all the varied rose prices are making me nuts. I see one deal then another and never know where to stop! Well back in the bare root season I bought 2 expensive roses in peat pots. They were about $22 each. Black Baccart & PJP II. I got those planted nice and early and they are two of my nicest roses. That same darn nursery keeps knocking down the prices on those peat pots. First to $9.99 so I got Candyland climber, rock N' roll, and mardi gras. the candyland is going gangbusters and the other 2 are starting to fill out. Now they dropped the prices on those peat pots to $5 with some giant plants in them. I picked up an iceberg this week. And I'm not sure if I can resist the Dreamweaver climber they had. Of course I have also picked up cheap $6 container roses at Lowe's (which grow really well!) and a bunch of body bags I bought at HD (not that great really...). boy you can spend almost anything on these roses. Of course our local nursery has rows & rows of gorgeous giant container roses. My favorite "break" is to take a cup of coffee and wander through their roses. I haven't been brave enough to buy one but I find a new favorite there all the time. Diana Princess of Whales was sooo tempting today. ok way too long of an answer! gbebeh (with wayy too much shopping in San Diego)

After many years of graduate school followed by teaching university environmental science courses I'm pretty comfortable in my understanding of how wood in the forest gets digested, and my ability to interpret observations in the field. What we are talking about here are fresh wood chips coated in wet clay if they are dug directly into the clay soil. This will seal off a good proportion of the surface area of the wood to microbial action and microbial spread. If composted a bit first the situation will be reversed and the clay lumps can get coated in fine particulates and humics, and fungal threads will be able to grow around the clay in a more or less contiguous organic environment rather than be blocked by walls of clay plaster. If you are refering to deep incorporation of organic matter down into the soil... if worms etc could break up clay through the addition of organic matter on the surface you would not see the fromation or persistance of the natural soil horizons we are dealing with (the clay fragipan in the B horizon). I would not have a clay problem because I have had grass growing on my lawn for 42 years since the house was built. This means not only 42 years of root penetration and worm activity on decaying roots, but also 42 years of grass clippings from a mulching mower. Still, there is a claypan nine inches below the surface. The yard is home to a good population of night crawlers. Sure the top nine inches is wonderfully mixed topsoil (due to worms and moles), but that doesn't do my tomatoes any good once that top nine inches dries out at the end of June and the clay blocks deep root penetration to subsurface water. Surrounding the yard is a secondary growth forest that is over thirty years old. Plenty of time for soil life to mix decaying organic material into the clay...it just hasn't happened. And here is what I have observed with brush piles sitting atop clay soil for 20 years (total decay of the brush)... a couple of inches of rich black compost over top of clay (the same with old manure piles). I have cut and developed garden plots out of both the yard and the wilderness areas. This includes deep digging down to 2-3 feet by hand to break up the clay and mix in organic matter so I am intimately aware of the soil structure, root pentration and wildlife penetration. Worms do not live in the clay layer other than for a few permanent vertical burrows, and plants do not put roots down into the clay to a great extent. In a forest, subsurface clay is broken up by penetration and decay of large woody tree roots (over centuries), not from branch and leaf litter. Invertebrate activity will mix surface material into the nooks and crannies left by decaying roots. Most tree roots are on the surface in the nutrient rich layer, with very few deep verticals, which is one reason it takes so long for deep rich soil to form. Darwin's estimates of soil turnover by earthworms as so many tonnes of soil per acre per year (in an English cultivated and/or garden setting) seems impressive until you convert it to inches, which turns out to be something like 1/8 inch of soil brought to the surface each year, so over 8 years you could get an inch of soil covering your wood chips, but even this isn't going to happen in worm depauperate clay.

