It depends...everything seems to be relative. I'm new to African Violets too. My November planting of leaves went through so much with me...I decided to wick the leaves because I knew I had to be gone for a couple weeks. About half the leaves took six weeks to have babies, some a little longer and some a lot longer. My first flower appeared just recently. At one point I decided to dome half the leaves and noticed a big improvement with the doomed leaves and babies. What Montezuma suggested about cutting the peripheral edge--that's so true. I experimented with two of the same kind of leaves and same size, and the leaf I trimmed rooted and had a baby much faster than the leaf that didn't get trimmed. Just want to add, I purchased a Pow Wow plant and planted a few of its leaves. Those leaves had babies within about three weeks--much faster than all the other leaves that I had received in the mail. Pat

I decided to dig the plant that took the brunt of the frost but leave the rest. Here's what I removed: Here's the spot it was in: Here's what I dug up. I decided the theme song for sweet potato harvest is "Just Keep Digging" sung to the tune of "Just Keep Swimming" in Finding Nemo. If I remember right, I'm supposed to leave them out there tomorrow to cure and them put them in the garage or something for storage. Is that about right? Now I'm off to the butterfly forum to discuss the pupa I unearthed!

I realized I might be coming across as a bit arrogant in my assertion that bathrooms can be done quickly. Please believe me when I say my intent is not at all "look how fast we are, what's wrong with the rest of you." I just am baffled by contractors who say it'll take a month, and am trying to paint a more realistic picture of what I think is reasonable. We've had plenty of oops and rework along the way (there's nothing like tipping a wall frame up and realizing you cut all the studs an inch and a half too long), and as I'm typing it's 11:30 and Mr. Weedy is still finishing up the shower valve so the inspector can do the framing/rough-in inspection in the morning. Anyway, Mr. Weedy was the plumber again all day. He started with the tub and after putting together the drain assembly, realized it wouldn't work with the rough-in. The tub drain was positioned over the rough-in drain, but it has to connect with the drain from the overflow, making it 8 inches off. Plus that connection is typically under the subfloor, so we ended up having to build a 4" high platform for the tub and toilet to sit on, giving us enough below-subfloor room to do the drain. Here's the tub on its new platform. Other than some supporting carpentry, I was left to work elsewhere in the basement, so I worked on framing the bedroom (including closet and soffit) along with BIL, who's now ready to finish the rest of the basement on his own. :-) Kid brother, meanwhile, finished up the subfloor (another 400 square feet or so). That entailed moving a ton of stuff outside and then back in again. Fortunately 7 kids and 14 hands make light work. I suggested they do a "clean sweep" with it while it was outside, but we didn't quite get to it. Here's the clutter pile. And here's the finished subfloor. After dinner, sis put the FG batts in the walls. We showed them how to finish installing the tub wall panels after the inspection and before drywall. We're heading out at the crack of dawn to another sister's, who lives 2 hours away. We'll help her out with stuff for a few days (last year's Christmas gift) while the drywall guy does his thing. We'll be back on Monday to button things up. Fingers crossed for the inspector to pass everything!

I am 73 years old. Some 30 years ago, my BP started going up, and I was advised to reduce salt. I did it and monitored my BP every day, and watched it go down gradually but steadily. and it stayed down for a few years. Then it started climbing again, and I started taking anti-hypertensive medications. I now take two different such medications to keep my BP within normal range, and I watch my diet. Eliminating salt from your diet is very difficult because so many things contain salt. It's not just avoiding the salt shaker and avoiding salt in the food you cook. Most people do not know it, but milk, bread and most cold cuts and cheeses contain salt. Meats and fishes also contain some salt. The only things that contain no salt are potatoes, fruit and veggies, rice, grains, beans and unsalted nuts. You can accustom your taste buds to "like" unsalted food and, after a few weeks, you will find even lightly salted things too salty and wonder how you ever ate them. Depending on your personal situation, you might make life very complicated for the people you live with. If you decide to embark on this low sodium effort, make sure your BP elevation is not so high as to pose a serious risk, because you could do yourself harm if you do not get your BP under control promptly. Another thing to consider is that some people with high BP have a form of the disease that is particularly salt-sensitive. They respond especially well to reduced sodium intake. If your illness is not of that type, then you will probably eventually find that sodium restriction does not afford you the degree of BP control that you need, and you will have to start taking medication. Of you can try calcium supplements, but they can be constipating. The cheapest and for most people safest starting antihypertensive medication is hydochlorthiazide (HCZT), which is available as a generic and costs less than $20 per month. It's a very safe drug, and you will probably not experience any unpleasant side effects. Blood pressure control is one of the few areas where the drug industry has succeeded very well. The available treatments are highly effective and extremely safe. You will hardly know you are taking any medication, and the "silent killer" can be kept safely at bay.