Rob - did you notice that they just topped that bamboo. It had some BIG shoots coming up that were wacked...I was so bummed. I work up in Banker's Hill close to the park but Sports ARena is a frequent lunch spot. If you haven't taken a look, go to the Walter Andreson nursery off Morena and take a look (but don't buy - way overpriced). Not to condone any type of stealing, but Oldhamii is about the most readily available and inexpensive bamboo you are gonna find. A shame to take the risk for anything, much less the bargain of the bamboo world. Let me know when you are looking for Lako or Atro...I have both in small format from Florida and Miss (I sure hope Jim at BambooPlantation weathered Katrina is good form) that I'd part with. Paul

GW bromeliad forum members are a very friendly group, it took me a bit of botching to get past the zone requirement but I do enjoy opening when I have a spare half hour  not very often. I am very wary of internet forums as they can be used to very quickly assassinate the character of other persons, we have seen it in the past. A good example is the ill informed accusations about Keith Golinski  then the apologies when he gave the facts. ÂSorry does not remove the mud! In reply: Friday 18 Dec: "It would be easy to name the perpetrator ,she is well known"  Yes it is me, Lynn Hudson, the Facilitator of the Council of Australian Bromeliad Societies, Secretary of Cairns Society and BSI Director  all voluntary. " i have let a close relative of her know of the matter"  Why has Jack not contacted me himself? "you bet i am P @$#^%& D of." - is a tragic waste of energy when this could have been sorted 18 months ago. You have stewed this in your mind until your accusations have become very dangerous. " there is the smallest possibility that the plant died ( ha ha ha )"  Jack it is alive and well. "i am not in the mood for any legal action that would follow if i did name her" - What???? What is this prattle??? " she is the secretary of that society ,would my complaint be acknowledged ? not a chance ,it would be a lost letter each time!" - This type of behaviour is not practiced by me. You do not know me Jack, I do not hide. I face up to my own actions and responsibilities. Sat Dec 12: " the plant of 'Montezuma's Gem ' i donated for the Cairns world conference ( it was donated at the Port Macquarie reginal conference ,and had a opening bid for some $250 to be carried on at Cairns )" At the time you said the plant was donated to Cairns Society for fundraising for the conference. "this plant was not produced for the rare plant auction by the person that took it up there ,and when questioned said she said had a headache and would worry about it some other time" - Jack did not at any time discuss this plant with me at the WBC or since. At the Auction Bob, my husband said there was an enquiry about the plant. I did not say I had a headache, I said "the grasshoppers made a feast of it", which was the truth, it was ragged. From Lisa "As for the woman who appropriated your intended auction plant, I'd be plenty steamed about that too. She's taking money out of the society's coffers!  Taking money out?? Previously not publicly mentioned is that I put in over $5000.00 of my own money into WBC18, not to mention time, petrol, phone calls etc. Plantsplus: "I would be asking the appropriator of the conference donation to return the plant to you" - I am happy to return the plant to Jack. I was hesitant in taking the tiny seedling in the first place as I have all sizes of grasshoppers feed on my bromeliads. " unless they want you to name names. Alternately send an open letter to the Brom Society in question (without a name) and voice your disappointment that a member would act so disgracefully."  This type of back door behaviour does not reap any good rewards. I prefer to work upfront and honestly. "Having said that we all know some people who will do anything to get a brom if they want it. I just wonder how many generous growers get "done over" by them just because they are too polite to "out them". These people are crooks plain and simple Â" - I am pretty well known as being too generous and honest. I seldom accept any plant without making payment. As Len Trevor says: "As soon as someone stands up to do something, there are persons who just want to criticize and knock them down. In fact these same persons are simply jealous as they are not as capable as the person who is busy doing the job." I was not paid to organize either the Port Macquarie or Cairns conferences. I also paid my own way just like every delegate. This also applies to attending BSI conferences and board meetings. Officers and Directors pay our own airfares, accommodation registration etc., but we do get free lunch at board meetings! We are volunteers. As Jack said "Ethics is now a endangered species". - Surely personally getting the facts up front before making accusations is ethical. I have just spoken to Jack. The plant will be up for Auction at the Darwin conference in April 2011.

I don't give money to MOST street people. I believe you make your choices in life. You want to drink, smoke crack, do meth, I'm not going to support you. We all have a relative or 2 like you describe, some worse, some better. I've always found it interesting that someone can sit, smoking a cigarette, watch me work or load the car or whatever then ask for money. Get up and go to work! But, that being said, there are several street people in Galveston I will give my last penny to. One is a guy who hangs out by the postoffice, he had a devastating brain injury several years ago. Prior to the storm he would wash windows but lost all his stuff in the storm and got ill. If I see him when I'm driving by I'll turn around and take him some cash. Most mentally ill won't ask for money though, and some will even run from people. In the months after the storm we had a big increase in what I call borderline people, those that kind of scam their way through life, they act sincere, want to help, are tooo nice and then take. But they have mostly left for greener pickings at the next disaster site. Being on an island you get to know the regulars, whose standing in front of Walmart begging then going to drink behind the building. Some guy tried to get money out of us the other day, told us he was working at the car wash across the street but it was slow and business was down. The car wash across the street is self-service, at least tell a good lie! Kansas City had people on the corners with signs that said they were homeless they held up when the traffic stopped. I told my cousin I was going to write one that said ME TOO! and hold it up when we went past. No favors were done to the mentally ill by releasing them to live on the streets. Some people will never be able to take care of themselves and they deserve our help and support. I'd feed my sister but wouldn't give her money no matter what she said. And advocates for the homeless discourage giving people money,they would rather you direct them to the charities and organizations. Tally HO!

I had four quotes for cabinets and all their drawings looked like what I had already but without the soffit as I am keeping the same layout. I had to add more drawers and tweak each of the drawings. I got quotes and then when the installation became too much last year, I held off to allow me more time to decide what will be my budget. I installed the recessed lighting myself and now I want to see other options with hiring my own installers. I never paid the people for their time as it was their job. No one pays me for estimates as it is my job and sometimes it is time consuming. One cabinet store really got me upset wasting my time as he would not even give me a ballpark price but told me he would be so reasonably priced and his price came to more than the Home Depot $33,000 install price for my 12 X 14 kitchen that did not include the tiles or the appliances as I have them here already. He should have paid me waisting my time as he promised that since he was a referral the price would be fair. The cabinets he chose for me to keep the price down were not even the style I wanted but he said the other cabinets I liked were too much. I do not want to pay way too much as I am in a townhouse in a very nice neighborhood surrounded by very beautiful houses but it is still a townhouse and someone will be willing to pay a little more for my townhouse if I sold but not so much more so I need to make sure I am upgrading to what I love within a budget so I can enjoy my kitchen. I have no idea how long I will be here but I love my home and neighborhood. I bought high end appliances (The kitchen Cafe Range instead of a cheaper stainless steel range) in my opinion compared to what others were buying in my neighborhood but I did it for myself as I want to enjoy my appliances. But I understand wanting to give this woman a gift for her time or some kind of compensation but you are not obligated to do so. I did give a gift to the Home Depot designer as I felt bad that the installation price was way too much for cabinets that I did not love but he worked hard on getting me what I wanted with most of the work being done by me with all the changes but still he spent time. Please keep us updated.