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

As a vet, I would say do NOT get an English Bulldog. I see $$$$ every time a new one walks through the front door, and I don't even get paid on production. I wouldn't want to spend what these owners spend on medical issues for a dog. And I adopt dogs who people can't afford to fix (parvo dogs, broken dogs, dogs with heartworms, etc.). They are VERY sweet dogs, no denying that, but the maintenance on them (cleaning the skin folds, cleaning ears, making sure they don't drop dead of heat stroke in hot and/or humid weather, washing eyes +/- multiple surgeries to fix eyes, etc.) is too much for anyone with a life outside maintaining dogs. This from someone who has 3 huskies, a rottie, and a lab- I'd never get even 1 English Bulldog. There isn't much difference between a rescue and a shelter except that many rescues specialize in one specific breed and shelters take all animals. Each shelter and rescue operates under their own rules, so I would be careful about making any generalizations. I've worked with both shelters and rescues and the quality of animals and care provided to the animals varies greatly in both groups. Many dogs in rescues are taken from shelters. Some rescues use only foster homes while animals wait for adoption, other rescues aren't much different than a shelter that just cages the animals and provides basic care. You could get a purebred dog of any age or a mutt from either source. I'd check out all resources and carefully choose a dog that meets your family's needs. As far as exercise requirements for a dog, leash walks offer much more than just exercise. You are reinforcing control of the dog (as long as you are, in fact, controlling the dog). This is also a good opportunity for socializing the dog to behave in public with strange people and other animals. Dogs benefit from both playing in the yard and from leash walking. Think honestly about how much time you have to maintain a dog. I spend about 30 minutes every morning just taking care of my dogs' basic needs- food, potty, getting the house ready for us to be gone all day. Then a couple hours at night with walks, food, potty, playing in the yard. Trips to the vet can be a big ordeal when you also have to pack up 2 young children. And if you get a puppy, it'll be a trip every 3 weeks as long as nothing goes wrong. You'll need to also factor in health care costs, which can be substantial in any dog. What if it ingests something and needs emergency surgery at a cost of $2000? Dogs of all ages need a quality diet, heartworm prevention, flea and tick control, vaccines, health exams, and routine dental work. It can add up quickly. Pet health insurance may be a good idea. They get even more expensive as they get older, when you factor in routine lab testing. Not to be discouraging, just trying to help factor in all the consequences of having a dog. Obviously, I think they are all worth it, otherwise I wouldn't have 5. But I don't have children, too, and being the vet has many perks.

Don't got 'em around here. A stock market advisory group that I've had some connection with recommended that one buy shares in the company, about three or four years ago, I think. Didn't. Shoulda. Go to Yahoo.com, click on "Finance" down the left margin, there's a dialogue box on the upper left, titled, "Get quotes" - type in "cmg" . When the page comes up, there's a chart of the day's price activity on the right. Under that chart there's a choice of various time frames related to months or years. Click on 1 year, 5 years, etc. to see what the stock price has done over that period. Having bought some a few years ago ... would pay for some meals there, now, should one choose to sell. You could even invite half a dozen friends. ole joyfuelled

I'd highly recommend LastPass. Here are some comments about it: I have not used KeePass so I cannot comment on that. There are tons of users, so there is safety in numbers. It is also a paid-for service, so there is a better chance that they will keep a staff of security specialists. They are very responsive to defect reports (I have a paid subscription so that I can use it on my cell phone, which is well worth the money, in my opinion, for keeping this type of important info). I've tried Clipperz and it was great .... until they revamped the entire user interface making the desktop browser experience so slow that it was unbearable. I've not yet had that experience with LastPass. For choosing any of these password storage services, I would do a google search for how safe they are. I know of at least three other people in my company that use LassPass without fear of their passwords being abused/stolen. Other than keeping passwords safe, I also heavily rely upon LastPass's automatic login feature: I have to login (and relogin) to multiple sites in my daily work. Without that automatic login, my productivity would plummet. With LastPass, I can share some, but not all, of my passwords with my wife, keeping my own personal websites from cluttering up her view into her own LastPass. So that when the passwords need to change, it isn't much fuss or bother to keep her view updated. Good luck!