The first time I heard the hog story was from a popular recording of it by Farm and Ranch Magazine editor Tom Anderson, of Tennessee. His speech given before an audience of John Birch Society members was recorded in the early 1960's, and also contained the hunter and his dog story, the hunter and the bear story, and dozens of other great stories meant to teach and warn about big government. The 33-1/3 album with his speech, called "Bi-partisan Treason" was so popular because of Anderson's rich Tennessee drawl, and his masterful blending of serious warnings sprinkled with pointed humor and practical tips on how to help America head - off the welfare staters, Pinkos, and communists dominating both political parties in the early 60's. Anderson was a popular syndicated newspaper columnist whose "Straight Talk" columns were featured in many small town, weekly newspapers in those years. He was a patriot, a gifted speaker and I am sorry that he never lived to see the rise of our current Tea Party movement and candidates - he would have been wildly popular and appreciated today.

I am a little confused on this because in Carolyn's book, her recommendation for the size of the container for the first-and-final pot up seems tiny - "I transplant into plastic four-packs that have 2 inch cells", she says. Even if she is only starting seed 6 weeks before plant out, it seems like the plants would be extremely root bound by that time. ***** And that's the way I do it and so did all the commercial farmers in my area. And yes, they are very rootbound when they get put out and that's also the way I want it. And the roots are not as fragile and break as easily when transplanted as with seedlings that were potted up, which I've also done. I prefer seedlings that are about 6-9 inches tall to put out and yours aren't far from that already. So it's up to you what you want to do but if it were me I think I'd put your plants in as cool a place as you can right now and hold back on water and nutrients b'c in the next four weeks you're going to have huge plants as I see it. IN your MA zone 6 I think your last average frost date should be about May 1st, since in my zone 5 next door to you it's about May 15th, and I never plant out until about two weeks after last average frost,weather permitting, so for you that would mean planting out May 15th or so, so you'd have another month of growth on those plants. Another thing you might consider is taking some lateral branch, aka sucker, cuttings right now and I bet you'd have decent size plants in roughly a month, after hardening off. So pot up if you wish to; your choice. ( smile) Carolyn

According to numerous NET articles and TV commentor interviews, it appears that LG will not replace refrigerator doors or even offer to re-coat them when the coating peels within months of purchase. Short of people seeking out a law firm who is handling a class - action lawsuit against LG for compressor and/ or fingerprint resistant coating the only other approach would be to never, ever purchase any LG appliance. In the meantime, my comment is specific to the coating that peels shortly after purchase. To remedy the unsightly appearance, I sought assistance from a car wrap company. The technician will be ordering BM05 Metallic Cotton Teek Wrap and will install over the doors.

"It's the banks who refuse to part with the money even though we bailed them out." So you want the banks to resume making loans that may not have adequate collateral? The banks (and Freddie & Fannie0 are rightly nervous that if prices continue to decline the collateral behind the notes will further decline in value. It is a chicken and egg problem, since not making loans influences further declines in the market value of collateral. "Unlike the past it is now considered a bad thing to have other property's. " No, it is a bad thing to have "other property" that is mortgaged. The underwriting guidelines (for a long time) have required you show the ability to cover ALL your mortgages from YOUR FUNDS (without rental income) or have sufficient reserves to cover ALL the mortgages for enough time to find a new tenant. This is the same way investors have been forced to operate for a long time ((along with higher down payment to even GET a loan, PMI is NOT an option for investment properties. In the go-go housing market all sorts of folks thought that easy money was theirs, without the financial basis to actually pay on their mortgages. I personally know of folks that contracted for new houses, fully expecting to sell them at completion (or even shortly before). They received confirming mortgages by claiming they would occupy the houses as their principal residence (despite owning other houses they presently lived in and had no intention of moving out of or selling). When the bubble finally burst they lost many tens of thousands of dollars in down payment cash and settlements with the builders over failing to close. We old cautious investors are wary of stretching to thin since we have a decent amount of OUR money money tied up. There is no guaranteed return on RE, especially short term. It is a long term investment, not a quick flip (as many folks have now discovered). The 'quick flip' folks seem to have disappeared into the woodwork leaving someone else to pick up the pieces (often the lenders eager to make a fast buck also and transfer the risk to someone else like Freddie or Fannie). At least FHA has not taken as much of a beating, though they are also in trouble. I should still thank them though, I picked up two properties last fall at bargain prices that needed a minimum of work as REO after the previous owners defaulted and the bank foreclosed. The bank ate the loss (or whomever actually owned the note probably F or F), I ended up with bargains, and the previous owners have a badly damaged credit rating abd are klikely to be renting for a while now (and NOT from me). Banks saw any easy way to make money on lending and then transfer the risk to F or F (all the while being paid by F & F to collect payments by servicing the loans). The decline in underwriting standards at F & F only added to the problem (pushed in many cases by pols and 'community organizer's suing banks to make riskier loans or have their charter's revoked). Plenty of folks jumped on the 'easy money' bandwagon thinking it was a quick buck. They all made money while F & F went broke as the defaults mounted and the bonds from the banks tanked in value (at least F & F had Uncle Sugar to step in for them).