I wanted to check the link I used to use for how to capture snakes without danger to yourself or the snake and laughed when I saw there are now dozens of sites that describe essentially the same thing but darned if I could find the one that had all the nice illustrations that make things much more clear.I know it has been at least 5 years since I last looked at it and the history is two computers lost but the loss isn't major despite the lack of specific information. Get a large, tall garbage can with a lid and a long handled broom. Remove the lid and lay it close by. Lay the garbage can on its side close to the snake. Using the broom, gently urge the snake toward it and then sweep it inside. Turn the can upright and quickly put the lid on it and secure it. Call Critter Control (The dog catcher) if they accept snakes. Put the can in a shady spot until you can remove it to a preselected location for release. Get permission beforehand if possible. It is not a particularly good idea to put more than one snake in a particular can at the same time. Snakes can push themselves upward to their full length with very strong muscles so the can should be at least as tall as the snake is long unless you can be quick with the lid. A friend failed to determine this once and wound up with a snake loose in his bedroom that night. He was able to find it only after scattering corn meal over the floor and observing the track of the snake the next morning leading to the pile of his dirty clothing. LOL! His mistake kept me from making the same mistake but I didn't tell him that. Since there are now so many sites with the same info, I can only assume a lot of snakes have been moved in garbage cans. Releasing them is simple. Loosen the lid and tip the can on its side near a pile of rocks or other hidey hole. If the snake won't come out, use the broom to tip the can upside down and then onto its side again. The snake should come out if only to avoid getting dizzy. Roll the can away from the direction the snake is fleeing so it doesn't mistake the can for a hiding place. Retrieve the lid and leave. If the snake won't let you get near him with the can leave the can on its side that night with crumpled newspaper inside. He will be inside the next morning. Sandy

Tonight was Round Two. Arriving home from a shopping trip to Dallas, I went into the chicken coop to turn on the heat lamp to keep the keats warm overnight and there was a big old long chicken snake stretched out on the chicken roost. Of course, by the time I turned on the lamp and saw him or her, I was already past the snake and it was between me and the door, so I had to go back past the snake to exit the chicken coop. (sigh) Several "hysterical woman" phone calls later, two sets of neighbors arrived, gloves and guns in hand. (We have the world's most wonderful friends and neighbors.) One dragged that ugly old snake out of the chicken house, the other shot it, and peace and calm reigned again. I did call DH at work to tell him that his "snakeproof" chicken coop, as he has repeatedly described it since building it--most recently two days ago--is NOT snakeproof. (I wish it was.) I believe we will spend his days off attempting to do some more snakeproofing. The good news is that, for the second time in a week, a snake got into the building but not into the bird brooder cage, which DS apparently did an excellent job of snakeproofing. And, I hate to say that for fear I will jinx us and the next snake we see will be inside the cage eating keats. And, by the way, fresh, home-grown tomatoes are an excellent "thank you" to give a neighbor who comes running to rescue your keats from a big ol' bad ol' snake. I gave one neighbor a bagful and promised one to bring one to the other neighbor tomorrow after I pick tomatoes. Only six more weeks until the keats are theorectically large enough that a snake cannot crush them and eat them. Of course, it still will be a battle with the other predators, but the guineas usually can fight that battle on their own pretty well. Ada, my cousin's cat was picked up and carried away by a red-tailed hawk about 25 or 26 years ago....and then the hawk dropped the cat into a pasture and it made its own way home, a little scratched up and bloodied, but it survived. However, from what I recall, that cat pretty much stayed inside the house after that....and that cousin had a big snake problem as well, but with western diamondback rattlers.....I'd rather have the chicken snakes. Dawn P.S. If the neighbors hadn't come to our rescue, I guess Kristine and I would have shot it, but we would not have dragged it out of the chicken coop first, because we weren't going to touch it....and we didn't really want to blow a hole in the wall.

Dont you think that if they had left the machine alone it would still be fine today, other than the plastic squeak? I know as I said before that the old Calypsos had this type hanging system(and possibly GE) and I have heard the Calypso make the squeak and creak noise. As I told you before I hate to have something new with a "flaw" but I have also felt that sometimes I was too picky and would convince myself I needed to get it checked out only to be sicker(& madder)after service. A car for example, have a small rattle, carry in for service, they take half the car apart to fix it, then when you start home you no longer have that rattle, you have three more to go with it where they took things apart--now that is my luck--and I am thinking"Why on earth didnt I live with one small rattle but it is too late to back up then". Just go forward from here and I think I would try another one like you have. It seems like a great washer and you know that the LG made F/L didnt last you very long so maybe this next one will?. OH and about Sears using Electolux now instead of LG for front-loaders, I have always been told it depends on who bid the cheapest to build them. Not sure if that is true but I have heard that. Maybe you need to start looking for the 57 Lady Kenmore!

Dear lovehadley, I've never posted to this board before but I felt compelled to send a message to you. I'm an experienced stepmom of three. My stepkids have two different mothers. One BM is reasonable and helpful. The other is unstable and narcissistic. We have had to work very hard to keep this brood together - and I've learned a lot. I can tell you from experience that unless you set some boundaries and take control of your life, you are in for rocky ride that will definitely include an unwanted divorce. You are correct that most courts now favour 50/50. It's fashionable and it doesn't require anyone to make a real decision. However, it doesn't work for all children or all families. It won't work in your case. The BM is set on making trouble and the child is out of control. The current situation is bad. Moving to 50/50 would be better, but you'd still have an obsessive BM harassing you and a child in your house that you can't manage. Just imagine this child in 5 years, when he's almost as big as you are. Furthermore, your quality of life is just not good enough. You are very young, obviously articulate and you clearly have a compassionate nature. Yet your day to day life is all about your stepson and this crisis. You are going to wake up very soon and find that you're 40 years old and have wasted your young years fighting a battle that you can't win. You need to take control of your situation. It's not working and your fiance's proposed solutions aren't going to make life any better for you. He can fight for sole custody of this child, but he most likely will lose. Even if by some miracle he wins, the child will be opposed to it and he'll be unmanageable. Furthermore, the BM will get very liberal access which will be just the ticket she needs to harass you every minute of your life. It won't be much of a victory and it won't last long. I can pretty much guarantee that this child will end up living fulltime with the BM. Either he will demand it, or you will demand it, or you will leave and your fiance will have no choice but to relinquish custody. How you get to this place is up to you. You can continue to live in this nightmare until you walk out, or you and your fiance can figure out a reasonable schedule whereby this child can live with his mother, and spend ENJOYABLE, nonthreatening visits with you. Believe me, once the BM has this kid on her hands fulltime, she'll be VERY EXCITED about these access visits and she'll make sure that the child is as good as gold every minute. And, best of all, once she's dependant on you for the occasional break, her behaviour will improve dramatically. It's too bad that this child has a lousy mother and behavioural problems. But you can't solve this problem and ruining your life won't make it any better. All you can do is set boundaries for you own life, and then enforce them. It's tough, I know. But, trust me, it works and you will be much happier. The child will be happier too. It's bad to have an unstable mother. But it's much worse to be caught in the middle of a war and be swatted back and forth between two different worlds twice a week. Let your fiance read this email. Good luck.