The best place for indoor plants is probably a nursery that has them. Yeah Lowes and HD have them if you get them when they first arrive. Otherwise check for bugs and soggy plants. Never seen them at Costco but I don't see why they wouldn't be ok. You can always rescue them and give some TLC and they'll be ok. Once next summer rolls around you'll find yourself outside and all the new plants you can grow. Come over and hang out at the houseplants forum also. Great bunch of peeps there and lots in CA. All my mom's family is from Lansing area...then she got converted when married my dad! I'll probably get in trouble for posting these: You know youre a Wolverine when... 1. You beat Ohio State. 2. Youre the best in the Conference. 3. You think Heaven must be a lot like Ann Arbor, Michigan. 4. You think the colors of the rainbow are Maize, Blue, Maize, Blue. 5. All your kids are named "Blue". 6. Michigan games come before...well...anything. 7. You count Wolverines when trying to fall asleep. 8. You believe the Wolverine should be our National symbol. 9. You paint your vehicle Michigan Blue. 10. You petition for a carving of a Wolverine to be added to Mt. Rushmore. 11. Youre Winning and on a roll. 12. Your entire wardrobe is Maize & Blue. 13. You name your family pet Blue. 14. You honestly believe the Wolverines Rule. 15. You petition to change the National Anthem to the Michigan Fight Song. You Know You're From Michigan If: 1. You've never met any celebrities. 2. "Vacation" means going to Cedar Point. 3. At least 1 member of your family disowns you the week of the Michigan/Michigan State game. 4. Half the change in your pocket is Canadian.....eh! 5. Your idea of a 7-course meal is a six-pack and a bucket of smelt. 6. You drive 86 mph on the highway and pass on the right. 7. Your idea of a traffic jam is 20 cars waiting to pass an orange barrel. 8. You know how to play (and pronounce) Euchre. 9. You know the "Big Mac" is something that you drive over. 10. You know how to pronounce "Mackinac". 11. You've had to switch on the "heat" and the "A/C" in the same day. 12. You can see a car running in a parking lot with no one in it, no matter what time of the year. 13. You end your sentences with a preposition; example: "Where's my coat at?" 14. You bake with SODA and drink a POP. 15. All the festivals across the state are named after a fruit, vegetable, grain, or animal. 16. You think of the 4 major food groups as beef, pork, BBQ sauce, and beer. 17. You carry jumper cables in your car. 18. You design your kids Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit. 19. Driving in the winter is better because the pot-holes are filled with snow. 20. Your favorite holidays are Christmas, Thanksgiving, and the opening of Deer Season, which you consider a National Holiday. 21. You have 10 favorite recipes for Venison. 22. You know what "cow tipping" and "snipe hunting" are. 23. Your little league game was snowed out. 24. You learned to drive a boat before you could ride a bike. 25. You owe more money on your snowmobile than your car. 26. Your snow blower has more miles on it than your car. 27. Shoveling the driveway constitutes a great upper body workout. 28. You attend a formal event in your best clothing, finest jewelry, and snowmobile boots. 29. The municipality buys a zamboni before a bus. 30. The word "thumb" has geographical, rather than anatomical significance. 31. You show people where you grew up by pointing to a spot on your left hand. 32.Traveling coast-to-coast means driving from Port Huron to Muskegon. 33. You measure distance in minutes. 34. When giving directions, you refer to "A Michigan Left". 35. You know that Kalamazoo not only exists, but isn't that far from Hell. 36. You have experienced frostbite and sunburn in the same week. 37. Your year has 2 seasons: Winter and Construction. 38. Home Depot on any Saturday is busier than toy stores at Christmas. 39. You know when it has rained because of the smell of worms. 40. Owning a Japanese car was a hangin' offense in your hometown. 41. You believe that "down south" means Toledo. 42. You think that everyone from a bigger city has an accent. 43. YOU ACTUALLY "GET" THESE JOKES AND FORWARD THEM ON TO ALL YOUR MICHIGAN FRIENDS AND FAMILY! Subject: YOU KNOW YOU ARE IN CALIFORNIA WHEN------- 1. Your coworker has 8 body piercings and none are visible. 2. You make over $250,000 and still can't afford a house. 3. You take a bus and are shocked at 2 people carrying on a conversation in English. 4. Your child's 3rd grade teacher has purple hair, a nose ring, and is named Breeze. 5. You can't remember...is pot illegal? 6. You've been to a baby shower that has two mothers and a sperm donor. 7. You have a very strong opinion about where your coffee beans are grown and can taste the difference between Sumatran and Ethiopian. 8. You know which restaurant serves the freshest arugula. 9. You can't remember.....is pot illegal? 10. A really great parking space can move you to tears. 11. A low speed pursuit will interrupt ANY television broadcast. 12. Gas cost 75 cents per gallon more than anywhere else in the U.S. 13. A man gets on the bus in full leather regalia and crotchless chaps. You don't even notice. 14. Unlike back home, the guy at 8:30 am at Starbucks wearing the baseball cap and sunglasses who looks like George Clooney IS George Clooney!! 15. Your car insurance costs as much as your house payment. 16. Your hairdresser is straight, your plumber is gay, the woman who delivers your mail is into BDSM and your Mary Kay rep is a guy in drag. 17. You can't remember...is pot illegal? 18. It's sprinkling and there's a report on every news station about "STORM WATCH 2000." 19. You have to leave the big company meeting early because Billy Blanks himself is teaching the 4:00 PM Tae Bo class. 20. You pass an elementary school playground and the children are all busy with their cell phones or pagers. 21. It's sprinkling outside, so you leave for work an hour early to avoid all the weather-related accidents. 22. Hey!!!! Is Pot Illegal???? 23. You AND your dog have therapists.

