That's delightful...about the longest sentence my Amazon parrot learned was "I can talk...can you fly" which was in answer to the invariable first question from visitors: "Does it talk"? LOL But Bird had her wings clipped so couldn't really fly but just enough to land safely when she left her cagetop to come visit with me on sofa. I was always afraid of her escaping otherwise. So glad this story ended well. josh

Pistol, When I mention that something is hard to grow, it really isn't meant to discourage someone from trying it but rather to point out that it requires more care than "most" of the things we grow. (smile) And, I generally won't say anything "bad" about a plant, unless I have tried it myself. And, I do agree that everyone should try to grow whatever they want to try....but at least with the knowledge that it might be a challenging plant. When I was younger, I tried all kinds of stuff, even the stuff that more experienced gardeners warned me to avoid. It was a great learning experience, but mostly what I learned was that those experienced gardeners were right and were trying to save me a lot of frustration and wasted effort. I'm older now, and have made a conscious decision to avoid plants that need lots of special soil prep (above and beyond the standard recommendations to add lots of organic matter, for example), constant spraying, constant pruning, etc. That's just a choice that I have made, and not everyone will make the same choice. Some people thrive on the challenge of raising things that "everyone says won't grow here". More power to them if they succeed! Also, there are some plants that are easy to deal with if you only have a few of them, but much harder to grow if you have acres and acres of them. To me, grapes fall in that category. A grape or two on a fence or arbor is lovely, and often productive. Six hundred of them, though, is a monoculture that's ripe for disease and pest infestations. When I look at a vineyard with very mature grapes that have been maintained for decades (or longer), I am amazed at the amount of work and dedication it has taken to keep them growing and productive for so long. Jill, Don't worry. I think you'll always get honest and objective feedback here. And, just because a plant doesn't do well for one of us, that doesn't mean it won't grow well for another. For one thing, depending on where we live in Oklahoma, we can be growing in soils/climates that are VERY DIFFERENT from one another. Those of us who are south of the Arbuckle Mountains really are growing in soils and weather very similar to what you'd find in Dallas. Those of you who are north of the Arbuckles have very different soils from us (in many cases), and often significantly more (but sometimes less) average annual rainfall, and colder winter weather as well. And, what will grow well (or easily) in southwestern Oklahoma is completely different from what will grow well and easily in northeastern Oklahoma. I agree that the knowledge we share with one another is priceless, but we do have to remember that our growing conditions can differ drastically. I have tried many plants since moving here that were recommended by other Oklahoma gardeners. In many cases, they were plants that I was told all my life (in Texas) "won't grow here in our southern climate". Well, sometimes they do and sometimes they don't, but the only way to REALLY know is to try it for yourself. Maybe it would be fun to have a thread one of these days on stuff that we have tried and either "can't" or "won't" grow again (for whatever reason). Dawn

Here is the link. I had not heard of this, but I will look into it. Sue Here is a link that might be useful: poshpoints

OOPS. The rest of my message got cut off. Here's the rest of my post: It wouldn't be difficult for the TSA to set up a means for allowing folks to mail their personal items to themselves, to prevent them having to be discarded (or re-sold, actually). I'm so disgusted with the TSA. It was a swell idea, but it's practical application has proven to be an utter and complete failure. While they're busy screening out shampoo and toothpaste, they're letting the important things roll right through. According to the Albany-Times Union (NY newspaper), Federal Inspectors were able to slip a bomb past TSA security inspectors five out of seven times. One fake bomb was placed in the same bag as a bottle of water. The inspectors confiscated the water and left the bomb! Rose