hello Careytearose, I do post some pics on the tropical fruit forum. As far as tropicals go, they are still very young. Some of the more normal stuff, grapes, veggies, citrus, strawberries, boysenberries I've had awhile and are growing and fruiting like crazy. Tropical stuff, white sapote, guava, mango (going to be a test to not kill it), passionfruit, paw paws, cherimoyas, and other weird tastey stuff still need some time. I also have a small greenhouse for the 2-3 months a year it is cold, it is a swing arbor the rest of the time. here is pic http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/tropicalfruits/msg0116095916370.html?4 As far as moving, my wife and I have been in our home (40-50 year old home)7-years, it is 3bed-1bath. My wife just blessed us with our first child, a beautiful girl. If we are lucky, maybe a 2nd child in a few years. Two girls and 1 bath = daddy showering in the waterhose out back. If our next is a girl also, I'm in real trouble. We own some property near here in a mountain community (Z8) and recently had a water well installed. Once things get squared away, I hope to start planting there. Maybe in 5-10 years if we can afford to have a house built, the orchard will be ready for me. I also hope to install a gh to continue with some of the tropicals. I have even started some rootstocks to graft my existing cvs onto. -Ethan ps. do you ever pickle your nasturim seeds? If you pickle them when green, they are similar to capers, flowers are tastey too. If you like sweet taste, look into white sapote (casimiroa edulis) for a fruit tree, depending on your winter lows. Best new (to me) fruit I have eaten in years. Smooth "custard texture", sweet taste, fairly cold hardy.

Hi Marcus. Hope you are dealing with all the snow ok. We have some up here in Williamsville where I am but only got maybe 8" that has already compressed down to around 2 or so. Heavy and slushy, though, hate to think what it's doing to all my plants and recently opened bulbs. I don't get to Angola for much, but I usually head down to Sunset bay in the summer (apparently like faltered does). My brother-in-law used to live in Silver Creek. Not sure how long you've been in Angola. The late spring blast of slush is not normal. Be patient with the beds and just wait a day and the weather will change.

If you are looking to move in soon, you may be able to get a great deal - this is not really the hot season for renting. Looking at end of summer is toughest time. I 2nd the idea to get on top floor - quieter. Also, any floor above ground is less likely to have a break-in. make friends with neighbors. give your ph # (and name so they can't forget). Tell them to ring if you happen to get too loud, or if they notice anything funny - a loose bike lock cable happened to fall off my bike when I was carrying it up the stairs -- neighbor later put it at my doorstep. Also a nearby resident I didn't know but would say hello to told me when a couple cars got vandalized at one end of parking lot, since he knew I parked there. Washer/dryer in unit rather than in a laundry room will be a great benefit and likely worth the money. The best was an apt. with w/d in utility room off balcony, thus not inside apt. If they have "utility hook-ups," go for it - buy a used w/d combo, then sell the combo for a few bucks less when you move back out. They will give you a form at check-in: note ANY little thing, especially stains or other carpet problems and nail holes in walls. Get an experienced person to help with this. [when you leave, do the walk-through WITH the apt person and ask specifically WHAT you will be responsible for - they will likely then note exactly what they tell you and only that, and you will likely get more deposit back- they complained about carpet, but I pointed out on my copy of check-in form how I noted the poor carpet condition]. Map out and look at as many apt complexes as possible at once. Make notes so you remember which is which - otherwise they will all blend together in memory. If you pick the right roommate, a 2 bedroom can be more affordable and have perks compared with 1br. Be very clear about who will pay what bills, and by when. Develop a ritual for handing over the dough, like "I'm gonna pay rent in three days. Can you put a check under the fridge magnet in the next couple of days? Let me know if you'll need to be late so we can figure out something." Get close to work/school to bike-commute! or get on bus line! Get your money's worth out of pool, gym! Keep pets small, if any at all!! It is really inhumane to put anything bigger than a lapdog (ie max 20 lb) in an apt. Even some small dogs (i.e. jack russell) shouldn't be confined to live in an apt. The best deal can be an upper floor of a home, or a garage apt. Individuals versus businesses are often more cool. These will be hard to find, but you can find notices at college bulletin boards, as students move in/out at typical times of year.

