The song itself has been around for a while--it was a #1 dance hit in europe for months (and definitely made the rounds in the clubs in North America) and months (it's by O-Zone, a Romanian pop/dance outfit, and the song is called Dragostea Din Tei). This new thing with people singing it on their webcams for the internet is pretty hilarious, though!

Your plants generally look healthy in the photos and bugs are a normal part of gardening. They only become a concern when the damage they do is severe - yours isn't - of when there are lots of them. Your melon leaf in the first picture shows some signs of very early Downey Mildew (the yellow spots). Otherwise I wouldn't worry about the problems you have described. Splits in stems aren't caused by bugs but by inconsistent soil moisture levels. Just leave them alone and they will usually scab over. The stem base damage in your last pic is due to slugs or snails and there are organic controls for them but it doesn't seem to be hurting the plant. New gardeners too often over-react and that can lead you to doing more harm than good so developing some patience and tolerance for less than perfection goes a long way toward successful gardening. :) Dave

Did you lick the slab? Congrats, and good luck. Just make sure to remind the builder he is building this house FOR YOU. And you just did the legwork to find the perfect thing.

Nasty! Glad I watched it though not surprised. Yes, we're germaphobes but better careful than not. My DH, DD and I went recently to High Point, NC for her soccer tournament. Stayed at a very nice Radisson. In our room, we found pubic hair on our sheets the first night and when we returned from the tournament the 2nd day around 4 pm, we found a condom (unused) in our bathroom sitting on the counter. Definitely not ours! Who the heck knows what went on in our room while we were gone. When we told the manager, he smiled and said, "Oh well, come with me...", took us downstairs and proceeded to credit our card $45 dollars for the trouble! Why $45? Did he think we needed the money? We weren't trying to get a discount! He didn't seem surprised. At another hotel last year, our comforter had a small, silver-dollar sized, almost unnoticeable fresh blood stain on it. Almost missed it because of the flower print on the comforter. It was still wet! I make it a point to inspect the room prior to use. This is how I find these things. Yes, I'm sure there's a lot of junk out there on a daily basis that we are exposed to, but if I can avoid some of them then that's better for me and my family. Just because these things are out there or, because as kids we did worse things than this, doesn't mean I have to let my guard down. Also, on airplanes. I had a couple of flight attendants as patients once. They filled me in on all kinds of stuff. From the blankets to the food. The blankets are used by some very dirty travelers who wrap themselves up in them from head to dirty, smelly, shoeless feet. She said they just re-fold the blankets and set them out again. I think the airlines may be doing things differently now. Someone can set me straight if this has changed.