfriend sent me this picture of Louise (her sister's name is Thelma, the dog's sister, not my girlfriend) and she said this is her smiling:-).

Here is a link that might be useful: Louise smiling

uh oh. I think this thread has taken a turn for the nice. I guess I should stir things up again.

I'm going to run out and plant me a mess of morning glories! That should do it. sam

LOL, Sam! We'll hit 300 messages in no time!
One last pet bit- I had a little tomcat when I was a kid that would eat all the pansies from the plants. He was such a little tough guy otherwise... of course back then we didn't know that pansies were so tasty! Ever eat one of the black pansies? Your mouth gets stained so purple you won't believe it!

Uh...pretty smiling dog Awanda LOL!!

{{gwi:426967}}

GT,

Is that blooming right now? I have read it would bloom year round-

Lynn

I personally love to eat begonias. Don't know why, never read anything on it but I've NEVER been able to resist them.

Lynn,
That is from last Spring. I do have some blooming right now, not as spectacular tho :( You should take a road trip over here and I'll give ya some cuttings

Nasturtiums are supposed to be a tasty addition to a salad but they are too peppery for me. I like nice sweet iceberg lettuce. I know that's not a classy thing to like. So sue me. ;-)

That smiling dog is straaaange. Aguane says that dogs can't laugh, we know they can smile.:-) I've heard parrots laugh, of course they're mimicking, but it's funnier than all-get-out. I have a friend with a parrot who mimics telephone conversations, complete with the ringing phone.

What a sweet offer GT! But Judy was sweet enough to root me one up this summer, so I'll need another excuse to pop over :-) Mine's doing well, just hasn't bloomed for me yet. I have it in a pot in my winter greenhouse to keep it growing well through winter- it kind of struggled during the summer and didn't grow much (I think not enough sun). I can't wait til spring when it will be blooming- yours is soo pretty!

BTW- Good to know my dog isn't the only one rollin' round in stinky stuff! :-)

Lynn

Whoooooops!
today I read an article that supported that dogs are laughing when they do that rapid, shallow panting while their mouths are sort of slightly open... like when you look like you're going to take them for a walk or when you just come home from work. Hmmmmmm. Count me a believer then. Dogs laugh. Eat roses, and roll in carcasses (I read, in order to assume the scent of another, thereby covering their own scent, camoflage). Also, Judy, I met a Military Macaw in Italy and it was so strange, it spoke Italian.

Hey Aguane, that's the same way I laugh. LOL!

That's one smart birdie, to speak Italian. ;-) I bet it did seem strange, though. I knew a parrot that sang opera, but no words just the la la las.

Oh- don't get me talking about talking birds! It is dark (tho' the birds have nightlights for warmth) right now and they (3 African Grays) are out there whistling and ringing like 4 different telephones, pagers going off, doorbell ringing and the microwave 'ding'. That is because I just went and put steaks on the grill! They crow like roosters, bark like the dogs around us, meow in all 6 of our cats' different voices, call the cats by name, call the neighbors dogs by name, call the kids who live behind us by name (yelling in the kid's mother's voice!) One of them makes the beep beep beep sound of dialing a cell phone, then holds an entire conversation- "hello? uuhh, no, ok, then 'blah blah blah noises' then ok, talk to you later, bye bye" and the sound of a phone hanging up. Absolute crackup! I almost fell out of my chair, sitting in the backyard reading the paper, when he 'made the dialing noises' then a second of silence, then "damn" - hang up beep, then more dialing noises. Sounded like someone placed a call and the line was busy. Now this particular bird is a rescue, so I have no idea how he learned this stuff. They all talk a blue streak (just not when I want them to show off! brats!) and they sound like me and my husband. Took the cats awhile to not go running out there when they are being 'called'!.

LOL!!!!
I Love it! Thanks Susie.
I had a companion Cherry Head Conur for a few years... Bing. What a crack up. He went to live with 300 canaries and a Great Dane when I couldn't take care of him further. Great pets. Loved ice berg lettuce and peanut butter. I grew the lettuce at the time. Never saw him roll himself in a carcass!
-Susie

Hey you guys! Happy New Year, Happy belated Christmas, Hannakuh, Solstice, whatever end of year holiday you celebrate -- joy and peace to all! What a post to begin with on my first visit in a few months.

Blame my return on Easy. He dropped me a note about those plums and I thought, I should try again to visit here. Back in the fall, my browser decided to play havoc on this site (and only on this site, thank you very much ivillage pop-up browser controlling freak-a-zoids!) not letting me view threads or making me click multiple times to get one to open. Sort of like playing roulette - once in a blue moon I'd hit a thread I could actually open and read. After a few weeks of that treatment, I gave up and have been in high gear for my work since. Yeah I know I should get a new brower, just don't wanna chance right now though... you know how that is!

So tonight I open GW and lo and behold, I can actually open a thread! Ta dah! We'll see when I get to the next one to read. This one was a humdinger to start with.

Here's some cute doggie stuff - my corgi/aussie DEFINITELY smiles. Especially when she is running away from me as I call her, like when she has escaped the gate and is running down the street with me in pursuit. Little devil girl! DH and I were out working in the yard all day today so the dogs were out there too (usually inside if we're not out due to coyote population here). Well the little devil girl found not one but two dead animals on our acre under bushes and things. Thank goodness DH removed them before she could do the drop and roll thing all over her almost brand new grooming job! Oh they are devils about the carcasses...

Susie, I want to come to your house and see those birds! My goodness, what a bunch they are, so entertaining. You should do a funniest home video. I bet you could actually win with some of those mimics!

Ok wish me luck on opening more threads...... fingers crossed here....!

Kathleen,
Great to see you back here on GW. You have been a busy bee with your work. Saw some of your horse show pics. As good as expected. :-)

Hi Judy! Glad to know Karen shared those with you - he is some great horse, eh? That hind end, sigh....

Good to be back too. I'm SOOOOOO glad that apparently the pop-up problem is no longer affecting my computer and I can read here again. I missed you guys!