Is that Kane Co. IL? The sale at the fairgrounds? We used to sell antiques and junk there about 20 years ago when we lived up that way. A great place to sell and buy. Wish I could have been there. There's not many things like that go on right around here. I really miss it. Just curious do you remember the price range of their plate flowers and stuff? I hate it when the recycling and trash places won't let you have anything. Won't even let you buy anything.

Although I do not have that long a track record, my Aeranthes Grandiose 'Shooting Star' courtesy of Oak Hill has pretty much been in non-stop bloom now for 7 months, and putting up more spikes! It must be typical of these because this plant has been a fixture on his "in spike" list non-stop for a while now. My Phrag "Sorcerer's Apprentice" has also been making new growth and blooming non-stop since acquisition. It is a beautiful if not sprawling plant. Unfortunately my wife and kids call it my "scrotum plant" . I think it is beautiful anyway. It is multifloral and I overheard my daughter announce "Dad's growing more scrotums" ... "no, its his plant, a flower on one of his orchids". She was on the phone with a friend and noted a new spike, forgetting herself she announced the buds arrival and gave her phone friend something to wonder about. Calvin, I am in the same boat with the R/O. My local Walmart already has me as "The water guy" when I go in to refill my 1 & 5 gallon containers. I have contemplated doing what you are doing but in stead have been sort of dunking and recyling along the same lines. Except when leaching, I go all out for a good leaching and its R/O for everyone! We will go to Orchid Hell together brother.

Starting to feel a little overwhelmed. I have a shower for my daughter coming up May 6th and then the wedding 5 weeks later. My daughter who is away at college is suffering from an impacted tooth and is scheduled to have her wisdom teeth removed next Thursday. This will be where she is going to school which is 2 hours from here. I should be there with her but I can't get the day off at our little gift shop. Not enough people for coverage and it is a plant delivery day. My son is having some enemia issues and is 18. Now he needs an MRI on some lower abdominal swelling and then will have to see a GI doctor. My second son (have 5 kids) just got a job in Dallas, Texas and he and his wife will be moving there as soon as there house sells in South Carolina. The darn wet and cold weather isn't helping either. I have a plant swap I have to get done. The old "when it rains, it pours". I have enjoyed this swap immensely. Thank you Shirley for such a great time. Loved this idea and hope we do it again sometime. Margo

I had a garbage disposal growing up, and we rarely used it. Now I'm quite used to living without one. If we have trash like food scraps (meat, cheese, grease) that will get stinky before we're ready to take the big garbage bag out, I just scrape it into a little plastic grocery bag, tie it & take it out to the garage trash. For compost, I have a worm bin made from a $5 10 gallon tote. I keep a shredder by the garbage can and shred any junk mail (unless it has glue or bright colored ink, which is bad for the worms). The shredded paper, plus veggie scraps & coffee grounds, go in the worm bin. You can find instructions online, as well as order red worms (I got some from a friend...maybe a local gardening club would have some?). The worm bin lived under my kitchen table when I had a small apartment, and the only issue was a couple fruit flies if I added too much food at once (the worms couldn't keep up). There wasn't a smell issue. Now that I'm married, my husband refuses to live with worms, but we keep our garage heated for the dog, so the worms can live in the garage even in winter. I've actually never gotten around to using the compost over the last 2 years I've had the bin, but I plan to use it on my houseplants or if we have a real garden this year. Regular compost piles make me nervous because they can overheat and start on fire...though I suppose it's preventable by proper maintenance. Here is a link that might be useful: Cheap & Easy Worm Bin