.... looks like you have all the answers you need. I hope you fare well. When I said no one has taken me to task for suggesting that an understanding of how water behaves in soils is probably the largest step forward a container gardener can make at any one time, I wasn't inviting you or anyone to 'take me to task'. If you really want to have that conversation (about how important that understanding really is) let me know, and I'll happily oblige you. Can you think of a larger step forward a container gardener can make at any one time? A huge % of the problems people come here seeking remediation for are directly related to soil choice as a primary, and watering habits as a secondary. When you DO get the soil right, you actually have to work at over-watering. If you can't water to beyond saturation at will, you're dealing with soil limitations. There is no way around that. And FWIW, how water behaves in media is governed by the laws of physics, so water DOES behave exactly the same way in any given soil in every environment with some minor allowances for altitude. Even changes in wind velocity and temperature don't change how water behaves in media except as it relates to the rate of evaporation or evapotranspiration. The term effort:return relationship takes into account the quality of the returns you get for your efforts. Some people simply spin their wheels year after year, going through the same paces and getting the same return for their effort. Others, who might be willing to invest a little effort in learning how to identify and eliminate those factors imposing limitations on their plants are going to leave the 'it's always worked for me' crowd in their slipstream. Best luck. Al

Update on the note. I took it back to the teacher. I told her I knew who the girl was and knew the mom would really want to know this. Teacher said she would. But the teacher also said that this note really disturbed her and the only reason she told me about it was because she is a parent, otherwise she would have thrown it away. I told her that regardless of being a parent, anything that shows a child is in danger should be addressed. This was not just a kiss, this was more than playing doctor and hopefully the girl's parents can now stop an unwanted pregnancy from happening before it is too late. I think my thoughts came across as some crazed parent trying to hold back and control too much a child who needs to be able to grow. I did not intend to come across that way at all. Our dd is a very strong child. She has asked for our trust and some independence. Basically she has been given too much freedom and is not handling it as she had hoped she could. Pretty common for her age. The schools have also told us to sit back and let our kids try to learn to be responsible without our involvement. In doing so we have set back and watched our child plumet gradewise. At our conference the teachers all thought her grades were not all that bad. DH was appauled. A straight A student all of the sudden getting As on tests but totally failing all other assignments, not turning in a 160pt project, is not what we would consider "not that bad". She basically slipped by and now as parents we are stepping in to say enough is enough and want to help her get back on track. We are going to help her with whatever she needs to get back the grades she takes such pride in getting. Same with the social stuff. She has tried to handle it on her own. She needs guidance without being told what to do, advice so she can see her situation for what it is and make better choices. She has to learn that when she breaks the rules there are consequences and as parents we have to enforce them without being cruel. We are seeing a patern of rudeness, lying, stealing etc that is really out of her character and she knows it. She just does not know how to manage it. She is going to her 9th year in fastpitch softball with us telling her that we don't care how well she does, she is there to exercise and have fun and be with her friends- none of which go to her school. Twice a week she teaches a craft at her old daycare to the toddlers. They get so excited to see her and she really does have fun. The teacher has realized that she is not capable of picking the project and setting it up herself so the staff will assist her. But primarily my dd teaches it. I fixed my sewing machine and since I might gain weight with chemo, she and I decided to make sundresses together. We may invite a friend or two over also. She was very excited. My sis sews- degree in home ec- and I took dd over this weekend and dd was excited to see all the patterns and stuff. DH also is so starving to spend time with her. She is so outgoing and he wants her to kayak with her. She and I talked about her developing a greater bond with him and she knows it would be good for her. Basically I have a wonderful daughter who is growing up way faster than she can handle and she needs our help in doing so. The discussion about my making my boyfriend wait to earn a kiss actually came up because she asked me about kissing a boy and such. I openly talk to her and she does tell me more than some kids tell. I am so fortunate we can talk like that. As for smothering her and the camera stuff. We live in a spot that gives our front door acess to everyone walking by. This is a huge temptation even to kids that she does not know. Everyone knows where she lives. We have actually been telling her guy friends that they need to be honest and if they want to stop by they need to wait until we are home, same with the phone. Several have taken us up on this and dh and I greet them and let them know that respecting our home shows they are respecting our dd. The good ones get it, the bad ones just don't care. With my being home possibly through Oct/Nov we have the chance to help her get her schoolwork, social issues and such all in order. She is learning balance and it is not easy but she is learning. Again, hope I did not come across as too freaky.

I think the best idea for backing up would be via 3 different schemes. one would be the firesafe in the home, with all the important info, pictures scanned to cd, etc. Freezer with pics. For the ultra paranoid, one can bury the said freezer and safe. Second would be the local bank, with everything that was in the safe. The ultra paranoid could make this bank in a different city, state, or country. Third would be the internet. There are many websites that offer strictly backup services, though I wouldn't trust them too much. I currently have yahoo and 2 gigs of space. With proper scanning of deeds, wills, itemised lists and whatever else (could probably fit low resolution pictures) which are then compressed into parts, encrypted, and renamed to something of less value, would be the best way to back up. Arbitrarily named files would make 'hackers' ignore them, encryption makes it so that only you can get to them, and web hosting services usually provide backups adding more to the redundancy. The ultra paranoid could locate this storage on the other side of the globe, or in space :D

"All houses of your vintage had terracotta/clay pipes etc and will all eventually need to be repaired or replaced." WRONG!!!!!!!!!!! The post says the house is 30+ years old. Both PVC & ABS pipe have been available and in common use for 50 years. In addition, there was concrete hub&spigot SV pipe, Borosilicate glass pipe, vitreous clay pipe and orangeburg pipe. The post also says the problem is a low point in the pipe where water is colleting. That standing water causes two very distinct problems. 1. It creates a trap between the house and the sewer which prevents the movement of vent air. 2. The standing water creates a barrier which restricts the velocity of flow which then causes solid particulates in the waste water to settle and collect forming clogs. Neither of these conditions would be remedied by religning the pipe as was suggested by Alexbar001.