can you send me your e-mail address. Mine is pldiatlwest@aol.com

The first sansiviera that I saw bloom was in an old restaurant in downtown Mobile years ago. The window faced west, the pots were overcrowded with plants, and I know they were root bound. And they were blooming away. If you wish to optimize the planting soil and keep feeding most of your plants, for a controlled experiment, leave ONE pot unfed and mostly ignored, and let it get rootbound. It may turn out like my first huge (and ignored) aloe vera plant, and when overcrowded and in intense heat, with only occasional watering, it shot up 4 foot tall spikes of lip-colored blooms that were truly awesome. It made me wonder if the plant was trying to procreate because it anticipated death!!! I'd be interested in what results you have with your MILtongue/snake plants. I think my big pot of them may have died with the record cold spell this winter.

Yes, we have some truly beautiful and unique gardens in the Midwest. One need only look for them, and they can be found in nearly every major and some not so big cities. The "coasts" should know that the Midwest is more than just a "fly over zone" when it comes to beautiful gardens! I have to be back in Indianapolis this year (for business) and will make a point of looking up as many of these gardens as I can. MacThayer

Find yourself an estate attorney ASAP. Do not depend on an overburdened public attorney to be your advocate; with the best willingness in the world, they don't have the time. Fees for an attorney on a probated estate are set by law; you will pay a set percentage based on the worth of the estate. The majority of the fee is paid **by the estate**, not by you, before the estate is released from probate court. You will have to pay a deposit, I believe, but that is a set percentage of the overall fee. Do not get a "friend of a friend". I once went through two estate attorneys on my sister's estate, a very simple one with no RE holdings, until I found a third attorney who wrapped the whole thing up in a month. The previous attorney had been twiddling his thumbs - the first thing you learn about probate law is that NOBODY is in any hurry, in or out of court - but after 16 months we were getting tired of the run-around. Obtain referrals from the CA bar association and check out the referral names' references. Do it now, and don't delay! You don't know what the other half-owner of the triplex is doing or what the legal arrangements were. Who's paying the mortgage currently? And if the finances were set up 50-50% the deceased's portion of the rents should be going into an escrow account as of the day of death, along with the estate paying its proportionate share of the mortgage every month.