I grew up in a climate where figs can't survive, and there was no one that I know of who even knew they could raise them in containers and haul them inside for the winter. Fruit was something that grew outside on trees, vines, and shrubs. I never tasted a fresh fig. I thought they were exotic and an unattainable fruit. Then I discovered that fig trees do grow in the climate where I live now. That they can be grown from cuttings, unlike most other fruit trees. That they taste really good. That I can grow them from cuttings and pass them on, sharing my experience and successes. The first fresh fig that I ever tasted was on a tree that I grew from a cutting. Other than a small handful, almost all of the figs that I have eaten have come from my own trees. I can buy lots of other fruits, but a fresh fig in my area is rare, and the few storebought are unripe and tasteless. I really do like my other fruits too, especially peaches and grapes, and tomatoes and peppers. But figs have a special place as a true do-it-yourself tree and a tradition. That's why I love growing them.

Thanks so much for the help! See .. I thought feeding all of those cats out of one big feeder is very wrong too. Thanks for validating one of my concerns. We have the five dogs and there is no way I'd feed them out of one big dish, they all have their own dishes and a few their own eating areas due to when they were strays it caused food aggression issues with other dogs ( not people ). If left to their own being fed out of a large dish, the food aggression dogs would drive the others out and fights would ensue to regain the bowl .. basically everything that's happening to this cat. So, I do blame the people for not getting involved on her behalf. She's an adult cat, my DH ( who had cats as a child ) thinks she's maybe 6 - 8 years old ?? I think right now I'm going to try to get her back into shape, she's eating for me and she seems very content to hang out down here now. As we sat on the porch last night, she hung out on my DH's lap and soaked up the attention. We live in NC and it's been one of the hardest states hit by unemployment, the papers are filled with people giving away their animals. The rescues and humane socities are also filled .. we went through the whole thing with trying to find Daisy ( the Basset my DHbrought home last year ) a home or into rescue and never could, so we just kept her. I'm also going to call and talk to our vet about a dewormer for her, they'll be able to give me an idea how much it would run and if they need to see her first. They are pretty good about giving us a break when the animal is a stray, they did with Daisy and her whole heart worm treatment. Thanks again everyone, hopefully we can get her looking a little better soon :)

Sharon, Since I just got my Nikon D50 last month, I can assure you I was in the same boat! I had been using a Fuji point and shoot, but wanted more. The good news is that the automatic mode on my camera is easier to use than the old point and shoot camera. I was able to take great pictures the first day, even though I didn't know much about my camera. And, those first day pictures were of better quality than anything I had taken before. The colors were much more accurate. The camera did a much better job of keeping light colored objects from being overexposed. I was able to enlarge pictures without them becoming grainy. Knowing that you can take great pictures on auto mode, takes the pressure off. I will slowly work on the other modes, beginning with aperature priority. So, get out there and start shooting! We are waiting.

Millipede! Very cute and harmless. Fun for kids. They eat old vegetation mostly and might get into strawberries. But that doesn't mean you want them inside. Did you bring in a houseplant maybe? or do some yard work or have adjusted your sprinklers and made them seek higher ground? Just poke them and they'll roll up and you can pick 'em up and toss them out. It's probably just a minor change in something like weather or lawn mowing schedule that is a big change to the millipedes that made them start coming in and it'll probably change back without you ever figuring out what it was.