well, having lived in an apt. in NYC, and had it broken into, I'll say this: it's not as bad as you think. For one thing, it depends on how much you have, and whether it's worth stealing. My roommate and I had small amounts of cash around (they took her $10 roll of quarters), plus some electronics. They didn't want to stop long enough to unplug everything. Cops in my highly Hispanic neighborhood said the thieves were looking for cash (since many of my neighbors keep a sizable amount at home instead of in the bank) or gold. Sometimes they do try to take VCRs, CD players, electronics they could stick in a shopping bag or duffel and carry off inconspicuously. of course, in your quiet building, maybe they will TAKE the time to unplug the electronics, but.. I think you'd be better off dealing w/ the securing of your STUFF in the apartment, than in investing $$$ in perimeter reinforcement for an apartment you don't own. What do you have that's really worth $$ to a thief? And then, how can you secure it? Electronics: There used to be pads and tethers you could attach to stuff like TVs and stereos, so that if they were removed by a thief, they'd never work again (and they came w/ stickers that it was hoped would deter the thief from testing it out). (also note that many electronics stuff is really not that expensive, comparatively, so there ain't much of a market--and the days of crackheads who'd be happy w/ $10 for their next hit have sort of faded in most places) Will you keep much in the apt. in the way of cash, gold watch, stocks and bonds, etc? Get one of those Sentry fire safes, and screw it to the floor of the closet, then pile the clothes on top of it, and take the key with you--don't leave it around in the house where it's findable. (when you screw those things in place, you can't unscrew them until you unlock it; or you'd need one HELL of a pry bar!) I'd do that before I'd pay for a safety-deposit box, frankly. Bcs then you could get to that cash, papers, etc., should you need them. And most thieves don't care about stocks & bonds. Seriously, what papers do you have that a thief would care about? If you're worried he'll get your credit card number from your billing paperwork, get a two-drawer fling cabinet that locks, and get in the habit of locking it (and carrying the key in your wallet). Bearer bonds--but nobody should keep those at home anyway. Savings bonds--too much work for most thieves, and he'd need an ID to cash 'em anyway. So if someone did break in, what would/could they take? For me, it was nearly nothing. The worst part was the damage to the door jamb. Remember that, even though YOU are away at night, your neighbors are not. In fact, they're inside that same house with you, and if someone tries to kick your door down while you're away, they'll hear it!! It's probably a window thief or a lock picker that you need to worry about. For that, try these ideas: *fire escape gate on the window ($500 when I bought mine; you do need the landlord's approval bcs it srews into the window-frame studs) *Medeco-brand lock cylinder--unpickable enough for most purposes And just in case someone DOES try to kick in the door, you only need a reinforced lock inside the apartment itself. In my city, we called them "police locks"--the style popular when I rented an apt. was essentially a bar that goes into a metal "cup" fitting set into the floor (you'll need landlord permission to gouge out a hole to sink the cup into the floor). Then the key slides the 45-degree-angle bar from one side to the other, and on one side, it can slide up, and the other it cant (locked)/. I tried to find a picture but couldnÂt. ThereÂs another style of police lock in which bars go from side to side; this might be more acceptable for your landlord. Because instead of digging into the floor, youÂll drill deep into the doorway studs (through the decorative molding) to install the brackets on the side. Doorway molding is easier to replace, and in fact he may require you to leave the lock in place when you move, which might be an advantage to him (except, of course, that the mere presence of the lock will make a future tenant think the place is unsafe). http://store.yahoo.com/853111/foxstylpollo.html I donÂt think you should spend so much $$ buying such permanent stuff for a place you donÂt own. Granted, w/ that low a rent, you may stay there for a long time, long enough to justify spending it. But your landlord may not allow you to mess w/ stuff. If he does, it will be almost guaranteed that he will require you to leave it when you move out. I wonder if youÂd be better off finding a way to assuage your fear; especially if itÂs really nagging at you. After all, you called it "an all-consuming obsessive worry." That sounds like something rooted in fear, and not necessarily in evidence. So, gather some evidence. Not that you should be stupid and never lock your doors, or live w/ crummy locks and a flimsy door. But there are lots of other people that burglars are more likely to hit (figuring that the other victims will have more valuable stuff than a guy who can only afford to rent an apartment in an old house). And, nowadays, burglars are MUCH more likely to work during the day, when most people are at work. You say this is a low-crime areaÂnice, w/ lots of people paying sort of high rents, chi-chi stores, etc. If thatÂs true, then you donÂt live among lots of people who are wandering around at 3am doing drugs and getting into trouble; not w/ that rent level (of course, there are bozos in every financial level). Anybody specifically targeting the neighborhood wonÂt bother w/ youÂtheyÂll aim for folks w/ more. Maybe you should take some daytime hours (lucky youÂIÂd have to take a day off) and go to the police precinct house, and ask to speak to the Public Affairs officer. Ask him to show you the crime statistics, and focus specifically on what happens in your neighborhood after 5pm. What sorts of crimes are being reported? I bet youÂll find itÂs almost no middle-of-the-night break-ins. And when break-ins are reported, what is stolen? What do thieves in your neighborhood look for? How much damage might they do if they *do* get in. How many other homes or apartments in your area have security systems? If most of them don't have them, it's probably because they're not really necessary. (auto alarms: As someone who lives in an apartment bldg in a densely populated area, may I plead: do NOT get a car alarm! Get an ignition cut-off instead--the car-insurance benefits will be the same. But I'm telling you, the ONLY thing car alarms do is annoy the heck out of the neighbors. Nobody looks to see whose car is being broken into--they all assume it's a malfunction. And nobody wants to argue with or fight a car thief anyway, so they're not going to interrupt them) (also, as for the home alarm, you do NOT want to have one of those go off and make all sorts of alarms and flashing lights.)