I am fine, Gill. Thanks for the concern. Those of us that are in the cities are just dealing with smoke and ash. Those that live along the hillside edges where the houses meet the open scrubland have the danger. This has been a yearly problem as pyromaniacs set fires in the chapparel brush. As more homes are pushed into the hills, this can only get worse. Actually, my plumies are enjoying the warm temps, the red skies, and the ash fall. Many are still blooming and have not yellowed any leaves. A few are showing the first signs of dormancy today. Thanks again for the worry. Bill

The news just showed that the fire is out. Phew! October sure has gotten scary in California. Every morning I wake up to a new fire on the news.

Yeah, varmints are frustrating. The doctorate degree comment made me laugh. DH is a finance major, retired, and does a lot of digging. He also does remodeling, painting, etc. But his grandfather was a carpenter, so hands on stuff is in the family. We actually don't do the the "dig out both sides of the main tunnel and set two traps facing both directions" thing. Way too hard, time consuming and unnecessary. What he does is find a very fresh side tunnel. The trick is that it has to be fresh, within 12-24 hours, and only dig down that side tunnel a little until you see the main tunnel. This is only about a couple minutes of digging. Set the trap, using gloves (very important, you don't want them to smell human scent on the trap) set the trap down the hole, snap part towards the main tunnel. (Make sure you've attached a wire with a stake to the trap before this) Put a small apple at the other side of the trap, you want it at the back end so they smell it an go towards it, through the snap part. Then fill the rest of the tunnel back with dirt and put something over the hole to prevent light getting to it. We use a small piece of plywood or a plastic garbage can lid. Push the stake into the ground next to the hole. And that's it. Much less digging and just as good a catch ratio. These side tunnels are the ones you see on top. The ones with the splayed out piles of dirt. They use it to get rid of excess soil in their main tunnels. If they see them disturbed they will come and investigate and to plug them up again. Then they smell the apple and go further into the side tunnel towards the apple smell and that's when the trap will get them. You can only use a side tunnel when it's fresh and only once. DH goes around and checks traps every couple days or so in between April to July. That's the best time for success in trapping. The young ones are easy to trap, but if you get a breeder! Yay! Fewer gophers for that year! If you trap consistently during those months, you usually don't have to do any more the rest of the year. We have about 4-6 traps baited all the time then. This method can really cut down on your gopher population.