Thanks to you both, floral_uk and TurCre. Pomologists is the word I was searching for. And, TruCre, I will give up any thoughts of rescuing a that questionable tree and consider having the cemetery apple tree grafted. Three to seven years seems like a long while, but I suppose it isn't. I'm hoping to move from here before then, so if I get the dead apple walking tree grafted, perhaps I can move it with me. Thanks again.

Your photos are really small. Can you make them any larger? Some people post to Photobucket or a similar hosting site, which allows large, high resolution photos to be posted directly into your message.

This morning it got kitchen scraps - bell pepper scraps, onion scraps, mushroom scraps, ucg, tomato scraps, used (uneaten) dog food, left-over coffee, tea bags, and shredded paper to add some browns to it. I then added more water to the container before taking it out to the pile - it helps get everything out of the container, wet the papers down to where they'd stay with it, and helps with the current dry state of my pile. Then all of my piles got watered, because it's been a couple weeks since our last rainfall. I do very passive composting, but whatever I'm doing seems to work, because when I turn the piles, it smells like earth. :)

Well Merryberry, I went the easy way out here and bought a galvanized steel trash can with lid for $22.00 at Home Depot. I am thinking that I can drill it full of holes on the bottom, top, and sides and then bury a foot or two into the ground. Nice tight fitting lid should keep those buggers out while the holes will let in air and moisturure (and earthworms at ground level). I am considering pushing the lid down in a concave manner so that what little rain we get in S TX will filter into the compost. One last thing- why not set it immediately adjacent to my tomato cage so that the compost will boost my tomato production? (I have seen sketches of a wire compost bin surrounded by tomato cages so that the nutrients could leach into the ground and feed the tomatoes) That may be a good idea for those of you who are fortunate enough to have the room to do it. I have already made the choice to cover most of my yard with fruit trees.