Interesting conundrum. I would like to say the removal of the original Jade plants was an illicit attempt to conceal the fact that this stand of Crassula ovata harbored the shoulderbanded snail. But Crassula ovata is a non-native species that should be removed, so if the snail goes with it, what can you do? According to the link you provided, a population of unknown size lives in Morro Strand beach near the high school. Most of the population are to the South in Montana de Oro State Park. The few that you accidentally took home are probably not the only significant population. That particular snail is supposed to be an eater of dead, decaying plant matter, and is not a garden pest, so it shouldn't be a problem for your plants. If it is, I would erradicate them with Sluggo. It might be interesting to cook some of both kinds of snail in butter and garlic and do a taste comparison. The standard preparation is to let the snails eat corn meal for a few days before cooking to flush out anything you don't want to eat. French escargot vs Californian escargot. Pair this combo with a French and a Californian Merlot. I'm guessing the California snail, like the Californian wine, will beat the French stuff everytime. Bon Appetit! This is very interesting to me as someone who grew up in San Luis Obispo. I knew we had snails, but discovered later that they were the common brown snail, Helix aspersa, which are not a native species. I never knew of the Morro shoulderband snail, or its smaller cousin, the Big Sur shoulderband snail, found to the north. I guess these are found along the coast, but I wonder if they couldn't also be found in the creekbed ravines of the Santa Lucia range. You have given me an interesting project. I suspect this snail may not be as endangered as the EPA thinks. I am going to start looking for these. Brad

I've been retired for about 1 1/2 yrs. I worked an evening shift when I worked (3 pm to 11 pm) then had to "unwind" before going to bed about 12 or 1 am. Now -- I find I am a morning person - get up about 6:30 or 7:00, and yes, I do have a somewhat routine that just established itself, but I feel more at ease if there IS a routine (not schedule!). I put on coffee, clean up the kitchen, feed the animals, read the paper, and, because quilting is a major hobby with me, and I'm more productive in the morning, I spend mornings doing more active things, sewing, cleaning, shopping, yard work, etc. etc. I am a little surprised at how busy I find my days sometimes, and wonder how I did everything when I did work. Also - I find I'm cleaning and keeping up the house a little more than I did before - I'm definitely not a "neat freak" but just do like a fairly orderly, clean environment. I'm absolutely loving retirement - I think it is the chance to choose and control how my days' activities go, and I didn't have that before. DH is still working, but I'm pushing him to retire next summer when he turns 65.

How did a question about wasting turn into a slam-fest? Everyone does things that are wasteful as well as conservative. I still have old lightbulbs that have not burned out yet, and CFLs in the ones that have. I have a plasma TV, a new microwave, a jacuzzi and a crockpot. The crockpot is used around 1-2 times a month and I love it in those instances. I drive a truck, don't have a clothesline and use my air conditioner. I recycle religiously. I conserve water, pick up trash in parking lots, give anything away that could possibly be used again, use freecycle and drag my scrap paper from work home (with my boss's permission)for my daughter to color on. I turn off lights if I'm not in the room. I turn off the water when I brush my teeth. I also fly back to my homestate of Hawaii 2600 miles away(and fly my daughter back) using tons of jet fuel. Before we throw stones at our neighbors try googling Al Gore's house and George Bush's house for a shocking comparison of energy waste/conservancy. It just goes to show we all make choices. Acknowledging that we are making a choice when we expend/reduce energy use is the first step towards using less. That person who uses old bulbs and a crockpot may recycle everything, drive 50 miles a month in a tiny car and not use plastic. As a side note, I grew up 30 miles from the nearest town, where we didn't have a Wal-mart/Kmart/Costco or anything similar. Due to bad roads it took over an hour to get there, once we made the 1/2 hour trip down our 4wd road to get to the highway. We had catchment tanks for water, and the water went right down the sink and onto the trees on the side, outhouses, solar and kerosene for light. I got my clothes from the "free box" at our local co-op, and we bought our food in bulk. We had no refrigerator/freezer/television/radio/appliances except for a gas stove, and that was used by ten or so people in a community kitchen. The shower was a hose attached to a tree. When we got hot water, it was from a paloma, and we took "Navy" showers. (Some habits die hard, I still take 5 minute showers and turn the water off when shaving, etc). Our homes were made out of recycled lumber and bamboo, with every scrap used. We'd go to town once a week for supplies, and we'd carpool with neighbors to get there. You may be imagining someone living like this pre- 1950. I'm 30. I've lived in San Diego for two years now and enjoy having air conditioning. I think that frugality is only as good as quality of life. Awareness and compassion for why people are living the lives they choose is essential. When people tease me for saving every last drop of water I remind them the mentality I grew up with...When you are constantly conscious that the water you are using can be depleted and there is no way to get a water truck to fill the tank up you use a lot less! Sorry.... I just grew up more frugal than most people could ever imagine, so the argument about bulbs, etc. is just silly to me. Try using a kerosene lantern at night to do anything. We got everything done during daylight hours, believe me! Wear them until they're standing on their own, then wash clothes by hand, wring them out with a foot powered wringer. Don't use any pesticides, herbicides, anything not organic. Wash your hair with fresh Awapuhi ginger. Live in harmony with the bugs around you... misquitoes, cockroaches (we'd call them B-52 bombers), you name it- and the way we killed them was with our feet and hands. This was in the rainforest, with 100' trees, 1-2' vines, giant tree ferns. There was mold. On everything. So, after venting! The waste I see every day (personal pet peeves): 1. Watering giant lawns that no one ever sits on 2. Private swimming pools 3. Eating food out of season 4. Throwing away plastic containers

I don't think gideonsmom wants a dirty rug. She wants a rug that doesn't show every single little bit of fluff or fur. Currently, she feels she needs to vacuum twice a day to keep the rug looking nice. That's a lot of work. It think it's similar to the counters in my kitchen. Not only do they show every single teeny tiny crumb that gets on them, they also show every swipe of the sponge or cloth you use to clean them. So even when they are clean, they look bad, because you can see the marks from the sponge. So I have to use paper towels and window cleaner, not to clean the counters, but to clean the streaks off. It is a huge pain. The counters only stay looking good if I leave the house. I suspect it's something similar for gideonsmom. She wants a rug that she can vacuum once a day or maybe every other day. Not a rug that she can leave untended for weeks on end. Using a combination of trapping the dirt at the door and/or removing shoes and a patterned rug will probably do the trick.