Thanks, LG. I'm going to try lasagnizing about 400 square feet of back wall. I'm certain I have enough cardboard to do it, but do we get enough rain to allow the cardboard to break down, like, EVER? If I have to use newsprint it will take some scrounging. There are quite a few horses over the back wall, so I'm going to attempt to gather my courage (I am a complete wuss and hate talking to people I don't know) and see about manure and/or spoiled straw/hay. Mr Spark is going to have a total heart attack if/when he finds out I am intentionally putting manure in the back yard... BTW I'm also going to buck up and try some basic composting, probably with your "random pile inside CRM cage" method. I have no concern about browns because we have parrots and that means we use 57,423 rolls of paper towels per month wiping poop off our shoulders. Greens might be another story... next week the lawn gets mowed so I'll hope it results in a lot of clippings. (The gardeners do it and I have no idea how much they get, but I'll have them start leaving it here.) Yikes. :)

take a pen.. and write .. ON THE LEAVES ... the name of the plant ... water is OK for less than 24 hours ... otherwise ... dampen some potting media or mulch .. and shove all of them.. TOGETHER.. into one large pot.. and leave it in the cold garage ... you did not mention if they are leafed out ... they can stay in one pot for upwards of a week easily .. presuming the garage stays rather cool ... and just like a tree.. ONLY the roots in water ... in fact.. 1/2 inch of water.. set the plants in .. then crumple some newspaper to keep them humid ... they dont really need to be submersed ... its not that they need all that much water.. its just that you dont want the roots to dry out ... if they came wrapped in plastic.. i would remove that ... they need air also .... the ONLY stupid question.. is the UNASKED question ... we would NEVER laugh at a reasonable question ... ken

I've been wondering what, exactly, is being taught in high schools these days. Spelling, punctuation, common courtesy, and intelligent discourse obviously are being ignored in favor of ... the above. If you could clarify your objections I might be able to explain where your biology teacher went wrong. For one thing, Mendel did not provide the final answer to all aspects of heredity. He had no opportunity to study the inheritance of phenotypic plasticity, which is what I was discussing. How do you suppose flower size and cluster formation are inherited? The synstyle species (R. multiflora, wichuraiana, setigera, moschata, etc.) have large clusters of small flowers -- all the flowers are roughly the same size. Tea roses and some of the Tea-Noisettes have one or a few large flowers. So, how does it happen that some of the Hybrid Teas, Tropicana is a well-known example, produce one large flower surrounded by a few smaller ones? Dominance is not as simple as textbook writers would have us believe. A given "gene" may have a dominant effect in one part of an organism, or at one stage of development, and yet be suppressed in other parts or stages. That is to say, the tendency to produce large blooms may be dominant in the center of the cluster, but recessive otherwise. Have you ever seen a yellow Tea or Hybrid Tea with red leaves? The "gene for red" is dominant as the shoot develops, but becomes recessive as the flower forms. Other roses have red flowers with little or no visible red pigment in the leaves and cane. In these cases the "gene for red" is recessive until the flowers start to form. Close the textbook for a while, and open your eyes. Heredity is far more interesting than Mendel imagined. Karl

Pesky, Very sorry for your loss. I hope you and your DH can get through the coming days without much more damage to either of you. On the subject of your vertebral fractures, please do some research on your own so you can be a little knowledgeable when you next talk to your doctor. I fractured one a year ago in the middle of my thoracic area. The X-ray report said it was a compression fracture. I'm positive the doctor didn't look at the X-ray, just read the report. I looked up that type of fracture and most look like cracks on the front side of the vertebrae. I was told to rest, take medication, and that it would take about 8 weeks to heal. 9 weeks later I was still in a lot of pain, in fact, it had gotten worse. I had an MRI and was sent to a specialist. It wasn't just cracks, a big chunk out of the middle of the vertebrae had broken loose and collapsed into the spinal cord area. The additional pain was the herniated disk that was caused later by the fracture. This was a type of fracture that would not heal without help. I ended up having an outpatient operation called a kyphoplasty where they inflate a small balloon to reposition the bone fragment, then inject bone cement to hold it in place. I could tell the difference within 2 days and felt much better within a week. We're waiting to see if the disk will need surgery or not after the inflammation has a chance to subside. This may not be your situation, but I wish I had pressed to have the specialist's opinion early on. It would have saved me 6 months of pain, and possibly prevented the disk problem from occurring. You really need to be your own advocate with the doctors, and if you aren't getting the answers you need, find someone else. I couldn't take the vicodin, so they prescribed something else for me. If you're unhappy with it, ask for a different medication. Some people get rigid braces to help keep the vertebrae immobilized as much as possible so it can heal. The first specialist I saw was surprised that the doctor had not recommended one. It may or may not be appropriate for you, but doesn't hurt to ask. The large (11 x 14) gel packs were a lifesaver. Much more comfortable and convenient than ice packs. I've seen them on sale at Amazon and other places on line. Sitting for any length of time was hard for me. I was most comfortable in our small recliner, not totally reclined, but enough to take the pressure off. You might see if that helps. Please take care of yourself and do what you need to make sure you are getting the proper medical advice for your specific situation. I will be sending you positive and healing thoughts.