Ben, I agree with you 110%. If you ever dl'ed their free minutes then decide you don't want it, they'll call your house 100 times a day trying to talk you into keeping AOL..Plus they offer more free hours.. You don't have to have AOL to use their AOL's IM though..and even if it's dl'ed on your computer they will not call you trying to talk you into joining. BTW, I wasn't trying to talk u into getting AOL, just describing MSN's IM and how close it was to AOL's. To be honest I don't want either IM's..Toni

Outsmarting the tree rats (squirrels) around my house is a full time job. This past spring I hit on a new idea. When I plant a container I invert an empty wire hanging basket over the container and the plant gets sun and can be watered but the squirrels can't dig in it. Another idea: I bring in a lot of plants to "over winter" under lights in my garage. I have so many that it is hard to reach my hand under the lights (4 shop lights) to the middle for watering. So I bought a pump sprayer with a long wand and it works great! In late winter I add a little liquid Dawn detergent, few drops, to each gallon of water and not only does the soil get wet easier but the worms that are waiting to hatch into distructive pets just don't hatch. Don't know what it costs me to run those four shop lights all winter but I don't care. It is a small price to pay to be able to "garden" every weekend in the garage. Many people have mentioned that they mark their outdoor plants with a "permanent Sharpie". In my experience there isn't a "permanent Sharpie", they all fade and quickly too. A grease pencil/china marker or expensive "no fade" garden center marker are the only markers I have found that won't disappoint you by fading. Eight years ago I decided to learn about gardening so I tapped into my local library. I checked out nearly every book they had on gardening and learned so much. The Gardenweb forums are also a wealth of information and entertainment. There is always something new to learn and I appreciate all of you who take the time to write in your ideas. One last idea from me...I keep a small notebook on my computer table and jot down any idea I find that's new and I will want to try. Little pieces of paper get lost but I always know where my notebook is and also use it when I order "on line" so I will remember the name of the company and the order date. Tina or Trowelgal

hrhcsh.... Thanks for the quick pics...and thanks for giving me some details of your growing conditions. My tree and yours look just about the same. Big, light green leaves that sort of "cup" towards the top surface of the leaves, seem so similar. May I ask where you got your tree? There cannot be too many of these trees around. If it's the original "German Black Giant"/"Grosse Schwartze Feigue" ("Giant Black Fig")it came from Stuttgart, Germany, not too long ago. Some say it's a "Brown Turkey" variant, but some say it is distinctly different, and sweeter. Time will tell. I have a single stem tree that's about 4 ft. tall, and it is a very vigorous grower. It sprouted figs a the end of July...too late in my short-summer climate for them to ripen, so I pulled them off. I've read that as young fig trees put on some age, and settle in, they will start to push figs earlier in the season, and they will ripen earlier. So....there's some hope for me...but, in the future. Next year, I will re-pot my tree into a large, 18 gallon container, and let it do its thing. In the past, I neglected to do this as a routine, but now, I top dress all my trees 3 times/season with a handful of granular limestone. Figs hate acid soils and many fertilizers turn soils too acidic, and the trees and figs suffer. Now with the limestone dressings, my trees have improved greatly, the leaves look a lot healthier, and the quality, and the flavor of my figs has definitely improved. Good luck with the "GBG" fig. Next year you will probably see some big differences. Photos of this variety on the Figs4Fun Forum, show this to be quite a prolific bearer. Thanks again, for the information. Frank

Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.2 Scan saved at 11:57:20 AM, on 3/24/2009 Platform: Windows XP SP2 (WinNT 5.01.2600) MSIE: Internet Explorer v7.00 (7.00.6000.16791) Boot mode: Normal Running processes: C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\ZoneLabs\vsmon.exe C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE C:\WINDOWS\system32\LEXBCES.EXE C:\WINDOWS\system32\LEXPPS.EXE C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe C:\PROGRA~1\AVG\AVG8\avgwdsvc.exe C:\Program Files\Bonjour\mDNSResponder.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\cisvc.exe C:\WINDOWS\System32\CTsvcCDA.exe C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\jqs.exe C:\Program Files\MozyHome\mozybackup.exe C:\WINDOWS\System32\nvsvc32.exe C:\PROGRA~1\AVG\AVG8\avgrsx.exe C:\PROGRA~1\AVG\AVG8\avgnsx.exe C:\WINDOWS\System32\MsPMSPSv.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\fxssvc.exe C:\WINDOWS\BCMSMMSG.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\dla\tfswctrl.exe C:\PROGRA~1\AVG\AVG8\avgtray.exe C:\Program Files\Zone Labs\ZoneAlarm\zlclient.exe C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\jusched.exe C:\Program Files\DellSupport\DSAgnt.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe C:\Program Files\MozyHome\mozystat.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\wuauclt.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\cidaemon.exe C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\HijackThis\HijackThis.exe R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://www.dellnet.com/ R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Bar = http://g.msn.com/0SEENUS/SAOS10 R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://www.oprah.com/ R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157 R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896 R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896 R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157 R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings,ProxyOverride = *.local O2 - BHO: WormRadar.com IESiteBlocker.NavFilter - (3CA2F312-6F6E-4B53-A66E-4E65E497C8C0) - C:\Program Files\AVG\AVG8\avgssie.dll O2 - BHO: (no name) - (53707962-6F74-2D53-2644-206D7942484F) - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll O2 - BHO: DriveLetterAccess - (5CA3D70E-1895-11CF-8E15-001234567890) - C:\WINDOWS\system32\dla\tfswshx.dll O2 - BHO: Windows Live Sign-in Helper - (9030D464-4C02-4ABF-8ECC-5164760863C6) - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live\WindowsLiveLogin.dll O2 - BHO: AVG Security Toolbar - (A057A204-BACC-4D26-9990-79A187E2698E) - C:\PROGRA~1\AVG\AVG8\AVGTOO~1.DLL O2 - BHO: Windows Live Toolbar Helper - (BDBD1DAD-C946-4A17-ADC1-64B5B4FF55D0) - C:\Program Files\Windows Live Toolbar\msntb.dll O2 - BHO: Java(tm) Plug-In 2 SSV Helper - (DBC80044-A445-435b-BC74-9C25C1C588A9) - C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\jp2ssv.dll O2 - BHO: JQSIEStartDetectorImpl - (E7E6F031-17CE-4C07-BC86-EABFE594F69C) - C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\lib\deploy\jqs\ie\jqs_plugin.dll O3 - Toolbar: Windows Live Toolbar - (BDAD1DAD-C946-4A17-ADC1-64B5B4FF55D0) - C:\Program Files\Windows Live Toolbar\msntb.dll O3 - Toolbar: AVG Security Toolbar - (A057A204-BACC-4D26-9990-79A187E2698E) - C:\PROGRA~1\AVG\AVG8\AVGTOO~1.DLL O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\System32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [BCMSMMSG] BCMSMMSG.exe O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [dla] C:\WINDOWS\system32\dla\tfswctrl.exe O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ISUSPM Startup] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\UpdateService\isuspm.exe" -startup O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MSConfig] C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries\MSConfig.exe /auto O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AVG8_TRAY] C:\PROGRA~1\AVG\AVG8\avgtray.exe O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ZoneAlarm