Hooray, its raining , and a real live Northern California rain it is too, with water running in the gutters and the snails waiting in the wings. Lookin like rain and showers through Monday. I can put away the hose, and get out the Sluggo. What a nice bunch of posts today..perfect for a rainy evening with NO baseball, nor is there baseball in the foreseeable future. I have one big pile of books waiting for me. Since I will be forced indoors over the weekend I shall ponder the chores needed in that venue..I think some heavy duty cleaning will be in order, and maybe a bit of cooking . Ill be heading into another one of my ten day work week gigs starting Monday so a couple of dishes laid by will be helpful . Martie, how very uncomfortable to have the lay-off victims still around. In our company they get their checks and a packet and are walked to their car, even if they are rehireable. It seems a bit cold ( and not pleasant if you are helping them pack and providing the escort service ) but it does limit the exposure of people who might be bitter, angry ,crying etc to the employees who still have their jobs and are also nervous and upset. I am in active finger crossing for Rich what tough times it is out there for those in his line of work. I LOVE your cool Thanksgiving arrangement ! Chelone, for your goulish pleasure : The Ghost Map , by Steven Johnson, the 1854 London cholera epidemic Deanne, I only prune back the begonias if they are too ungainly for the location I have to put them in. It rarely gets below 55 degrees in the house over the winter and the biggest issue is the light. Our winters can be quite grey and the begonias tend to get tatty looking if they are not getting bright light. Im going to put the smaller ones upstairs in my boudoir this winter (i.e. those in 6 or 8" pots) because I have a western exposure there. I have never had problems with insects at all. My plants will be in the house from the first frost (still to come here) and I usually put them back out in March or early April. We Catholic kids know that Halloween is All Hallows Eve aka the eve of All Saints Day on Nov 1st . The 31st is All Souls Day ..ergo the feast of ghosts, spirits etc. PM, I love the pic you posted today do you know where it was taken ? The photo yesterday was my BILS house in Portland. I wish I had b-4 pics to show you; it was in quite a state when they moved in. The photo below is from last Christmas, and the pic I took last weekend is to the right. This will give you an idea of the front of the house. It does have a modern look. Woody, thanks for posting the b-4 house view , wow , what a difference. The bow front window is recognizable but thats about it. Wonderful transformation. Marian, thats a neat little coat on your DS too-bet it was wool. I dont remember you living in Nevada ? Were you in the mountains or at lower elevations ? Michelle, our street sweepers only manage to get to each neighborhood about once a month. This is a city revenue issue and since we have actual street quality problems (potholes etc) the budget tends to go in that direction. Jerri, Im glad you are researching and seeking various methods of control for your health problems. Though diseases are real and often serious, it always amazes me what a positive and pro-active attitude can do to help people improve quality of life and enjoyment of life. I have seen so many people just give up in the face of such things, many of them minor. Though the things happening in our bodies are sometimes out of our control, the things in our mind are not. Stay strong and hang tough ! ..Oh and I am reassured to know that somewhere , someone is actually buying a house ! V, I love that chair. Sort of a contempo-looking wicker..very nice ! Following the drift of the Tuesday night gathering..very exciting. The last gathering I went to like that was at the Ambassador Hotel in LA in June of 1964 . We could not get inside. That evening did not end well. Looks like this is number 100, and since you guys are probably all in bed, I may start the next Kathy in Napa Christmas Day 2007 From 2007_12_25

