Nandina: I'm in the process of letting Mother Nature restore my garden to the sort of woods that were here before the first American settlers arrived on the PNW shores some 150 years ago, But it is a very selective restoration process, in which I let her plant some things, but put my foot down and pull up others without remorse. For one thing, a full restoration is hardly possible because this area was a temperate rain forest before loggers and settlers cleared the land. I suspect the rain forest would be back within a few decades, if Mother nature had her way. She starts by planting red alders, which form thickets in just a year or two (and put nitrogen into the soil). In their shade, grow mosses and ferns, which are soon augmented by native shrubs like salmonberry, thimbleberry, huckleberry, and salal and by bigleaf maple, vine maple, and wild cherries, as well as conifers (primarily western redcedar and Douglas-fir). Alders are short-lived, and when they fall, they serve as nurse logs for shrubs and trees. The lot my house sits on was a tangle of [non-native] blackberries when this house was built in 1987. When I took over in 1993, many of the blackberries remained. The rest of the garden was covered by rolled-out sod. I fought Mother Nature for the first few years -- when she tried to tell me that I should only pant native perennials, shrubs, and trees -- and I'm glad I did. Otherwise I would not now have mature camellias, flowering cherries and plums, and magnolias. Nor would I have apple and plum trees to provide me with fresh fruit during the autumn. But Mother Nature nixed roses, and I did not replant them. She snuck in birches, Douglas-firs and redcedar, and I let them be, She tried to plant alders, but I have a neurotic neighbor who hates alders (because they are a favorite food of aphids), and the alders stood no chance: I let her pull them. I had mixed feelings about salmonberry and thimbleberry, because they can become invasive, so I let them grow in only a few spots (but they keep trying to take over). I encouraged wild mosses and ferns, which helped me get rid of the rolled-out sod. As the density of the border plantings increased, Mother nature sent her animal to share the garden -- raccoons, skunks, garter snakes, Steller's jays, robins, song sparrows, towhees, chickadees, bushtits, hummingbirds, and other creatures. They are welcome to stay, as long as they don't become too aggressive). So far, they haven't, with the possible exception of those feisty hummingbirds who try to tell m that they own the garden and I shouldn't be in it. I am not worried about the garden becoming a rampant tangle of shrubs and trees, because in nature, as in the garden, not all seedlings survive. Mature trees and shrubs die and leave openings for new growth -- nature is never static. Since Mother Nature and man work to different time frames, I'm going to have to help her out by cutting back or removing some of the shrubs and trees that are trying to push out their neighbors. So far, this seems to be working. Right now. the garden is a pleasant mix of native and introduced shrubs and trees. Which is something I enjoy very much. As the garden matures further, I see the natives taking over more space. But that, too, is fine. It will be an interesting process to watch (and document).

I used to leave my cellphone here on my desk and it started making my speakers do weird things and it took me a while to realize it was my cellphone being on the desk next to them, now that I keep the cell phone at the other end of the room no more strange speaker sounds. glad you figured out your problem!

You should have tried to dissolve the Tide in a jar with hot water and add to the tub as liquid when you loaded the clothes and see if this made any difference. I didn't notice the white powder every time but then it could be the times I did see it I might have used too much? Also, sometimes I think softeners cause detergents to act different. I have used some(forget what now, seems like Cheer) that when you used softener with it there would be something on the clothes that looked like lint but wasn't. Downy told me it was a "reaction" it had with the detergent I used. I do remember that I used Final Touch softener years ago and it was the WORST for leaving the stuff on the clothes. The vinegar you are using should clean your tub and clothes of any build up.

I should have added... -If static in your dryer is your problem, you are over-drying your clothing - which is a huge waste of energy. -Avoid drying synthetics in the dryer to prevent static - they dry very nicely just hung on a hanger or a clothes line. -If you are drying a mixed load of natural fabrics and synthetics, pull the synthetics out before the load is completely dry. -If you find you have static in the dryer, then give the clothing a fine-mist spritz of water and give it a tumble on "air" only, no heat, for a couple tumbles. That will break the charge of the static. -Grainlady