Client] "C:\Program Files\Zone Labs\ZoneAlarm\zlclient.exe" O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SunJavaUpdateSched] "C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\jusched.exe" O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [DellSupport] "C:\Program Files\DellSupport\DSAgnt.exe" /startup O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ctfmon.exe] C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Weather] C:\Program Files\AWS\WeatherBug\Weather.exe 1 O4 - Global Startup: MozyHome Status.lnk = C:\Program Files\MozyHome\mozystat.exe O8 - Extra context menu item: &Windows Live Search - res://C:\Program Files\Windows Live Toolbar\msntb.dll/search.htm O9 - Extra button: Real.com - (CD67F990-D8E9-11d2-98FE-00C0F0318AFE) - C:\WINDOWS\System32\Shdocvw.dll O9 - Extra button: (no name) - (e2e2dd38-d088-4134-82b7-f2ba38496583) - C:\WINDOWS\Network Diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exe O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: @xpsp3res.dll,-20001 - (e2e2dd38-d088-4134-82b7-f2ba38496583) - C:\WINDOWS\Network Diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exe O9 - Extra button: Messenger - (FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683) - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Windows Messenger - (FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683) - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe O12 - Plugin for .spop: C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\Plugins\NPDocBox.dll O16 - DPF: (F04A8AE2-A59D-11D2-8792-00C04F8EF29D) (Hotmail Attachments Control) - http://lw9fd.law9.hotmail.msn.com/activex/HMAtchmt.ocx O16 - DPF: (F5A7706B-B9C0-4C89-A715-7A0C6B05DD48) (Minesweeper Flags Class) - http://messenger.zone.msn.com/binary/MineSweeper.cab56986.cab O17 - HKLM\System\CCS\Services\Tcpip\..\(4D7C7228-2B7C-4C19-AB8B-80BFC676C5B9): NameServer = 65.61.64.5,65.61.65.5 O17 - HKLM\System\CS1\Services\Tcpip\..\(4D7C7228-2B7C-4C19-AB8B-80BFC676C5B9): NameServer = 65.61.64.5,65.61.65.5 O17 - HKLM\System\CS2\Services\Tcpip\..\(4D7C7228-2B7C-4C19-AB8B-80BFC676C5B9): NameServer = 65.61.64.5,65.61.65.5 O18 - Protocol: linkscanner - (F274614C-63F8-47D5-A4D1-FBDDE494F8D1) - C:\Program Files\AVG\AVG8\avgpp.dll O20 - Winlogon Notify: !SASWinLogon - C:\Program Files\SUPERAntiSpyware\SASWINLO.DLL O20 - Winlogon Notify: avgrsstarter - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\avgrsstx.dll O23 - Service: AVG Free8 WatchDog (avg8wd) - AVG Technologies CZ, s.r.o. - C:\PROGRA~1\AVG\AVG8\avgwdsvc.exe O23 - Service: Bonjour Service - Apple Inc. - C:\Program Files\Bonjour\mDNSResponder.exe O23 - Service: Creative Service for CDROM Access - Creative Technology Ltd - C:\WINDOWS\System32\CTsvcCDA.exe O23 - Service: DSBrokerService - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\DellSupport\brkrsvc.exe O23 - Service: InstallDriver Table Manager (IDriverT) - Macrovision Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Driver\11\Intel 32\IDriverT.exe O23 - Service: iPod Service - Apple Inc. - C:\Program Files\iPod\bin\iPodService.exe O23 - Service: Java Quick Starter (JavaQuickStarterService) - Sun Microsystems, Inc. - C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\jqs.exe O23 - Service: LexBce Server (LexBceS) - Lexmark International, Inc. - C:\WINDOWS\system32\LEXBCES.EXE O23 - Service: MozyHome Backup Service (mozybackup) - Mozy, Inc. - C:\Program Files\MozyHome\mozybackup.exe O23 - Service: Intel NCS NetService (NetSvc) - Intel(R) Corporation - C:\Program Files\Intel\NCS\Sync\NetSvc.exe O23 - Service: NVIDIA Driver Helper Service (NVSvc) - NVIDIA Corporation - C:\WINDOWS\System32\nvsvc32.exe O23 - Service: TrueVector Internet Monitor (vsmon) - Zone Labs, LLC - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\ZoneLabs\vsmon.exe O24 - Desktop Component 0: (no name) - http://www.greys-media.com/main.jpg -- End of file - 7561 bytes I am still seeing windows live toolbar on here..weird. I will have to go back into add/remove and see if it is still listed.. could have swore i removed it