Linda, I got the shovel pruning term from the rose forum. I admit it took me awhile to figure out it meant to remove the plant. Thanks, Tony, I feel very flattered. I have done a little more ruthless removal, but it has been too hot and humid to really go at it. All the common spiderwort is gone (of course it is not, but the big clumps are gone). I don't even miss it. I reread "We Made A Garden" by Marjory Fish over the weekend and was inspired to deadhead and cut back with a vengence. I did some research on a tree I had received when I was on the shade tree commisison for our city. At a Tree City USA shindig a few years back, a local company had free trees for us. We had our choice of golden rain tree or Katsura (sp). I thought I had the golden rain tree, but as it hadn't produced any thing remotely "golden" I thought I better check. I have been deceived. I have a honey locust. I have nothing against honey locust except that now I have a honey locust planted between a tulip tree and an European Larch. 3 soon to be too too big trees. Which to remove is now the question. I stand in the side yard and stare. I walk around the outside of the yard and stare and mutter to myself, coffe cup in hand, trailed by 3 cats. Hmmm. The tulip is in the middle of the side yard, my "speciman tree". It has a kink in the trunk (never buy at a big box store again), and it leans a little (I now always use a level when I plant trees or have the dh out there with his good eye). But it throws shade just exactly where I want it. Locust tree is nice, dappled shade, close to propery line, as is the Larch. Really I should take out the locust because it is too close to the Larch and the tulip because it is leaning and crooked. If I do it this year, I can probably do it myself. At least the Locust. I don't think I have the will to take out 2 trees. I dithered for years whether I wanted a speciman tree in the center of the side lot or a formal pool. I finally decided on the tree because of cost and I like shade gardening. Maybe now I will get my formal pool, though cost is still a hinderence, especially now with ds in college. What to do, what to do. I see more dithering and muttering in the side yard.

Hey--what constitutes and "American" car these days anyway? Many of the Fords and Chevys (how does one pluralize "Chevy?")are made in Canada or Mexico--while Honda makes most of it's cars sold in the USA here IN the USA. And, of course, Chrysler is now DAIMLER Chrusler--and a German company... Our 2001 Odyssey is also paid for. I hope to drive it for a few years more. If anyone is looking for a LITTLE car-be sure to look at the new Honda "Fit." Elder Son took an internship away from home this summer and needed reliable transport. We might have gotten him a Fit if we could have secured one in the limited time-frame we had. Though perhaps not. We always hesitate to purchase a car it's first year out...and then DH and I feel there's something WRONG about giving a kid a new car...weird prejudice from OUR up-bringings, perhaps. I didn't have a NEW car until my FIRST minivan. (1992 Villager...) As it was, we picked up a used 2005 Scion aB with fewer than 10,000 miles on it. It's in our name--we just let him use it. We'll probably give it to him when he graduates college in 2007. It's a lot of fun to drive-and relatively safe for a small car. I just wish it had the side curtain airbags that the Fit has. Ah well, it DOES have ABS. And it got 39 mpg's on the highway when he drove it up to Cincinnati. melanie

I would also not ship animals by cargo. If you can take them on board and stow them under the seat, that is one thing, but in the cargo hold is just too traumatic for animals IMO. My mom took a cat cross country by plane, years back. She made him an on-board reservation, and bought the under seat kennel from the airline. He was sedated and it was still pretty rough for him. Her first flight was on a puddle-jumper from a small town airport to a big INT airport; on that short flight he had to go in the cargo hold because there is no door on the crew compartment and they can't risk having an animal get loose somehow and distract the pilot. The small airline crew were so good with him, loading him last, and since it was a small plane he was unloaded on the tarmac when she got off the plane and immediately handed to her. The crew was very cautious with him and verified that he did belong to her as well. Even so, mom said he was so very cold from his very short time in that cargo hold, and she felt so badly for him. I would opt for taking them on the drive. Get a big crate and stuff it with familiar blankets and such; they will be comfortable and hopefully settle in for the long haul after a short time. Good luck.

OK, here's the secret to getting a killer deal on Uhaul. first, forget about online reservations. call up the reservation center 1-800-go-uhaul number and give them your name, phone number (your real phone number) and when you need to rent the truck and get a quote but tell them to call and follow up with you. Someone always does anyway but just ask. The person that calls is a closer. They will do whatever it takes to close the deal. When they call, tell them you haven't made a reservation yet but just got a quote that was half the price of theirs from Penske or Budget (Don't say Ryder because they don't rent to the public anymore and don't say Budget if you need trailers since budget doesn't rent them. You can say Enterprise if you're only calling about a small cargo van- they only rent the box trucks to businesses or for local use only) Without any haggling or further negotiations, the guy will say "hmm let me see here... OK we can do it." Don't hesitate another minute and give the man your credit card number! I've had my share of u-haul frustrations but the fact remains you cannot beat their prices and they do keep their fleets in service until they're ready for the crusher that's why their prices are low. I think they hire ex-cons straight out of the big house also but hey, it's a bargain. They're not all bad. The center here installed a new hitch on my truck for $5 the morning of my move. The service usually is pretty good but patience.... patience is the key. Another tip, The size guide will say that a specific truck or trailer will hold X number of bedrooms, multiply that by 3 and and that's how many trucks and trailers you need. Their decks heights are only two feet also which is nice. So is Momma's attic. One very STRONG WARNING about Budget... If you've had any traffic citations in the last 3 years, have them run your license before you make your reservation. They told me once that if you have had 3 more more tickets in the last 3 years they won't rent to you but the morning of a trip, I went to rent a car, walked all the way to the place, then they said sorry we can't rent to you even though I didn't have that many tickets. Better yet, don't rent from them, they're a bunch of bstrds.