Hi, Lucky you to get a built in garden! You don't have to do anything to raspberry bushes, they grow fine on their own. Some people prune them and try to make them stay in a certain spot or grow between guide wires, but that isn't necessary. Just pull out or mow the ones that come up where you don't want them. Bugs don't really bother raspberries. Grapevines should have some pruning done to them every year or two, but if you ignore that for one year (sounds like your yard might be overwhelming) there really won't be a problem. Unless you have trouble with them they don't need spraying with anything either. Fertilizing around the vines with compost never hurts. The Fruit & Orchard forum is a good place to ask for advice about berries, grapes, and apple trees. For the apple tree, you should be spraying with something after the blossoms fall, if you want to prevent bugs from getting them all. I have an organic fruit tree spray (powder) I got from Gardens Alive! and a 1 gallon size sprayer that I got for about $5 at Menards some years ago. There is also a dormant oil that you can use to spray stuff on so it sticks better and suffocates the worms I think. Please don't kill any plants until you are sure it isn't 'something.' Offer plants you don't want to neighbors or on freecycle. The people who bought my house killed almost everything (10 fruit trees, raspberries, rhubarb, asparagus, thousands of flowers, etc.) They left one pear tree and the next owner took that down. It hasn't even been 3 years since I moved, sigh. Between the 2 sets of plant-hating new owners, they killed thousands of dollars worth of trees, shrubs, and flowers. I tried to talk to both sets of owners about the plants, they had no interest. If your previous owner is still alive, I am sure they would be glad to give you some helpful hints on what was where and how to take care of it. Try calling or writing them, gardeners usually love to talk about their gardens! You could at the least get some good plant IDs from them. Good luck! Don't worry too much, remember that nature is good at growing things regardless of your help. Marcia (hosting the SE WI plant swap on May 20th)

Sooz, those components being displaced and being displaced more than once means somethings wrong. Who has been treating - the emergency room doctors or do they call a orthopedist for her. The surgeon who originally placed the hip should certainly know or be addressing it. Dislocating an artificial hip isn't all that common unless someone is going way outside the prescribed range of motion during the initial healing process (10 weeks post surgery approx)...but you'd (patient) have to be doing something reckless or experience a fall to even dislocate it then. The muscles and ligaments should support it once fully healed (again, if not engaging in reckless behaviors like downhill skiing, off trail hiking, singles tennis) - if it displaces more than once it would normally be surgically revised. Period. I don't know what to say about the insurance but she's certainly within her rights to have a functioning hip one year after surgery, I'd be wondering if it was a poor fit, poor surgery...either would be the responsibility of the surgeon, proper sizing is his job. There are surgeons who specialize in revising previous replacements that are failing...I don't know where she is but I know of two in that category in the Seattle area and I would imagine most major city surgical centers would have them. A primary care doctor she trusts could do that research for her; as another starting point - it would be a name a good well established physical therapist could likely provide too.

Donna, thank you for cheering me up! What will you be doing for your birthday? Yesterday I did go to the supermarket again and to the florist. DH helped with the cleaning: dusting the living room, vacuuming the couches and scrubbing the bathtub. I swiffered the floors and did the rest of the dusting, mopped the tile and terrazzo, cleaned the living room balcony, changed my DD's bed and did another load of laundry. We had maybe an hour to rest and were on time for my brother's engagement, were we had a great time. (Oh my new SIL has a so different style in her home! More glamorous and much more loaded than ours. That was interesting to observe - hope gift giving will not be too difficult!) Today after coming home from church, feeding the girls and putting them down to nap, I'll have to finish polishing the kitchen (that counter/tile thing), do some touch ups, clean the balcony again, change our bed and bring down the bedspread, also tidy my nightstand and bookcase, bring down the rest of the couch pillows and put them in place, and, finally, bring out the nice tablecloth/napkins/flatware and arrange them on the table along with plates and glasses. We'll order in pizza and salads. Oh, I'll need to go and pick up the birthday cake too. After having the girls, I don't feel like cooking for a crowd anymore (we'll be 13 people altogether). After our guests leave, we'll have to mop the whole apartment, as we are a no shoes home but we'll be making an exception this time due to the new additions to the family... end of a long day. The previous night I didn't sleep much or well (got up and came here at 6am) due to excitement and I expect the same for tonight - then the work week begins. Sorry for writing a book and THANK YOU ALL for letting me come here to vent and think in writing. Maria

Thank you, my friends for your nice comments. Dain, yes, they are from Rinoa. (Rick turned me on to Rinoa..ha ha!) Karen, so true here as well I'm finding out; next rain season I will erect a white canopy for my Adeniums. They don't like the sweltering heat of that time either: brilliant all day sun one day, rains for a couple days, and so forth. I lost a few adeniums two months ago due to rot. Rick, thanks for your advice, they are always welcome.