wawster

Hi Catherineli, In Kansas and Oklahoma you will need to make sure that the soil is acidic. Ask at the plant nursery where you buy the blueberry plants and they will give you what you need. I grew them in New Hampshire when i lived there, without problems, but they grow wild there all over! In Kansas and Oklahoma, the soil is mostly clay, so you need to add supplements to the soil that Blueberry plants like. I've grown blueberries here in Kansas, and I've been successful, but I had to make sure that the soil was conditioned properly. I used peat moss mixed in with the soil to help aerate it and provide a little acid, along with a topsoil/sand mix. I hope you are having luck car hunting!

Brother Charles, I have been away for a bit (ok, longer than a bit), but in reading this thread, my heart goes out to you. I hope that things are going a bit better, my friend! Warren

Rose and I had another talk last night, and this time she expressed interest in it. We'll see. We're both running a bunch until Sunday, so we'll have a chance to discuss it in more depth then.

Good deal - I'll bring that up to Rose, and see how she feels about it.

AT - that seems kinda long to not get a biometrics appointment. My buddy got his in 2 weeks (he applied about 2 months before I did) but we got Rose's in about 3 months. But who knows how it is now. It might be worth seeing if the process got stuck along the way, y'know? Fluffy - good info there on the Chinese visa. And I can totally understand your wife not wanting to take ANY chances, with your baby here. Rose is just kinda ambivalent about it all. I think she feels like if she becomes a US citizen then she's betraying her Chinese heritage in a way. She's not totally against it, she just gives the impression of "meh" about it.

Hi Greg, To get an INFOPASS appointment, the USCIS office is in Kansas City, so it's only about 30 miles away from me. It's the same place where Rose went for her biometrics. They're pretty busy, but it's not too bad to get an appointment. As far as the next big step... LOL...right now that's just to take a breath for a little bit and be able to relax knowing all the possible interviews and hurdles are over for the permanent residency. The lifting of conditions was like the sword of Damocles hanging over our heads, but now that's out of the way, we can relax a bit. Rose hasn't expressed any interest in becoming a US Citizen as of yet. We've talked about it a few times, and honestly, she doesn't see much benefit to her in going down that road. The ability to stand jury duty and voting doesn't give her much of an incentive to go that route, and it's isn't likely that she or Kerry would be deported due to criminal activity. it IS safer, cos you can't deport a US citizen for any reason, and there are a few where you can deport a Lawful Resident. To her, it's more of a hassle to become a US Citizen, and then have to get a visa to visit home in China. So for right now, we'll just ponder it a bit more. How about you guys?

Thanks guys! Nope, no interview - that's a relief also. It did seem to take forever to get done. I was worried that the 18 month extension might run out before the process was finished, but looking on VisaJourney, this seems to be the current time frame. The part of this that I found a bit odd was it was 10 months in between Rose's biometrics appt, and Kerry's. We had a small celebration last night - Rose and Kerry are stoked!

Hi guys, Rose and Kerry received their 10 year green cards in the mail yesterday. We received the letters confirming that the Conditions were removed the day before. Yesterday, I also got texts about their cases having an update on the USCIS site. For the stats: We initiated the I-751 on December 19th of 2017. I received an RFE for using the previous I-751 form (It changed in November of 2017) Resubmitted the package and got the NOA on January 20, 2018. Rose's Biometrics were done in May of 2018. Kerry's Biometrics were done in March of 2019 Received confirmation of the status change in the mail on May 7, 2019. The status change was dated April 29, 2019. Received the green cards in the US Mail on May 8th, 2019. Received a text from the USCIS that there was an update to the case on May 8th, 2019 (a little late, huh? ) So, going from the NOA, the process took about 15 1/2 months. Warren

Love smoking fish on my smoker! A nice slab of Cutthroat trout with some applewood... Man..you made me hungry for some. .Now I'll need to brave the snow outside this weekend to get some on the smoker!

