Hey there ya'all- I wanted to give one last shout out for anyone still thinking about joining in on the fun- There is till the close of the day Saturday to sign up for this exchange- don't be shy and let this pass you by- Just post below before Sunday! If you have 1 type of seed that qualifies- just send in 5 packets of that seed and receive 5 different packets back! If you have more than 1 type- well you can send them all if you wish.... It is easy and fun! For those of you who have signed up- I will close this "New" invatational post- and start another "UPDATE" post with the same 3rd annual named variety/rare/unusual seed exchange subject line for us to use for the follow up posts on Sunday morning. I received envelopes from Romando/Amanda and JSelwa today! And I would like to add- this IS going to be a good swap for us all! I can tell already!! So many folks are digging deep to find their rare or unsusal or special named variety seeds- It can't help but be good for all of us!! Mildred- I do believe the smallest envelope received so far was about 20 packets- and the largest- over100! There really is no minimum- so no worries there! Have a good weekend! Julie

If it wasn't baffled and something was able to push it down the pole...it wasn't mounted properly. A raccoon that finds a meal inside a nestbox will always check out nestboxes it finds from then on...they don't forget. If she wants to have another successful nesting ever...she needs to baffle that pole and the baffle would need to be big enough around to wobble sufficiently. Not sure what size pvc she used to mount the box on. All my boxes are mounted on conduit ranging from 1/2" to 2" in thickness. They are all mounted using two one-hole straps made for conduit. I could sit on top of the box and it wouldn't slide down the pole. Hopefully she can get her setup corrected so she can safely offer nestboxes for the blues. Donna

TS Do let us know what the end result of this was and how you handled it and what the teacher and principal have said. As a former teacher I can provide some thought to this- Science in particular, I, as a teacher, was not fond of the book. I found that it was too wordy, didn't teach concepts and worked on vocabulary instead of 'science'. So I followed the idea behind the book but did my own thing. For example, the book might be saying now it's time to study plants and so we studied plants. We planted plants, dissected plants, and so on. Rather than teaching vocab. like many science books do, I taught about plants. The book was a resource. I am just going to say that the teacher may be doing something similar and this may be the answer you get from both teacher and principal. My only thought is that if this is the case, the teacher will be able to back up this method with lesson plans, reasoning and theory behind her actions, and student work that shows she taught them science without the book. Just be open to this but don't hesitate to make the teacher and principal back them up with words. The same may be true with math. I also think that very few teachers who do math make it all the way through the book. That is my experience in almost every grade. But I would certainly expect that the teacher would be able to show that although she didn't give a lot of homework or work out of the book, the kids learned what they were supposed to learn. (She may have provided worksheets or board practice or other types of practice from other sources). What I am saying is look for the quality of education and look for what your child has learned vs. looking for so many chapters in a book to be covered. A couple of resources you might consider buying and keeping on hand for future years that will give you an idea of what your children (through almost all grades) should be learning: William Bennet's book The Educated Child (I think that is what it is called). It takes every subject and discusses age ability, grade expectations, what a good teacher is doing in different grades and subjects and so on. It's a great resource. Also the books in the series "Everything your (grade level) child needs to know" are great. Ginger

In case anybody is still following, lol: I've been thinking of Sena's fridge placement concern. The fridge I ordered has a door that can be reversed and is actually 26" deep with door. So I think we'll try it for awhile where the current fridge has been, on the end of the short L. We can inset it into the wall with the door reversed so it swings left and, thus, won't crowd the person at the sink. I'm wondering if we do this if it will be back far enough to now crowd the line-of-vision to the window? We should be able to get an idea of that without actually before we tear out the wall to see if it will be worth it to inset it. Although i do hate to lose that long baking counter. But we can also take out the side wall to the broom closet and play with the fridge there. If we don't like that, I figure we can get cabinets to fill that spot. They could uppers and lowers with counter and a better landing spot/command center than I currently have. Or just a pantry. Might also make a good place to put a small microwave a bit closer to cooking area. Anyway, just mulling options. It will be fun to play with all this. Went to a big home show in the Big City a 90-minute drive away. Hoping to see some unique and interesting ideas. Well, that was a waste. Didn't really see anything any different or better than what I see at our HD. Bummer. But had a nice visit with my friend that came with me so that's good. Won't waste my time on home shows again if this is all they have. My next venture out-of-town will be to some of the bigger Habitat Re-Stores. I've been told that a couple have amazing selections due to being in areas more flush with cash and a lot of high-end remodels. After looking at photos online, I kinda wish I'd thought to check them out sooner for my fridge. Hoping to find some nice cabinet boxes in the sizes I need so I only have to order door/drawer fronts from Barker. I don't mind multiple trips for the right cabinets as this will save hundreds over buying new cabinet boxes. Wow, I can't imagine building a whole house. A kitchen is enough work for me!