Those are gorgeous, Xuan! Thanks for sharing those photos! One day, I will have photos of my own flowers to share... I can't say exactly when, but I have faith that Mother Nature won't let me down! While I'm slowly gaining confidence in growing orchids, I've had confidence in my writing skills for quite a long time. I'm only too happy to use that skill to help those that might be unsure, to understand that there is an entire world of orchids out there that are tough and adaptable! Most plants are rather resilient by nature, and can take a little punishment before they give up! So, there's really no excuse for wanting an orchid, but not having one! One of the ways I hone my skill at growing things is to start with young plants... that way, I can watch them grow and change, and I can see how my care affects them. But one day, one of these orchids is going to decide it's time to bloom, and then I'll have pictures to share... that day will be a day I'll celebrate!

From what I've read, there are usually problems with getting old produce at the grocery store - something about liability of giving away spoiled produce? I am making large new gardens in the back yard where I've had some trees removed, using the lasagne method. I started in Fall '06. First I lay down large sheets of cardboard (all plastic labels and tape removed) a layer or two. Then I spread about 1-2 inches of coffee grounds (with filters) I collect from the local convenience mart. I am still collecting these even with the snow, just piling the grounds in one spot and will spread them when the snow melts. After cardboard and coffee grounds, I then spread leaves and grass clippings - collected at the town composting site or the side of the road. I actually have over 30 bags sitting out there waiting to be used. On top of that goes anything - old pumpkins, debris from the garden, compost, weeds I've pulled (hopefully no seeds), ornamental grass clippings - anything! My lasagne beds are only about 6 inches deep - I have pretty good soil underneath already. But with the cardboard they are very effective at smothering and killing the Vinca minor and many other invasive weeds underneath - and adding lots of organic matter to the bed! Most of the work is lugging the materials around. To mix them up and make sure water penetrates, I usually turn over the beds a little using a garden fork after the weeds are killed, but they are easy to turn. I create the beds from Spring through Fall - and will plant them the following Spring. So I usually wait at least 6 months to plant, because I'm smothering weeds and prefer the cardboard and coffee grounds to be broken down. But you can make the beds anytime of the year and some people plant in them much sooner than that too.

I must try your "slug cafes" next year Cowboy, good tip on the dollar store baskets, I've got some rabbits here too. Iron phosphate usually works so well but last year it couldn't keep up with the pests, I so wanted to go to the more lethal slug bait but was too afraid I'd poison the birds and my dogs. Which reminds me just now of a nightmare I had last night, dreamed all of the hostas had come up, fully leafed out and I hadn't put any slug bait down! I was racing around like a madwoman trying to play catch up. How much sun is your Golden Meadows getting? It looks like it's in optimum conditions. I'm thinking of moving mine out from under a viburnum that's shading it a bit too much.

If I visited that site looking for homes in your area, I would skip it completely because it is not user friendly and does not offer all the search options a buyer wants. That could be part of your problem right there. I agree. In another post I said it was a vanilla search with no search options and it looks like it only lists their properties like C21 does. I do think this agent may be hurting her sale. Going with a larger firm with better features gets the listing to more places. I wouldn't consider extending with this agent. In this market, sellers can't afford to waste time and need to go with the best they can find. My plan is to talk to our present realtor and get a list of the houses that have sold in the last six months, tell him we need weekly calls to know what has been done to sell the house in any week, ask him appropriate questions on roselvr's list, tell him we need new and better pix and listings in the Pueblo paper, etc., etc. He IS a great guy, but I agree we're not getting what we should be getting at this point Since the contract is up in a few weeks, you can try to get him to change out pictures, fix the description and maybe post on craigslists, although I do not see him paying for enhanced listings at realtor.com. Id give him these last few weeks to sell it; then move on. Selling a house is business, not a popularity contest. While he's knowledgeable in the area, he may not be doing enough. I am a firm believer that the future of real estate is realtor.com and the agents that want to survive are going to have to use it. Think of all of the people that relocate from another state. Without an enhanced listing, finding your property is a royal pain. You have to go to google to find the agents web site, then since there is no advanced search option, you have to sift through listings until you find it. As Sparksals says, too much of a hassle, you would get passed over. I'm in the same boat as you are - 4 showings in 3 months; in my case I do feel my agent is hurting us. We've made the decision to switch; we're also going to put new counters in the kitchen. questions on roselvr's list If you are not close to a military base, leave those questions off. In our case, it worked to our advantage because I found out that someone that works on base is an agent in the office I'm considering switching to. One agent I saw said he doesn't advertise in the paper but would consider it after I mentioned that some older people don't have computers. I have an 84 year old neighbor that has a bi level and may be looking for a rancher which is what we have. Thank you very much for all your help, roselvr. Don't know what else to say, you did so much. Thanks again. You're very welcome.