LOL brandon..........no it wasn't anatomically correct and the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip comes immediately to mind. Resin is right about the snowman. To dismantle it was a suggestion not an order. The point being it is rather fuzzy anymore in Europe how anything one does may be construed, so even the most innocent activities are run through a mental filter , lest they be misinterpreted after the fact. To me that is more insidious than statutes. It is very hard for an American to understand that even flying the Flag of Saint George (union jack) is considered politically incorrect in many situations. Just as it is equally hard for a Brit to understand how 'unregulated' life in America can be. If I desire I can completely raze hundreds of trees on my property just because they're mine, paint any flag I wish regardless of its connotations across my car and drive it around then build a giant purple igloo twenty feet high next to the public road since I live in an unzoned township and hop into my truck with two shotguns in the rack behind my head on the way to a festival where the food vendors are cooking the pig in the ground. I'm sorry........I didn't mean to take the thread down political paths. Just musing that I got a chuckle out of it when I saw this happened in Australia. It's been an inside joke for years that we 'colonists' are by nature defiant and perhaps it is true. ;-)

There is discrimination in the green industry. It is not so much against race, sex, or color as it is about fitting in to the work culture of the group of people you will be working directly with. Sometimes it coincides with those listed above. I have seen many, many, nursery/garden center/landscape companies where the landscapers were all male and the garden center staff was all female and the nursery was a mix of both. I've seen landscape companies where the entire masonry crew was Jamaican and the planting crew all mixed American. The managers find out that conflicts and/or other problems occur when you have some people feeling like outsiders and/or creating two or more subcultures within a group that start acting like rivals rather than workking together. It is illegal, but it exists much more often then you think. It is also practiced by people who do not see that they are discriminating. You will find it easiest to be hired into a position where you are not an outsider. It could be the same job at a different place or a different job at the same place. You also have to keep in mind that the people hiring are usually looking for the people who are best suited for the job. If it is hard labor, a younger man will beat you every time. If it is horticulture experience, a more experienced person will beat you every time. You have to look at yourself realistically and ask yourself who might put you and your qualifications over someone else. Then search for that situation and apply. It is often thought about as an easy industry to enter into. It is, but the employer also wants the best person for each situation. It is easy to be hired if you fit a need. It is not, if you don't.

Thank you WIP08. After many, many tries with sms alerts from a website called wiialert, I was able to order one today! I was able to order one a week ago from Sears, but my order was cancelled the next day, and my money was refunded. Apparently Sears has a marketplace, just like Amazon, and it wasn't from Sears but another vendor through Sears, and I suppose the seller realized he could get 2X as much as the retail price, he cancelled my order and relisted it for twice the price. Then a friend of mine in the South put it on FB, and one of her friends stepped up and was willing to sell it to me. But when I contacted her, she never responded. Then on Leapfrog's fb page people were recommending to try these websites that alert you when they come back in stock. You have to be really quick, b/c they will sell out in less than 2 minutes. After numerous attempts, I finally was able to order one today. During all this, a friend of mine became really ill and was hospitalized. In addition, my sister had surgery and had to have half her thyroid removed. I decided not to make myself crazy over it, because in the end, it's really not that important. I just didn't want to disappoint my daughter, who has been talking about the silly leappad every day with her sister. In the end I got one (at least I'm hoping I did). I just think it's really sad that there ARE so many available through scalpers on eBay and Amazon, who want to take advantage of parents like me who just want to give their kid the ONE toy they are asking for at Christmas.

I've been the victim of three crimes - all preventable. 1.) Being assaulted by a man while walking with a friend down a dark street to an unlit parking lot after Fiesta in San Antonio around 2am. I was 19 and clueless. We were more mentally harmed than physically. 2.) My brand new '98 Thunderbird was broken into while parked on the street in front of my house. It was locked but I should have parked in the driveway and not under the shadow of a large tree to the side of the house. 3.) My sister and I were at a salon in a mall and I was getting my hair cut while she was waiting. A guy with a backpack sat next to her and secretly fished her wallet out of her purse. I had just paid her a few hundred dollars because she was going to stay with me for the summer, babysitting my son. Of course her purse was on the floor, totally laid open with her wallet in plain site. The things I do to keep myself safe: -keep all doors locked all the time - security system - keep lights on in the house (even at night) and have motion sensor flood lights on the exterior - big dog who is encouraged to bark - TV stays on when not at home - reporting suspicious activity - being aware of my surroundings and not putting myself in precarious situations