Lol - that might not be as unlikely as you think. I may be attending a bonsai convention at the CHI Botanic Garden in Aug. If I show up at your door with a leather roll of tools that look more like stainless steel surgical instruments than something you'd use on plants, are you going to let me have at your tree. ;o) Now you're on the spot, eh? ;o) I think I remember talking to you about your water being really heavily out of balance in the Ca:Mg ratio. With that much Mg in the irrigation water, you should be supplying from 150-250 ppm Ca, which is why I would have told you to add the gypsum. The vinegar was to neutralize the alkalinity & help subdue the natural upward creep of pH in the media your water would surely speed along. Sorry for raggin' on you. ;o) Topping the tree doesn't mean it will stop growing taller. You have multiple trunks and even the trees (stems/trunks) you top will soon put out another leader because the tree is SO apically dominant. I'll give you a short coarse in energy management for this tree: Because it is so apically dominant, that is to say the tree naturally focuses it's energy on elongating branches - especially at the apex (top) - you need to restrain the apex. If you don't, the tree will literally 'forget about' the bottom branches and they will die back. If I was to work on your tree, I would cut the top back hard, the middle just a little, and the lower branches would only get tip pruned. This 'balances' the energy flow in the tree and forces the tree to move energy to the lower branches. The fact that you pruned the top harder than the middle & bottom also allows more valuable light to the lower branches, which will increase their vitality and keep the tree from shedding them. When I got done, you might not recognize your tree (scary, huh?) ;o) , but I KNOW that you would have a clear sense that what I did was the right thing for the tree. When you prune to balance the energy in a tree or group planting, you almost always end up with something you wouldn't think was out of place if you happened on it in a natural landscape. Al

Hey, on 5/20/07 i was in my backyard enjoying the sun and i noticed that a hawk was circling over the backyard. I have an Italian Greyhound and he was strolling about so i thouht the hawk may have been looking at him. I kind of got nervous so i rushed over to him to try to catch him but he was having to much fun to come inside so he starts speeding around the yard playfully. As i'm trying to catch him i notice a still bird sitting in the open grass I study it for awhile and it hasn't blinked or moved at all, i gently touch its beak with the tip of my shoe to see if alive or dead because i often find dead birds but this one wasn't shredded. Once i touch its beak it opens and i relize the hawk was stalking the bird! I dig up a few worms clean them then let them soak in a little Gatorade for a minute and feed them to the bird. I look to see if the hawk is still around and it has perched itself on the neighboor's roof. The little bird being replenished starts to hop around so i think to myself it must be a fledgling. I let it hop around without any interaction and the parents start to react nerviously, thats when i discover it was a baby robin. As it hops closer to the neighboors fence i soon put together the pieces and the parents are panicking becuase the hawk is over there so i walk as calmly and fast as i can but i startle it and it goes under the large wood fence as the parent robins start to scream and squawk. I run to get a garbage can, a net, the stick part of a broken shovel, and duck tape. I now have a very long net and something to stand on to see over the fence. I swoop it in the net just in time and the hawk takes of from the closer part of the roof frustrated. Sure the parents are mad at me now but i couldn't just leave it there for the hawk to get it later. So i took it inside. That afternoon i put it in a Nike shoe box and went back to my other house in NYC. The next day i brought it to school to ask my math teacher what i should do because she has helped injured birds before, she upgraded its box to an office paper box. She recommened Exact hand feeding formula for baby birds and an eye dropper. A couple of days i bought a small hamster cage that fitted the robin well and then later i set out to find some worms. It is very hard to find wild worms in NYC but i did. As the bird got a little fatter we cleaned up the cage and switched it for a real bird cage. I let it out in my room whenever i'm not at school. It is happy as can be. I am currently trying to teach it how to eat on its own by gently pushing its beak into various fruits - I research what it should and shouldn't have. Tomorrow will make it a month that its been living with me. I do plan to give it the option of leaving, but thats after i teach it to eat without my assistance. It will peck and eat small insects that it finds on the patio in NJ. Well thats my story in great detail, hope i have some interesting comments to view in a few days. BTW it taught itself to walk in a hamster wheel which i took a short video of. (NOTE: It is no longer in the hamster cage) I'll post the link for anyone that would like to see. LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRflDdmRu0c

I'd remove pets if I worried for their safety--not everyone will be careful not to let pets dash out the door, or keep their kids from harrassing them, and not everyone will act with common sense to avoid being bitten by a caged pet. Loose pets ARE a liability if they are capable of biting, even if you think they never would. BUT, leave some obvious clue you HAVE pets like dishes or toys. That way a buyer can't later claim the presence of pets was concealed from them, a gray area about disclosures that could be stressful, even costly, if you hide EVERY clue to their presence. Also, though many on here have mentioned it, get rid of pet odors if they exist by cleaning, not covering up with air fresheners. Air fresheners, potpourris, and candles, are a dead giveaway that some persistent odor lurks, perhaps from animals, mold, or poor housekeeping. That includes getting dogs bathed, cleaning cages, and keeping litter boxes clean. Owners may not notice it themselves but believe me, buyers do.

When I was a teen we had a dog named Scooby. She was a great bed dog and would curl behind my legs and we both slept great. Fast forward a few years (sic) and now I have Jetty dog. He is 57 pounds now and is turning into a great bed dog - as long as he doesn't get there first. He is lots bigger than Scooby - but he is longer too and stretches out behind my back with his back against mine. We both have a fine sleep! Smaller Sage dog is at the bottom of my feet. Most times if they get on the bed they leave in the night and I miss them when I wake up (they go downstairs and each takes a sofa).