Hi, rina. I know wood chips are different than bark, but I saw a nursery that was using these mixed with some alder saw dust. In about a year it turned to this incredible black, rich "soil". The guy as the nursery said it breaks down better and more nutritious for the soil and depletes less nitrogen in the process. The wood chips I was seeking are about the size of medium bark in nurseries. In retrospect, I am glad I didn't try that. Works great outdoors, not sure about containers! The black bark is essentially composted evergreen tree bark. I say evergreen because it could be a mix of a number of different types here in the Pacific NW --- hemlock, fir, ceder, spruce, etc. I didn't screen it, it seemed plenty loose initially; small to medium size in comparison to bagged nursery store bark. It would have been o.k. had I added the peat and perlite per the formulas given here. Screening would have left just the larger pieces, but that would be quite a chore for the volume I was using! I repotted some of the plants using the 5:1:1 formula with my black bark and those are doing much, much, better. A gardening friend said "Think of it...bark is like big saw dust. If you pack it down it gets as hard as a board". That is essentially what happened when I used the black bark alone without the the perlite and moss. ;(

Hello Glenda. Regarding the nightcrawlers, the best and tastiest ones, I find, are always on the bottom. I need to clear out the crowd to get to these more choice morsels. Having an enjoyable game of worm-toss breaks up the monotony of not having to dodge cats or be on the look-out for hawks. We do have toys, like several lattice balls with a bell inside each one. After a good feed, and poop, Bub and I will have a few rounds with the bells or some of the gifts Olive gave us. The Red Robin Cross has ensured that I am getting cherries daily. The daily rations change but cherries and blueberries are always provided. Cherries, blueberries, strawberries, cactus fruit (YUMMY treat), raspberries, pear, apples, assortment of grape varieties, apricot, banana, plum, peaches, watermelon, honeydew melon. There has also been several offerings of the fruit from the Mountain Ash tree, crabapples and when available holly berries. Bean sprouts and alfalfa sprouts sometimes garnish the rations. The cooked pasta dishes are very welcome. (Did I say that?) It is a mix of pastas, cookd veggies and fruit that is also provided for Olive and the other captives. Krazy Korn I believe is the product. There is another warm cereal mix that Bub enjoys eating but I find it a pleasant foot warmer. The mealworms and wax worms seem to be of equal quality and one doesn't need to get to the ones on the bottom first. They are all delicious and placed in several ration bowls so we all get our fill without competition. Olive mentioned I was looking a little round a while ago but since I have been working out I have trimmed up a little and am looking good. She even whistled the other day when she saw me. She is quite the hen! I have told her a match between up would not work but she has her hopes. Gotta go and throw some worms out. The small human should be here soon. Thanks for your concern, Glenda. Are you with the Red Cross or the Red Robin Cross? Barry

"You can't see me!". So cute! I'm such an animal lover, I'd probably raise chickens just to feed the foxes and coyotes. :=/ I know you can get live traps from the City of Edmonton in the warm months. Maybe tree guards are a better solution. Love your pics, Konrad! Ginny

Don't forget to pack that laptop for the stay. We'll keep you in more stitches than Dr.Richard! ***** HA!!!!! No laptop here so I'll be going thru withdrawl from online reading and posting and the various e-mails I get. More than that I'll be missing the Rome, Italy tennis OPen but I will be home in time to see the French Open, tennis nit that I am. I do have my priorities. ( smile) And nope, I won't be tip toeing thru the tomatoes in the near future, if ever again. One of the four quad muscles I tore never came back to function after the repair so that knee buckles all the time, besides which I'll probably have to have surgery sometime for my severe spinal stenosis, but I don't even want to go there. LOL So it looks as though I'll be using this walker for the near future, whatever that means. So I'll just have to enjoy being kept in online stiches after I get home again and can read here and there. Of course Richard will have me in stiches, and I mean more than sutures, b'c he has a wicked sense of humor. LOL Off topic as can be but I'll give you one example. After the left new hip went in last June I lost both bowel and bladder function which has been attributred to my being diabetic and sensitivity to Morphine and similar. When I told him that it took five people to catheterize me, which I'm sure he already knew, he calmly ASAP said: consecutively or simultaneously. LOL Richard is a Master of repartee and I gave him a book on same. One in that book that I remember well was when someone asked Ghandi what he thought of Western Civilization he said he thought it would be a good idea. LOL And so it goes and I'm off now to take a last drive to look at the wildflowers I can see from the car. I know the coltsfoot and Hepatica are out and I have Bloodroot here at home that's out, but I was hoping to see some early Trilliums and possibly some wild Columbine, the latter of which I also have here at home but here it's not out yet. And then to start packing since tomorrow looks very busy indeed. Sigh. Carolyn