DH and I were both a bit older, settled into our careers and each had very nicely furnished apartments when we married. Mine was a cozy Cottagey Shabby Chic. His was Contemporary Elegant but very comfortable. Combining our two homes was both funny and frustrating. Over the years, though, we've developed a common taste in furniture and art . . . at least most of the time (LOL)! DH has very good (and expensive) taste, while I'm still much more hesitant to spend a lot of money on things than he is. I prefer haunting antique and consignment shops. He'd rather head to some upscale furniture gallery, order it and then head on to a nice restaurant (with me) to relax. These days I pretty much have free rein to buy the smaller things, but DH likes to go with me when making major purchases to help decide. As many of you know already, I'm a passionate collector of art. Most of it, DH has thankfully liked. There are several pieces, though, he barely tolerates and one he flat-out doesn't like. Darned if it's not a beautiful, large, original painting that I adore! At the moment it's hanging over the laundry hamper in our bedroom foyer. I'm hoping he'll eventually come to tolerate it. On the other hand, I've gotten rid of a number of his Contemporary art pieces over the years. That or they're stored away in closets. My bad (LOL)! He doesn't have a "man cave". The closest he comes to that is his study, which does have only the art, furniture and rug he chose. So, we compromise where we can because we love each other. Every once in a while, though, he gets a wild hair idea to choose certain things by himself. Sometimes I let him (LOL). He picked out our new pots and pans (All Clad Professional) that I'm not all that crazy about. This was a compromise on my part. He'd originally fallen in love with ~and bought!~ an extremely heavy and cumbersome Le Creuset covered cast iron skillet. I agreed he could keep it, but nixed any more LCs. I still avoid using the darn thing . . . but every Sunday morning he happily makes us eggs or something in it, so how can I complain? I also gave in and let him buy all of our knives (Wustof), which I admit are nice. (Sigh!) now he wants to go out this weekend with me and insists he gets to help choose our new vacuum, omelet pan and coffeemaker, all of which have given up the ghost in the past week. I'm afraid to let him go by himself. Grrrr! Lynn

I don't really see a need for a "grab & go" for me. I'm usually fairly well prepared in a number of ways so it depends on the situation. The only way a G&G would apply is a hazmat leak I suppose and in that case I'd toss the cat in the carrier (which has her leash & harness in it) into the vehicle and off I go into the traffic jam. I have flashlights, jackets and water in the vehicle anyway, usually carry cash, have the cell in its holster and a car charger. In case of fire, I would get out and take the cat, probably my computer and BU drive if time permits and try to get the vehicle out. In the event of tornadoes, hurricanes, floods and the like, you *should* be aware of it far enough ahead of time to plan as needed. If my furnace goes out in the winter and it'll be a long time, there's other things to consider and not a rush requiring a G&G. Even a flash flood doesn't happen without some warning. I don't live in a land where I have to "bug out" because of invasions, except perhaps for mosquitoes. Now an emergency box/emergency prep is different. I have candles, battery lights, flashlights around. I always keep a bunch of extra batterys around. (Can't understand people not having a dozen batteries in stock!) I can disconnect the garage door opener to get the vehicle out. Much depends on the situation. Worst is usually long-term power outages from severe storms. Then it's get cash and I have a pantry for food staples, a propane camp stove and propane grill if I want to cook. I've considered buying a generator but so far it's a low priority (until the times I've needed one!). I'm more into preparing for the situations. Winter has different needs. Prepare for it. Inlaws coming over... prepare for it. etc. I look at it this way, if a tornado strikes without notice, as it did in Rogers, MN a couple years back, I couldn't leave anyway and if the house flys away, the bugout bag might well go with it. I got an email from my cousin in Houston and she mentioned she needed to get a few things ready for the hurricane. Even with Katrina, a G&G wasn't needed. They had warnings for a week or more to get out of there. Plenty of time to pack and leave. But many people didn't. When Rita went through Texas, my cousin admitted she underestimated it and wasn't properly prepared. But there too, a G&G wouldn't be any real advantage. If someone has medicinal needs, it seems to me you should have it handy at all times anyway so that replaces it too. IDK, I just don't understand the G&G concept in this country.