ruby came from petsmart this time but my others have all came from walmart in the past. the first one i bought in pa had dirty water and they didn't even have enough water in the container it was about a half inch of water that was dirty that is all. that one died sadly because of the moving to pa and back to nm am staying put for now and don't plan on moving anytime soon because it is so hard on my animals ruby included. the ones at petsmart were in clean containers with nice big holes at the top so that they could breath better. i hate seeing them in really small containers. mine was so happy to get into the 2 gallon round tank that i put him in with the snail i had(he has since died and left ruby all alone) picked up a ten gallon tank at a garage sale for 5 dollars hood and all then i set it up properly for my betta and now he is very happy in the ten gallon with plastic plants and decor for him to hide in plus one corner of free space for swimming. i take him out and put him in a vase and completely clean out his tank with hot water everyother week. i rinse his plants and decor in the dirty tank water first before i empty the tank so as not harm the good bacteria that has built up to keep the tank stable. he is doing very well have had him for almost a year now. i love him to death. and yes i really do feel sorry for the fish at walmart. i wish there was some way to get the stores to start promoting the bigger the better on the tanks when someone buys a betta. i think if they promoted bigger better tank sizes for the betta when someone buys one then they would actually make more money because the bigger setups cost more than the bowls and vases and people then would have to buy gravel and food and decor and such and they would actually make more money that way. but they don't do that probably because they are lazy and don't care. if they did then at least the bettas would have a better chance of going home to a nice big proper size tank to have a better life than they do at the store.

Seedmama - welcome, welcome, welcome! We really need more people from Oklahoma "entertaining" the butterflies with hosts and nectar plants and I'm glad to hear you are helping their cause. There are a lot of people on the Oklahoma Forum, too, that are interested in providing habitat for the butterflies, but not all of them post here. I encourage you to check out the Monarch Watch website as well. I am a Monarch Waystation, as is Linda and Sandy, and I live close to downtown in the older area of Oklahoma City. I "grow" lots of butterflies and sphinx moths, too, since I have a lot of their food plants that were planted here many moons ago (like Elm, Hackberry, Virginia Creeper, etc.). Some of the most common trees, shrubs, and forbs are host to a myriad of butterflies and moths. I winter sow a lot of my butterfly plants. Gives me something to do in the winter when its cold, wet, snowy, or icy. My seeds didn't do as well this winter (2006-2007) as they did last winter (2005-2006) for some reason. And, I'm finding that a lot of the native plants seem to do best just direct sown on the ground. I think they don't like all that rich potting soil, but prefer the lean soil they grow in naturally. Sorry to get off track here. Linda, as I said last night - your article was wonderful and I thoroughly enjoyed it. While they didn't mention Monarch Waystations, they at least provided a link to Monarch Watch which, hopefully, some will check out. I have to say (altho sometimes I get frustrated, disappointed, and tired), that butterfly gardening has given me much more joy than not. Susan

Sorry, I had not been keeping up on this thread. Thanks for the report, Ksokiegonnab. Gamebird, if the caterpillars are on parsley, then they are indeed Black swallowtails. If they can continue to eat with this "cooler" weather that we are having, they will wander off, and find a sheltered area to make a chrysalis. They will overwinter as a chrysalis, and emerge on a warm day in the spring. Moths tend to burrow down into loose soil or debris, and make a cocoon, to emerge in the spring. Betty, thanks for your exciting report of the Monarchs in your yard! Butterflies are very host specific on what they lay their eggs on. Monarchs only lay their eggs on milkweed. Snow on the Mountain is not in the milkweed family. Perhaps, there is milkweed in the alley or pasture nearby??? If you have parsley or fennel in your yard, the caterpillars may have been Black swallowtails. The tropical milkweed is easy to obtain and grow. It is an excellent nectar source, as well as host plant for the Monarchs to lay their eggs on. You may be able to find some native mw growing in some fencelines or pastures, and find some with some interesting seedpods, tobring some seeds home for a native plant area. As you increase your nectar and host plants in your garden, you will begin to find lots of butterflies seeking out your yard. Good luck with your garden, and thanks for your interest.

Well, I think the point of the article was that late-in-life parents have already acquired style and sensibility with their decor and are trying to adjust to a far messier life than what they, as former DINKs, had developed. I can relate because DH and I were married 10 years before kids. We acquired nice furnishings and chose a house that was totally incompatible with young children (office built into an open loft -- when DD climbed up onto the desk to get paper, I about had a heart attack; thus began the search for safer digs). That said, we have a very different philosophy than meghane. My kids play in whatever room I am in, and that's okay. It's their house too. We have no off-limits rooms. We have a play room where we store toys, but they are free to bring their toys into other rooms to play. Sometimes it looks like a toy store exploded in the living room. That's okay, too. Kids toys these days come with a million and one pieces and parts. Young kids especially have very short attention spans and will go from toy to toy very quickly. When it gets really bad, we clean it up and put things away. I keep baskets of toys in the living room so that I don't have to carry them all the way across the house just to tidy up. So they have toys in every room. It's a temporary situation. So it's a bit messy when I walk in the door, but everyone in our house knows that they are welcome. These are not bratty kids, and we eat dinner at the table, but it's also okay to eat pizza on the sofa and watch a movie. I can totally understand how yogurt got on the silk drapes. Mom buys silk drapes. Then has baby. Baby becomes preschooler. Preschooler eats breakfast. Preschooler makes attempt but doesn't wipe hands or face effectively. Preschooler follows mom into other room and starts to play in the curtains before mom notices yogurt on face or hands. Yogurt gets on curtains. This is why I have filk (fake silk) drapes. Everyone thinks they're silk, but I can take them down and clean them. :) I would hate to live in a house where I had to play in the basement and was not welcome in the adult spaces. And honestly, I find it hard to believe that 3 happy kids never spilled anything. Ever? Really? Accidents happen, especially to kids who (1) sometimes miss the potty because they're too busy playing; (2) spontaneously and unexpectedly vomit; (3) play with Play Doh; (4) play with Moon Sand; (5) Play with Paint; (6) play with markers; (7) like to eat their cheerios while watching 'toons; (8) like to "help" fix breakfast, lunch, dinner, bake cookies, decorate cupcakes, etc., etc., etc.. I guess I don't want my kids just to survive in our house so much as to thrive here so that when they grow up, they will want to come home. Often. And they'll know that our house will be a safe and fun place to bring their own kids.