I am going to check mine but I am pretty sure it already includes minerals....

The main question was "How could we discover that we resided on a spinning globe?" The other questions were aftertoughts. Some clues are: 1. Behavior of Focault's pendulum. 2. Low pressure atomspheric regions spin counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere. The reason is associated with earth's rotation, but without knowledge of earth's spin, would mankind have connected the two? 3. The firing of a long range gun: Given a long range gun located 45 deg north of the equator, if it is fired toward south, the projectile tends to fall west of the target; If it fired north, the projectile tends to fall east of the target. Not only does this information demonstrates earth's spin, it also shows the direction of the spin. This effect is small and is measurable only for very long projectile distances. Without aastronomy, it would have been very difficult for mankind to have made this discovery.

Thank you for posting KSWL. It is indeed food for thought. My children were so fortunate to grow up in a home where they had everything they needed (though certainly not everything they wanted). It was so important for us to impart a sense of thankfulness for all their blessings and empathy for those that were less fortunate. It was always eye opening when they were involved with Habitat for Humanity projects and they saw with their own eyes the struggle that many endured. I agree with Annie that we are privileged because of the struggles of our ancestors. My paternal ancestors came here from Germany in the mid seventeen hundreds and dug a shelter out on the side of a hill. I was blessed to have an ancestor that researched and wrote a family history up through my DF's generation. It makes sense that first generations aren't depressed as the day to day struggle for survival wouldn't allow a lot of time for depression or thoughts of "woe is me".

I think we all change over time, in various ways. At this house, I planted more shrubs in the perennial border. Let's face it - perennial gardening is a high-maintenance activity , even if you have low-maintenance plants. I figured more shrubs will help lessen the workload as I get older. I'm also trying to do tree planting on the property now while DH and I are still able to do it ourselves. Speaking of getting older, I'm putting more thought into how this is all going to work out as the years creep by -- I'm early 50s, DH is late 50s, it's time to start planning for getting older, not just the gardens but the entire house (i.e. aging in place). For example, one of my goals is to have my front porch and walkway rebuilt (porch is in bad shape and needs to be done, it's not strictly an aesthetic issue). I'm going to have it done so that it is accessible just in case; same thing for the back patio. A good designer can come up with something that is so subtle and congruent with the overall look of the house that it doesn't scream "wheelchair!". I'm also putting a much higher value on natives and food for the wildlife now, something I didn't do to a great extent years ago. The natives still have to be non-ratty/non-weedy to earn a spot in the garden though LOL! I'm way more into vegetable and fruit gardening now, too; I finally have the full sun and space to be able to have the big vegetable garden that I've wanted for a long time. What's really nice about this for me, besides all the good eats, is that DH has taken an interest in the edibles. He'll help me with some of the heavy work on the ornamental side of things (e.g. planting a large tree, tilling, putting in edging, etc) but not planting or tending. He helps a lot more with the vegetable garden, though, and never complains when I ask him to build a support or put out the tomato cages or whatever; he even goes out there to pick stuff -- something I never dreamed he'd do. Funny you mentioned your waning love of pink, GardenHo -- same thing here LOL! One big reason is I have a big orange house, and pink + orange = clash. I still have some pink out there, though, but only in the back -- then I'm looking out at it rather than seeing it against the orange backdrop. I've been enjoying the stories of your grandpa's garden lately, Woodyoak. I don't have the same experience as you on a farm, but I can relate in that I spent a lot of time with my grandmother when I was little, especially in the summer when school was out, and she loved to be outside doing whatever and had a really nice vegetable garden; I still remember her giant squash vines all along two sides of her garage and her little fenced off beds with French marigolds. On some level, I think I am trying to recreate what feels like "home" to me. :0)