Just to throw something else in here on how ignorant we as Americans are and how with out question we will buy and consume products just because we trust the source or we just do not care. Thankyou to those concerned about this issue who have posted here. I am proud to be a certified Organic grower therefore I want nothing to do with GMO for me, or my familiy ,or my customers. The link below is an article on GMO potatoes. I tried to find another article about a law suet with Mcdonalds but I couldnt'. Bottom line Mcdonalds and Burgerking have been serving GMO potates for nearly 10years in America till it came to light thanks to concerned groups which sued. Mcdonalds as a settlement in the suet to squash the issue before it became too public decided to stop using GMO potatoes rather than have a public backlash. If it were not for those who are concerned you would still be eating GMO potatoes. GMO potatoes that contain a herbiced tolerant gene (roundout) and a bacterial pesticide(BT). It is one thing to spray or coat our food with a toxin. I use BT the organic natural bacteria. But I at least have the option to wash most of it off, But to put that same pesticide in each and every cellof the plant I intend to eat I can not handle. I have not eaten at any national fast food chain in over ten years and am proud of that fact. I also will not and have not shopped at any big box store in nearly two years. I will not be a hipocrit and say one thing and do another. I want to know what I am feeding to my grandchild and family and I want to support my country by buying American and local grown food. and products. Rodger

.. gardengal48, Thanks for the reply. I donâÂÂt have the resources to invest in a rain garden right now. All but one of our downspouts empties on to our property either directly or across the driveway and then onto the grass. IâÂÂll divert the last one from the street before the season starts in earnest. The lawn out front slopes away from the house and IâÂÂve noticed when IâÂÂve left a sprinkler on too long during my weekend deep watering routines it will leak through crack in the pavement to the street and quite some distance from the sprinkler. We have a winter rainy season and remain pretty dry the rest of the year. So we get a lot of rain during one season and our soil out front just isnâÂÂt holding it in. I planted a couple of trees out front and I think thatâÂÂs starting to do the trick on one side. The other side has an old tree right smack in the middle. IâÂÂve been propagating California poppies from an 89 cent pack of seeds I bought as an impulse buy in a drug store some time ago. I threw some seeds around when we first moved in and from the couple that thrived we now have them spreading about as I harvested the seeds over time. I go around and trim them in an attempt to keep them going all year long so their taproots keep running deeper and become more substantial. Time to spread a bunch of the seeds I saved now that itâÂÂs the end of November. One of these days IâÂÂll find some other suitable natives to plant. Native California plants offered are often Northern California and not always suited for our hot dry spot between the desert and the coast. For gardening IâÂÂm probably going to go down the container path. Our garage is in the back so a lot of ground is taken over by concrete. The rest of the yard was already planned and planted when we moved in and the open grass area is needed for the dogs. I havenâÂÂt figured out what to do with the lawn out front. IâÂÂm having troubles with the âÂÂwell conceivedâ part. In the meantime I keep the watering to a minimum and alternate between grass cycling and harvesting grass clippings for feedstock in the digesting bins I maintain for our yard clippings and kitchen scraps. to sense ..

Token, You put in the operative word : YET. I ordered I haven't order from them since early 2007. Too many issues with my order. Customer service was scripted. In today's economy, that is not good. Quality items, decent prices and good customer service go along way. That is why I order from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. Good prices, very generous amount of seeds, freebies and reasonable shipping prices and times.

DH and I have the paper organization divided. I keep the things like manuals, kid's papers, health insurance, etc. in small hanging folder baskets on top of a bookshelf. DH keeps track of monthly bills and investments, etc. He has a cubbie hole system on top of one of his desks and items are divided up into those cubbies. That way he can easily find a current bill, the stack of donation places when we review in December, etc. We each have home office spaces in this house, but in our previous house I just kept things on the top of the cabinet in the formal dining room. It wasn't pretty, but it was easy to use. We keep no paper in the kitchen. Paper and kitchen counters just don't mix for us. DH use to open the mail and then restack it right next to the stove. Harping on him didn't change that, so I gave him a couple of warnings that anything paper piled on my counters would be trashed. I told him that I didn't keep my pots and pans stacked on his desk, so using the food prep space for paperwork was making my life difficult. After having me throw away all of the bills and everything else in the pile, he finally decided he could make the effort to walk a few steps and put it elsewhere. We are not really filers. More specifically, organized pilers. Our files are things which we rarely need. My piles hang, his piles are cubbies. Works for us right now. Gloria