Kind of have to jump in again and open my big mouth and most likely put my foot in it, getting ready to duck under the computer desk, lol. It is no big secret on this forum that I am a nature lover and do my best to live WITH nature, I would much rather have their company than a perfect garden. But I am also practical when it comes to nature, I am a naturlist, a conservationlist, and sure no where near what meets PETA's standards. The reason I'm writing this is just last week my God daughter brings me a baby cottontail that her boyfriends cat got and with weepy eyes, asked me to raise it as a pet. I had to be cold hearted, I told her it was fully furred, eyes open and hopping quite well so go turn it loose in the back pasture. Here are the plain cold facts about rabbits. That tiny little rabbit hopping on your lawn is on its own, Mamma abondoned him in order to raise a new litter, she breeds right after giving birth, so when one litter is 4 weeks old, she has a new one. She breeds like a rabbit because most of the young she produces will be killed, that is natures way. If they were not killed, we would be up to our eyeballs in rabbits like they are in Australia where they are an introduced species with no natural preditors. Another fact, the nest you find is not abondoned by Mamma, she only feeds her young once or twice a day, her presents brings on preditors, so she stays away from the nest. Not seeing Mamma feeding does not mean the nest is abandoned, leave it alone. So while I do not do anything to discourage rabbits on my property, I also do nothing to protect them. Let my hawks, snakes, cats, raccoons, whatever, keep the numbers down. If I see a little baby, I leave it. And if I find a nest, I just leave it be. I still have rabbits, always have, always will, but never enough to cause me much damage, just enough for me to enjoy. I take this attitude with all of nature. I educate myself about the animals that share my home and take proper measures from there. I know it's so easy to fall in love with the cute and cuddly and hate the ones that offend your senses. But it's education that leads to a more proper balance. Hey, if I hadn't researched those totally gross, ugly things eating my rue, I wouldn't have my beautiful giant swallowtails today. And how many of you actually think a preying mantis is cute other than me? Sigh, going to get off my soap box hoping I made you understand that nature has a place in all gardens, but it's up to you to educate yourself on the facts of the particular animals that share your world. In doing so, you might be surprised.

Thanks everyone. When I bought my house in Wauwatosa Wisconsin in 1989 there were lots and lots of challenges, But what drew me to the house was the tree out front and I think the tree in front of this house with the three trees out back are helping balance out the blue countertop and carpeted bathrooms. This was what the tree in Tosa (city's nickname) looked like originally. I had it pruned which I had to do because I had the house trim and gutters painted and put on a new roof and the lower back tree branches were dead. I would be staying here at new place for 13 months or so. Right now the current rental home lease ends on December 31st 2008 but I have to negotiate for more time. If you all were landlords what would you think about the offer of leaving a newer washer and dryer instead of the full rent? I could buy a new set if I ever needed to in the years to come. Or shall I just take them with me and store them in the garage until the next house? Another advantage of the new rental house is that the home has no mortgage so if the owner wants to do improvements he has lots of equity to work with. The new landlord lives in Chicago. I think his mother lived here and he grew up here. There are all these pencil markings with names on a kitchen wall. I think I would take a picture of that wall before I paint and send it to the owner in Chicago. Now I will have to read up on how to take care of orange and lemon trees and when to pick the fruit or see if there is a reasonable tree care company. I do have a guy who comes here and cleans up after the dog in the yard. He comes every 2 weeks for $29 a month. I can have him come once a week for $44. That's an awesome service they have here. It works here because it never snows and hardly rains and the doogie doo dries up super fast. It's like picking up rocks. My daughter reminded me that I love to do projects. I love decorating and fixing stuff up. I will certainly pace myself and not overdo it. But first I have to be accepted by the new landlord. Wish me luck. If I get this place I will take and post interior pictures and take measurements so I can start to figure out where everything goes. Right now it appears that my glass top small kitchen table and 3 leather chairs from Pier One will not fit in the kitchen so I may move them outside. And of course this art piece - where it will go. This will be fun! While my friend in Tosa thinks moving now is too stressful for me, I think it might be just the thing to help keep me creative and focused on more positive things instead of my pain and side effects which will get two-three months from now. Plus by the time I have my surgery in June I should have everything in place. Thank you. Eileen in Phoenix

OK - this is getting really creepy - like the Twighlight Zone. Yesterday my DH filled the yellow jacket's hole with gravel, and then I dumped a lot of dirt on top of the gravel, so the plants in that bed would not take offense. Today I was working nearby in the garden, and happened to look over towards where the hole used to be. It was back! No sign of the gravel, or of the dirt - just the hole even bigger than it was in the first place! I went running in and told him the yellow jackets had come back and emptied it out. He came out and said no, it was some sort of digging creature (take your pick - raccoons, skunks, squirrels...). He went and got a lot more gravel, and a heavy metal digging thing, and poured the gravel in and tamped it down, repeat several times. He says that even our digging critters will not be able to dig it up. I sprayed it with "critter go away" spray. I believe him intellectually, but a small part of me thinks that the yellow jackets have magic, and will keep coming back....... Jackie