For the expense of riven rock you would be better off since you are in California getting pads from Mexicans. 2 good plants are Opuntis caccanapa "ellisiana" and Opuntia ficus indica. I know nurseries in Cali and Arizona have decent indica in pots for way cheaper than riven rock. If you hold out you will get some from me. I have some good pads I will be sending your way. Ellisana, indica, lemon spreader, this one pictured, stricta spineless and normal, and Florida devil tounge humifusa.

Triple, ever since the first day I ever planted anything (a rose...and about 200 years ago), I've been obsessive about my plants. So if something ate anything, I would know. I recall an ongoing battle between me and one squirrel that to this day, I did not find a way to kill, LOL. (Another "bug" if you ask me.) Out of hundreds of tomatoes, we actually ate about 20 total thanks to that demon. Speaking of demons, I have one resident squirrel here. He is eyeing my bushes and I am eyeing him. I'm older since that last battle and have less patience--let's just leave it at that for now. LOL But on GW/Houzz, I've seen so many people post about hornworms and I shudder each time I see one, praising sweet baby Jesus that I never, ever had one. Until this year. It just obliterated big stems of all the leaves and growth. I feel like I am down to about half the potential tomatoes I had--and this poor thing is a determinate plant so it's not like I can wait for the next round. Very strange, too, because I have 7 total tomato plants here and only this one, which was technically the most robust one, is the one that got hornworms. It is, of course, the only one where I have one plant of this variety, too. Ain't life grand? :) (Meanwhile, it was two tomato hornworms that came back to triple's backyard six times each...Haha.)

No, it wasn't 5 seconds! LOL Not even close! Plus, I had to wait for someone ahead of me and I waited until I nearly collapsed, probably 10-15 min, then got a wheelchair and sat in one for another 5-10 min anyway while she got hers. She even apologized for how long it was taking but I said it wasn't her fault. The machine in the video is like the one I used. The screen gave a progress report on a little line graph similar to installing software or updates on a computer. I watched as it was printing the label, probably 45 sec to a minute, then about the same as it was "applying label", releasing bottle took about a minute, then for it to actually drop the bottle probably took another minute. One prescription was 2 bottles. (Blister packs inside a prescription bottle. I was thinking at first it would be loaded from behind, in a secure area, but from the video, it's not. What a labor intense thing that would be! Can't tell if it automatically rotates stock or not, if not, you'd essentially need to remove all stock, then back-load the new items, counting what you have of old stock to put back, essentially 100 times, all the while it would be open and vulnerable to robbery. I suppose they might just close off the area to semi-secure it but if someone wanted it, it could be easy pickings and not even have the slowdown of a traditional pharmacy. As for security, the pharmacies at other hospitals I've seen are far more secure than this machine, especially considering low-staffing. The little hole with bullet-resistant glass with the shuffle tray and a heavy locked door for access to the people and drugs, plus a heavy locked door to enter the area anyway. Late night you'd get "buzzed" in. Lindsey_CA, not sure if the risk factor you mentioned is employee theft, but this to me is a much higher potential risk of a stocker slipping a bottle or two into a pocket. There may be electronic features of the machine to verify the number of bottles put in and it would have to match what's sent, etc, but there's also a quick substitution of an empty bottle possibility. I'd be much more confident of the security of the traditional pharmacy than the vending machine. The more I think of it, the more I like the idea of it as an option. However, I'm sure many on Medicare would not want to use it for the cost factor. I'm pretty sure it's more expensive than a big name pharmacy. And of course, yes there's those who need it immediately and don't want to make a separate stop, cost be d@mned. And the time factor would be offset by the added time to go to another location. The point about counseling is a good one. Over the past few years and seeing the incompetence, malfeasance and downright malpractice of nursing homes I have become very obsessive about checking for interactions on medications. One of the meds prescribed at the hospital has the following warning from drugs.com, but no warning on the bottle and no accompanying paperwork. "...may reduce (effects) in some patients...combining these medications can increase the risk of a rare but serious condition...which may include symptoms such as confusion, hallucination, seizure, extreme changes in blood pressure, increased heart rate, fever, excessive sweating, shivering or shaking, blurred vision, muscle spasm or stiffness, tremor, incoordination, stomach cramp, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea." Granted to cover backsides they may overemphasize things but then again considering the drug interactions and effects that have found to be serious to deadly, I tend to want as much info as I can get on them. The pharmacy I usually use has a printout attached to each med and if I have not had a drug prescribed before the pharmacist is nearly insistent to point out anything serious. And the cover bottles with warning stickers too.

Roasting before canning works to remove tomato skins, and I'm going to try it with peaches this year, too. We did it with tomatoes last year and it was sooooo delicious, so easy, and I think you get more in the jars. With the tomatoes, we cut them in half, laid them cut-side up on trays in the oven, and roasted them for a good 45 min or hour at fairly low temperature. Then the skins just pinch right off, no effort at all. We packed them into jars, squished them down with spoons to make sure the jar really fills up with juice, which it did, and then boiling-water-bath treated them for longer than the usual recommendation. We did it with paste-type tomatoes as well as regular juicy tomatoes, and both worked great. They were very very delicious! We're going to try the same with peaches, but will probably add a little lemon juice and sugar to make sure it stays acid enough. If the item gets a little too dry and doesn't cover itself with juice in the jars, I would add some kind of (acidic) juice to make sure it gets covered, because it is the convection of the liquid in a canning jar that helps get the required heat to the center of the jar.