Way to go Kirk. We always help our neighbors & they help us ... that's the way it should be. I have to laugh at some of the stuff you got .... they probably couldn't understand the the look on your face as they gave you some of their "junk" !!! ROFL .... You have your own personal heaven , Kirk .... no one could ask for more. As for the "Pay it forward " - I truly believe in that . You've already done it with an exchange with me .... What I couldn't use - I forwarded it to someone who was excited to get it ... it was an awesome feeling. Don't you wish this was the way the whole world worked ? *sigh* You stay up there on Cloud 9 as long as you want ... you deserve it ! I couldn't be happier for you !!! ********* BUT --- If you hear Carol calling you --> you bertter get down --- > ........... LOL Dad is needed - SOMEWHERE ! hehhehe

Oyster shooters - that used to be my favorite drink. There was a sushi place in at the foothills of the Angeles Crest. We knew the senior sushi chef well enough that he never asked us what we wanted, and we never told him. Sit down, and unexpected, intensive, surprising things arrive. He liked having customers who would eat absolutely anything. Such as the shrimp tail, so fresh that the shrimp's legs and antennae were still moving on your plate, until it was whisked away, dipped in boiling oil, and returned to join its rear end in your tummy. Mmm. Anyway, we always ended the evening with a round of oyster shooters. I recall small sweet oysters, sake, tobiko, thin sliced scallions, a drop of chili sauce, and maybe a drop of sesame oil? I think I'd like to have one again, of course I'd like to be thirty in Southern California again too, but I can have the oyster shooter. Back to the water tasting idea. I think it would be a fun way to get everyone to hydrate well. But I'm really more of a tap water person myself, so I need guidance. If I asked you to participate in a water tasting, would you think "this guy is a total tool" or "not again, tasting water is so pass�"? Is there really enough difference between different brands of sparkling and still water to interest you?

When she was about three, we started calling our youngest child "Avalanche" because it seemed that wherever she went, things collapsed and fell down - store displays, book shelves, stacks of papers, etc. She is 23 now, tall, willowy, beautiful, educated. Never clumsy, actually quite graceful and athletic. Well...This morning she left to teach English in S. Korea for a year, Last night, perhaps as her parting shot, she knocked over a plant her daddy and I received as a wedding present in 1968, just as we were about to sit down to dinner! All our "big kids" and their families (19 of us) were here to say farewell. At the sound of the crash, almost in unison the big kids called, "AVALANCHE!!!" When the cloud of dirt/dust settled, you should have seen the look on her face. Every surface in two rooms was covered in black grit and we had to toss dinner. I have kept that plant alive for 40 years, given it away a hundred times to acquaintances and each of our kids as they married, sort of as a symbol of longevity. As big as the mess was (actually, still is - I have to repot the plant and clean the rooms) I'm oddly glad it happened. My little Avalanche is going to be gone for a year, and I am terribly sad about that.

The plant I worked on today is F retusa, a VERY close relative of F microcarpa, your plant. They like the same cultural conditions, share the same growth habits, and would be difficult to tell apart if not for your gensing fig's unique (to the genus) root structure. It might have been sold as a bonsai or a pre-bonsai at some point, but the owner had no knowledge of how to tend to it, so just allowed it to grow - hard to say. The tree I worked was a leftover from a workshop our club had. It was a tree no one wanted. I've had it about 10 years and have altered it significantly through chops (cutting most of the trunk off, then training a branch upward as a new leader). It was only last year that I decided to train it as 2 trees. Eventually, the larger tree on the right will hover over the smaller tree in a mother/daughter arrangement. I'll repot it next summer into it's first bonsai pot where I can start refining it. Like yours, it's a strong (genetically vigorous) tree, which is why I removed a lot of leaves and cut the remaining leaves in half to slow it down. Limiting its ability to make food by reducing foliage volume limits internode length (the distance between leaves) and leaf size, both of which are desirable for bonsai. Good luck with your repotting and the recovery. Let me know if there is anything you think I can help with. I've spent time in Montana, the Bridger Range, Gravelly Range, Big Timber, and the Shields River Bottom, and loved every minute of it. What a beautiful State. One of my clearest memories was being on the ground while bow hunting elk, and ending up within 5 ft of a 42" plus Shiras bull moose in full rut who was raking the fresh blowdown I was using for cover. That was a scary moment, but still a fond memory of time spent in the mountains & foothills of your lovely state, which also has a way of making you feel humble while traversing its mountainous parts. Sorry to have wandered so far from the OT. Al