Hi Catherine You can call yourself whatever you want. Some people are overly sensitive and feel that everything has a negative racial connotation, even when it doesn't. For those people, you can just tell them, " I am Chinese, and I am Catherine...Do you have a problem with how I name myself?" Typically, then the overly sensitive people will back down and be quiet. It is only negatively racial if you are using race as a method to exclude others from something, or to try and hurt them in some way, due to their race or background. So don't worry - be yourself!

Hello, Yajie! It s good to hear from you. I am glad that you are settling in well in Oklahoma City. Rose says "I love you" to me often, but that is because she knows that it is part of American culture. When we visit her parents, it is never spoken - it is shown in their actions. I'm sorry that I do not have a link for you!

Tsap...good stuff there! Thanks for this, you good-lookin' fella, you! You know, I was in Sam's club last Sunday, and there was a fella there who was cleaning the bathrooms. I saw he was wearing a CVN-65 hat (the old USS Enterprise). He was an older squid than me, and had been on the Enterprise back in '66 in the Gulf of Tonkin. I reached out and said "From one old squid to another, thanks for your service, man!". The guy broke out in a huge smile and gripped my hand hard, and said "Back atcha shipmate!" We chatted for a while, and laughed for a while longer about shipboard life, as we discovered it hadn't changed from the 60's to the 70's when I was in. What got me most about this fella was his grin. Like most of us, he had good times and bad times in the service, but what he related the most were things that had left him with good memories, and good friends. And my grin was right back at him. Later that day, I pondered a bit about that. I also made some good life-long friends in the Navy, and found that bond is different than with any other friends I have. I reckon that is as it should be. When you eat, sleep, work and fight with guys for a number of years, you can't help but be part of their lives, even when you go your separate ways. So my thanks go out to all who served too. But I'm most thankful for the folks who I met and served with who were and are, full of integrity, compassion, gumption, hard work, and just plain balls.

Perry, I hope it comes through for you guys quickly!

Thanks for the info! I'm hoping the same thing with Rose and I as far as the interview. We'll see. I'd heard rumblings that everyone is getting interviewed now, but that is just hearsay.

It has to be a constant search, I am sure, to find American foods that we here in the states take for granted. Good thing that you can order them on Taobao! Are you able to get any salsa to go with those tortillas?

I agree. It is good to finally see a response.

Oh...and to answer your other question, Rose had absolutely no problem coming back to the US with the 797 letter. I had flown out to China several weeks after she did, so I was with her when we flew back in late April. They DID ask to see the letter, but went over it and we passed right through.

When Rose traveled to China in March, the airlines were very specific about having the original document. She took a copy with her as well. A question out of curiosity...the 797 doc that your wife received - did it extend her green card for 12 or 18 months? The first one Rose received was for 12 months, but about a month ago, we got another one that extended it for 18 months due to the long lead times in Removal of Conditions these days. i was just wondering f they are sending out the 18 month extensions as a matter of course for the first response now.

You've got to be grinding your teeth over this one!

Congrats to the lil lady, cuzin Charles! and Randy...Mizouri is just across the border from me here in Kansus-land. I din't know that cuzin Charle's lil lady was high-tailin' it outta there!

Those kites are beautiful!

Thank you Cuzin! Someone finally appreciates my misfit potential...I..I think I'm gonna tear up now. But tears on black velvet ruins the value of the paintings. And it might just make those chalk encrusted paint lines run (I couldn't afford the acrylic ones like Tsap....gotta start small.)

Ok...I've only had the Stinky Tofu from a street vendor in Changsha, but it was delicious! The others....just reading them makes me shudder!

Congratulations!!!\

This was fairly common, even back in the 90's. When I worked at Bell Labs, we had to scour the circuitry of anything bought from China, and we usually found something. Back then it was just EEPROMs with some code burned in to allow Ethernet access, but it looks like they've graduated to VSLI SOC's.