I have been sitting her trying to think of a logical response to this idea of boycotting Wal-Mart because they are somehow responsible for "destroying so many tomato crops in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic" that I just do not know where to begin. Have entire civilizations ever been wiped out by crop failures before Wal-Mart existed? Perhaps we can trace the roots of the great Irish Potato Famine of 1845 - 1851 that is believed to have killed more than one million people in Ireland from starvation on Wal-Mart. Gee, while we are at it perhaps Wal-Mart should be investigated for starting the swine flu pandemic currently sweeping the world. Or perhaps the great Chicago fire of 1871 - maybe it was a Wal-Mart executive and not a cow kicking over a lantern in Mr. O'Leary's barn. Maybe Wal-Mart is responsible for causing Mount Saint Helens in Washington State erupting on 25 May 1980 - I mean Wal-Mart existed at that time, right? Oh! oh! , maybe Wal-Mart is responsible for the salmonella outbreak that involved spinach in 2007or Jack-in-the-Box's ecoli outbreak a few years ago. Right??? NOT!!! Perhaps, if we put on our thinking caps and really think about this for a minute, just maybe, we will realize that perhaps whatever is "destroying so many tomato crops in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic" is part of a natural sequence of events that can occur AT ANY TIME because such things are part of NATURE. Unless you think Wal-Mart has some netharious desire to "destroying so many tomato crops in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic" (let alone the power to actually do such a thing if they wanted to) because they are an evil mega conglomerate out to suck the lifeblood out of every city they have stores in. I say that such stupidity does not belong in this forum. If you are so totally devoid of intelligent thought please go talk to yourself and leave the rest of us to have meaningful conversations that have true value to others. I am sure you find your comments to be intellectually invigorating, more intelligent people recognize your hypothetical assertations as irrevocably absurd. Is your thinking so warped and twisted and bent to think that Wal-Mart would do such a thing? I mean really are you that thick in the head or obsessed with "whatever" to write such rediculous comments? Do you not understand the concept of nature, viruses, bacteria, diseases,etc. Or are you so used to making such inane statements that you actually believe what you have written? If you actually believe what you have written, all I can say is,"I hope your side of the gene pools ends with you". The drivel you have offered here is beyond even what the most strident Wal-Mart/big box store hater would think, let alone put in writing, and puts into question your ability to have a single coherent thought beyond that of a tomato hornworm. Actually, it is quite apparent that my tomato plants have a higher IQ than you do. Go back to the corner of the room you came from and leave the rest of us to engage in more weightier matters, because I am quite sure you are not able to understand what is being discussed nor will you ever have anything the rest of us would consider interesting. Let me see, too harsh? I don't think so. Tom

jpw, it may be cynical, but it's realistic. I bet I've seen every one of these excuses on craigslist or in newspaper ads or on signs in the neighborhood; people who work in rescue probably do get cynical & burned-out, much as social workers get cynical & burned-out, & for the same reasons. I my own self once personally spoke with a woman who said she was going to start her own rescue, & she even had someone lined up to provide a maternity home for pregnant dogs & cat s, because....she didn't believe in abortion. & as for: "Press 10 if your relative has died and you don't want to care for their elderly dog because it doesn't fit your lifestyle."... I once was in line at the grocery store when a woman's cell phone rang & she blithely rattled off something like the following: "Human Services? yes, this is Mrs. Whatsis. I was calling to get my mother enrolled in Medicaid. She has to be enrolled in Medicaid before the nursing home will take her. We sold her house & she's staying with us at present, but we just can't give her the time she needs." then, with a touch of pride, "We have *five* children." oh. so neither you (fit-looking woman probably in her forties) nor any of your *five* children can take care of Granny?.. The only thing that gave me comfort was that her equally fit-looking daughter, who looked to be in her late teens, was standing by her side, absorbing every word, maybe storing it for future use when this woman got old.

I wanted to comment on this part of your post above: " In my heart, I know I just really miss having a good female friend. They are so hard to find. My husband and I don't have children, and a lot of women I meet at church and places like that I hope to become friends with, but I sense that because I don't have children (or grandchildren), they think we would have no common ground." I don't know how old you are. I'm in my mid fifties and I think sometimes it can be a challenge making new female friends at this age. So many of the women my age I meet or know already are so busy with their jobs, kids, grandkids, and circle of friends they already have, so I get where you're coming from. But a lot of us whose kids are grown have a lot more time for ourselves now, more time for hobbies, more time for exercise, more time to meet a friend for coffee or a walk, more time for new friendships. I had what I call "the lost decade" due to injury, illness and a couple of other family issues. Once my circumstances improved, some of my friends had moved due to job changes, some had retired and moved closer to their kids, some simply got too busy with kids and grandkids, some friendships were really built on convenience with our kids and there was no common ground once the kids were grown. I still have long term friendships and I cherish them, but I have room for plenty more new friendships, too. There are quite a few women out there like me. That whole demographic of fairly newly retired women is a rich gold mine of friendship opportunity. A lot of them are way more interested in finding out if you have hobbies in common than whether or not you have kids. So I hope you'll keep trying. You might find that women who had nothing in common with you before have loads in common now. I realize some areas are easier than others. A friend of mine retired to an area and had difficulty making new friendships there because every woman she met was busy with kids and grandkids. My friend has kids but she has a lot of hobbies and other interests. She kept trying and now she has a great group of friends she found through volunteering at her church and also through her hobbies. I know it's discouraging for you and I wish you good luck and great success.

Labradors I'm still developing my rotate methods. I've been getting one of the blights and tried growing Caliente 199 mustard with mixed results. Since my garden was too small to rotate crops, I started a small new test plot. I grew 4 tomatoes there without problems. So the next year I started another, the third, new plot between a peach and an apple tree. That also was blight free, the following year the blight started up in the third plot. The second plot didn't have problems till the third year. So I'm working this year on a large 34x74' fenced garden. I won't be able to plant up the entire plot. In the first year I hope to plant potatoes, 24 tomatoes, and some pole beans. I may get some fall crops in later. In the second year, hopefully I'll get some land dug up to move the tomatoes and the potatoes to new spots. In the meanwhile I plan to just mow what's not ready to plant. In short I'm thinking 3 years to dig up this garden and then rotate on a 3 year cycle. I have 10 posts cut in the woods, one still needs hauled. It's a white oak 14 foot long and 5 to 6 inches on the bottom and 4 or 5" on the top. I have it up off the ground, hopefully it'll dry a little. I'm going to try a 2 wheel dolly tied to the bottom.