Earwigs and slugs require moist conditions. If you can address that, the bugs would not find the area as attractive and probably leave or just die. Do you notice moisture around the window when you see them in the morning? Earwigs are nocturnal and look for a cool, moist place to spend the daylight hours, but you probably already read that... Some caulk or paint or weatherstripping might complete the fix, but without being there or at least a pic from the outside, that's hard to say. A tiny hole or crack is all it takes for lots of different creepy-crawlies to get in, like the crack between the jamb and the screen, but the conditions have to be right for them to want to hang around. Can't tell from the pics what the window is made of and don't mean to insinuate in any way that your home is in disrepair but if any moisture is getting to the wood, critters like this will show up. I would check stuff like that first, trying to alter the environment so it is less appealing.

I have heard of people trying to use worms to deal with human manure. What I remember from their experiences what that urinating in a worm bin will cause mass evacuation of the worms from the bin. They don't like the salts, it is too wet, urine quickly becomes urea which isn't far from ammonia that is way too strong for worms to deal with. So, this person gave up trying to use #1 in his worm bin. He was doing #2 in his worm bin but I suspect he didn't keep that up for long since you need to cover it to keep it from smelling and the bin would probably fill up quite quickly. There is not much research done yet about the ability of a worm bin to deal with pathogens that human poo can carry so I don't think I would want to go that way. If you are really interested in no waste living here are some sites to check out. http://www.jenkinspublishing.com/humanure.html http://www.weblife.org/humanure/default.html It will also cut down on the clean drinking water you waste. Here is a link that might be useful: humanure

cape I remember back in 1993 when I got married and my wife and I bought our first home, new construction from Toll Brothers. It was 2750 square feet, 2 levels + unfinished basement colonial. A nice house. The bill when we closed was $290K. We put 20% down so our mortgage was around 230 or so. Interest rate was 7.125%. Combined we were doing a little better than 86K per year, but not by much. When we first bought it, we were both concerned about the size of the mortgage. After 3 years, we were kicking ourselves for not buying a bigger house. Needed a larger tax right off, salaries went up. But we kept the house for another 10 years and without it, we would have never been able to build the dream house we finished last year. I think if the 2 of you have very stable jobs and an 8 month reserve fund (it used to be 3 months, but Suzzie Orman has convinced me that is no longer good enough), and you have great credit and no credit card debt - then you should be able to afford the payments and buy the house. Just remeber to factor in the TAXES and Insurance into those monthly payment calculations. The other thing to keep in mind is that when you buy a new house it won't look like the model. It will have white walls and require a lot of decorating and painting to make it look like the vision you have in your minds. Take a long view on things - maybe a 5 to 7 year plan - to make all that happen. Don't be tempted to start buying lot of stuff and run up your debt. Even though the market is in the crapper right now, owning a home is still one of the best investments you can make in the long run. It is also very satisfying to own a place of your own and shape it into your vision. It is hard work - but worth it. Good luck to you!

g'day, the yellow grosse lisse, is it open pollinated from heirloom plants of some sort of hybrid? i would like to be able to grow the grosse lisse tom's like we did when i was a kid easy to grow and big and red and juicy, but now seedlings bought must be some sort of hybrid the generally fail, where beef steak and ox heart thrive. len Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page