Of course if you have to flame it several times before it gives up you will have to take several trips to the shop. Cardboard plus heavy mulch has never failed for me, although the soil stays cold longer in spring and the growing season is delayed some. You could even do clear plastic first, to warm it, then cardboard and chips.

well they do have some nutrient value, just not as much of a 'green' as folks usually claim, and they have the same value in the soil that any organic material does, the encouragement of bacterial populations, which is what really counts for making a healthy soil - I'd think that if your plants perked up within days, it's because of nutrients leaching from the grounds or other beneficial change like slowing evaporation, not worm activity, which won't be that fast unless you have hordes of worms in that immediate area, in which case I wouldn't think the soil would be hard clay or lacking in organics the microbes are what converts added organic nutrients to the mineral nutrients that the plants take up - worms are another part of that decomposer population, and while their activity in terms of burrowing around is valuable, their greater value is in processing the organics and microbes further along on the road to being the humus a healthy soil contains - the 'storage locker' of nutrients that preserve the nutrients and to a large degree, prevent leaching I think the value of CG's is about the same as any organics in that it's more bacterial food, but I don't think they're a "special class" that have particular benefits - my worm bins haven't processed large additions of CG any faster than [or even as fast as] they do large additions of anything else, and I've found that mixing them with something like carrot pulp works lots better - in fact worms go absolutely crazy for carrot pulp, which is at least as high in N, and probably higher in other nutrients, especially considering CG have been thoroughly leached with boiling water, and of course the carrot is likely smaller particles containing a better nutrient balance to get bacterial action happening faster, and it hasn't been 'sterilized' by boiling water for the nightcrawlers, any non-eisenia looking natives I've added to my bottomless bin have migrated [or at least not multiplied that I've detected], while the redworms thrive on the rich soil-less organc environment and breed like crazy - I'd expect that nightcrawlers serve a better function with their deep burrowing habits, and they probably don't really benefit from the richness of the bin as they're not "heavy feeders" like the reds - it's all very fascinating at any rate, and for me worms make a super maturing step for the food waste compost I make with my hot process bins Bill

We had the same probelm in our family, and at first no one saw any problem with two grandkids having the same name--one was a boy named James, called Jamie, and the other was a girl named Jamey. But now I would advise against it. The kids ended up being called "Big Jamie" and "Little Jamey" due to their difference in age and height and "Little Jamey" and her parents did not like her title. In fact it caused a lot of rifts in the family. Not to mention the confusion it always caused. Names seen so important when you're naming a baby, but actually there are so many nice names to choose from it's not a big deal. In fact we "re-named" one of our children when he was 3 months old, because we decided we didn't like the name we'd picked after all! If you can, suggest they leave the name Max for a dog (it is in fact the most popular name for a dog) and choose different names.

I would say squirrels, too, although they can really sound as if they're in the attic even when they're just on the roof... I did want to warn you, though....Last year we started getting a truly awful smell in the house that we couldn't figure out. We thought it was the plumbing, the septic...we had no idea until an electrician went in there. He said a squirrel (he figured) had chewed through some electric, got zapped and died in between the walls...well you can't move it. You would have to find it and then know where to cut the wallboard....he said most people just leave them. Decomposition is about a 2 week process... :( Like chisue, we had checked and could find no evidence of any animal having made a home up there. Just something to be cautious of, but as I said, even when they're ON the roof, it sounds like an elephant party, so hopefully that's just whats happening and they're not inside. Good Luck!