Hans and I have differing opinions when it comes to soils and watering technique... and that's fine... what works for Hans doesn't work for me. We live and garden in different environments, halfway around the globe from one another. In any growing situation, if we want optimal results, we must ask ourselves why we use the materials and methods we use, and we must understand how they work. It helps immensely if we know what the functions of soil are, how water moves through soil, and what actually happens under the surface of soil in a containerized environment, with respect to the roots of a plant. Aeration and drainage are the most important considerations in a container planting... the soil is the foundation. Past experience and learning have shown me that quite a bit of the more commonly accepted and circulated information about growing plants is riddled with fallacy, misinformation and half truths. The medium I use is a larger particulate that holds its structure and aeration very well, is sharp draining, mostly inorganic in nature, and provides the roots of my plants with the environment they need to be healthy... with a little help from a good watering and nutrition regimen. Bottom watering wouldn't work very well in my situation because of the medium I use, and because I want to flush the medium of gases created at the root zone and allow for fresh, and needed, oxygen to enter the soil. The action of thorough watering from the top does this quite well. It also helps flush out any accumulated salts. That's not to say that Hans is wrong... for his situation, his methods give him the results he feels happy with. But most of us aren't consummate growers with quite so much experience, or the exact same environmental variables in place. I'm a huge believer in going with what basic science and physics tell me, and when I add the science and physical aspects that I've learned about soils and water movement to the other pieces of my own growing puzzle, it calls for a more open soil watered from the top, thoroughly, when necessary. The roots of my plants colonize the entire pot... not just the sides or bottom, or close to the surface. It is my belief that successful bottom watering comes with a few caveats... one must have the proper knowledge of how and why such methods work, and have the right materials and other factors in place. I've tried the peat and cocopeat based soils, and I've used bottom watering in the past. Such methods weren't workable for my growing situation, so I abandoned the finer soils prone to compaction and holding perched water, and opted for a more fast draining medium that allows the roots the proper exchange of oxygen and gases, good root function, metabolism and growth. I would pose the question to Hans... have you ever read the article I frequently link? And if so, what is your opinion of the ideas contained therein?

Another thing, you don't want to trap the cat and have it confined in the trap for several days. I would only try to trap the cat on the day before you can bring it into the vet. So not at all on a Saturday, but Sunday afternoon or evening would be better because then the animal is only confined overnight. Keep him or her covered and quiet. It may take a few days of putting out food before she goes into the trap. If you can place it where you can watch it's better. Then you'll know who is going in there. Pick the food up before dark, though, unless the cat only comes after dark. If that is the case you may catch a raccoon overnight and be careful releasing that. You may even catch a different cat. That is another dilemma! It happened to me, and I also caught a raccoon by accident when I was trapping at night. It's interesting that some cats only show up at night, and even in the middle of the night, and some come to eat during the day. My female feral (I named her Fanny) comes during the day.

Not like precious moments....lots nicer....better molded and glazed....but still pretty terminally cute! Here is a link that might be useful: lladro

The scrolling feature normally is herky-jerky until after the full page has loaded. If you have a slow internet connection such as dial-up, that can be a bothersome problem. Years go, web developers were more kind to dial-ups, but as time passed, the graphic content and ads increased until many webmasters began to program as though everyone had unlimited speed. There is a second hidden feature: the way the internet servers are programmed to operate. The system can tell when it has connected to a slow speed customer and will reduce the amount of time slices allocated to that user, the thinking being that it will be able to keep up and thereby can pass more bits total by giving more play the faster connections. It doesn't always work out that way when the system gets busy; The faster connections gets the lion's share and the dial-up service becomes slower than normal.