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ABOUT GHOST ORCHIDS
Ghost orchids are very rare, one was recently discovered in the Florida swamp.
• Belgian plant collector Jean Jules Linden discovered the plant in Cuba in 1844.

• Fifty years later, it was found in the Everglades and Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve.

• It is found in moist, swampy forests in Southwest Florida, the Bahamas and Cuba.

• The orchid blossoms between June and August, with one to 10 fragrant flowers.

• The plant played a pivotal role in the nonfiction book “The Orchid Thief,” and the movie based on the book.
Source: Wikipedia

Consider this scenario: You’re stuck in heavy traffic on a busy highway. Another car cuts off the driver in front of you, forcing him to slam on the brakes. You try to stop, but there’s no time … and you rear-end the guy in front of you.

An everyday accident? Not this time. Turns out you’ve been had by a well-organized criminal ring that staged the entire thing.

This particular scam is called the “swoop and squat.” (The first car “swoops” in while the second car “squats” in front of you.) After the “accident,” everyone in the car you rear-ended—usually crammed full of passengers—will file bogus injury claims with your insurance company. Each will complain of whiplash or other soft-tissue injuries—things difficult for doctors to confirm. They may even go to crooked physical therapists, chiropractors, lawyers, or auto repair technicians to further exaggerate their claims.

We’re talking big money here. Staged accidents cost the insurance industry about $20 billion a year. Those losses get passed on to all of us in the form of higher insurance rates—an average of $100-$300 extra per car per year.

Here are some similar scams to look out for:

The drive down. You’re attempting to merge when another driver waves you forward. Instead of letting you in, he slams into your car. When the police arrive, he denies ever motioning to you.
The sideswipe. As you round a corner at a busy intersection with multiple turn lanes, you drift slightly into the lane next to you. The car in that lane steps on the gas and sideswipes you.
The t-bone. You’re crossing an intersection when a car coming from a side street accelerates and hits your car. When the police arrive, the driver and several planted “witnesses” claim that you ran a red light or stop sign.
How can you protect yourself?

If you’re in an accident, call the police immediately.
Report accident claims to your insurance company. Don’t settle on site with cash.
Be careful with your personal information, mindful of identity theft.
If you can, photograph the car and passengers and write down names, addresses, and phone numbers.
Use medical, car repair, and legal professionals you know and trust.
Don’t tail gate … drive safely.
What are we doing to protect you from these schemes? Plenty. Like Operation Soft Tissue, where a Chicago agent posed as a corrupt lawyer and caught hundreds of these con artists and crooks red-handed. We’ve investigated more than 90 staged accident fraud cases over the past decade. With more to come
 

For these little things called "emoticons"Ofte n the idea is to turn your head sideways, and it makes a picture on a lot of the smiley faces.  ;-) for example where the ; (semi-colon) are the eyes, the - is the nose, and the ) is the mouth. Also, you see some people use the hyphen (-) to show the nose, while others will show the same expression without the nose.  Example:  ;-)   and   ;)   signify the same thing.

This is the second half of chat slang:

You ever wonder about the meaning of certain chat slang, this is a partial list to hip you to the meanings.

This is the story of four people:
Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody.

There was an important job to be done,
And Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.

Anybody could have done it,
But Nobody did it.

Somebody got angry because it was Somebody's job.
Everybody thought that Somebody would do it.
But Nobody asked Anybody.

It ended up that the job wasn't done
And Everybody blamed Everybody,
When actually Nobody asked Anybody.

She spent the first day packing her belongings into boxes, crates and suitcases.  On the second day, she had the movers come and collect her things.  On the third day, she sat down for the last time at their beautiful dining room table by candlelight, put on some soft background music, and feasted on a pound of shrimp, a jar of caviar, and a bottle of Chardonnay.

When she had finished, she went into each and every room and deposited a few half-eaten shrimp shells, dipped in caviar, into the hollow of the curtain rods.  She then cleaned up the kitchen and left.

When the husband returned with his new girlfriend, all was bliss for the first few days.  Then slowly, the house began to smell.  They tried everything; cleaning and mopping and airing the place out.  Vents were checked for dead rodents, and carpets were steam cleaned.  Air fresheners were hung everywhere.

Exterminators were brought in to set off gas canisters, during which they had to move out for a few days, and in the end they even paid to replace the expensive wool carpeting.  Nothing worked.  People stopped coming over to visit.  Repairmen refused to work in the house, the maid quit...

Finally, they could not take the stench any longer and decided to move.  A month later, even though they had cut their price in half, they couldn't find a buyer for their stinky house.  Word got out, and  eventually, even the local realtors refused to return their calls.

Finally, they had to borrow a huge sum of money from the bank to purchase a new place. The ex-wife called the man and asked how things were going.  He told her the saga of the rotting house.  She listened politely and said that she missed her old home terribly, and would be willing to reduce her divorce settlement in exchange for getting the house back...

Knowing his ex-wife had no idea how bad the smell was, he agreed on a price that was about 1/10th of what the house had been worth...

But only if she were to sign the papers that very day.  She agreed and within the hour his lawyers delivered the paperwork.  A week later, the man and his new girlfriend stood smirking as they watched the moving company pack everything to take to their new home.

Including the curtain rods.

I went to work today as usual, it's slow right now. Flowers are a feast or famine business, some days you are so busy that you don't have time to eat others times, slow.

I went outside to empty a bucket of water on the orange tree behind the store, after emptying the bucket as I turned my back I was attacked from behind.  Something hit me so fast on the back of my legs that I did't have time to scream, I looked just in time to see what it was, it was a rabbit that was probably taking a nap and I scared it.

It was so funny to see it running away. I am sure that I frightened it as much as it did me.

I was attacked by a bunny rabbit.