"I would not want to belong to any group that would have me as a member."--Groucho Marx Some variation on that quote has been attributed to Groucho for decades now. It has always had a special meaning to me, because when it comes to joining groups, I'm just not that good. The surest way to ruin your passion is to belong to a group that shares that passion. Invariably the pursuit takes a backseat to the human urge to exert authority. Long time readers will recall that I joined the Master Gardner organization in our county. I was really excited about the opportunity. That excitement lasted a few weeks, after which, the fun was squashed by the realization that the group was filled with people dead set on making up a bunch of rules. It turned out that simply showing up and doing the work needed to maintain the public gardens was not enough. There were various deadlines and requirements for the kinds of hours worked. Way too much organization for me. So, today when I got a friendly email reminding me that rules are rules and I had better get cracking, I opted out. I have always had a problem with 'having' to do something. Mrs. Sneed has pointed out, many times, that I don't like being told what to do and that about sums it up. I just don't like being told what to do and I really hate having to rush off to do something, even something I like. Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong, sometimes just full of it, but always judgmental and cranky