Kevin, I think you're absolutely correct. Most of the books I read when I was coming along were for people with greenhouses. Even the Rebecca Northen "Home Orchid Growing" assumed that the home grower was using a greenhouse! And sadly, many of the newer books have just translated practices that were valid for greenhouse growing without saying much about the whys and wherefores. The worst reason (in my own orchid society) for using a fan I ever heard was because that's what they get in nature. What tiarella said about breaking up air and providing slight movement is very valid - no one contests that orchids dislike stagnant air. But there's a huge difference in fanning your growing area so the little leaves wiggle the way they tell you to do it in books, and providing a little gentle air movement in the entire room. This is why Jack Kramer suggested that natural currents would probably be sufficient. He seemed to understood our tendency to overdo. So truth be told I put a small circulating fan on unless humidity is really awful, but only to provide the slightest movement of air in the overall room. The higher the humidity the more air movement I provide. And in my space it almost never amounts to fans blowing directly onto plants or enough even to move the thinner leaves of an oncidium. What I do is suspend a length of thin twine over the edge of my light fixture, hanging down to the level of the plants. If that moves a little, that's enough air movement for moderate humidity. To see leaves move, you want humidity at least 60-65% I'd say. John

Now, view1ny, I'm not saying you should go hog wild or anything...but...I'm trying to do my part to bolster the flagging rose nurseries and economy, lol! Vettin, we got the little greenhouse at ACO Hardware but I also know it's available at Spray-n-grow's web site and other places. I don't know what you mean by a shady overhang. There is a standard overhang along our wall but it does get full sun (what little there is in winter here) all day. I do dig out under performers and pot them up to see if they'll improve and replace them with newer or stronger ones. I'm terrible at shovel pruning. I figure if they manage to live through the winter who am I to toss them out. I have a soft heart. But if something is still a dog after going in a pot, out it goes. BTW, I have written a couple papers on how I do all the rose pots and winterizing. If anyone is interested in either of them I can email them to you.

I ran out of jugs this time for the first time ever - I guess I didn't plan well this year. So I: Asked co-workers to save them for me. Put a post on freecycle.org. Am considering recycling bin raids. The first two options are working out well. The third... well I just can't get the nerve up, lol. I probably told this story somewhere here already, but down the street is a house that every week has about a dozen milk jugs put out in their recycling, all clean and nicely tied together. Many is the time I've contemplated stopping and grabbing them. One grab and I'd have a bunch all at once. And yesterday, they had TWO dozen jugs! Why won't I do it? The man who lives there is crazy. It is known in the neighborhood that he harrasses his next door neighbor, to the extent that windows have been broken, the people have motion sensor lights all over their house, and the police have been called numerous times. Why, I'm not sure. But the last thing I want is this nut writing down my license number and/or following me home. I'm not sure that a few dozen nice, clean milk jugs are worth slashed tires.... ... but I'm still debating whether they are... :) Dee

The only way I can keep track is by keeping a "list". I make a Penzey's run periodically and I keep a little magnetic pad of paper on my fridge. As I use a bottle that's getting close to empty, I add it to the list and then I can take it with me when I go shopping. It works most of the time, the only problem is that I have to store the unopened one somewhere while I'm using up the last of the current one and I'm pretty short on storage space. Spices I use a lot of, like cinnamon, I buy in bags and then refill my bottles. But, to address your original question, I haven't found a spice rack that works for me, I put all my spices in a drawer in the kitchen. I put labels on top of the jars but they peeled off, so now I store the jars on their sides so I can see the labels. Works until the jars roll over... Annie