I stumbled on this decade old thread searching for empathy about the things that frustrate me while gardening last year. This is an oldie- but a goodie. I laughed so hard that I cried. And then I laughed some more and could not stop giggling- it was cathartic! I had to bump this to share- in case anyone missed it. :) My 2016 Garden Vexations: 1. Slugs and black vine weevils. Trying to find a balance between killing them and not harming the wildlife and beneficial insects. The slugs did not give some hostas a chance to get it's roots into the ground before the leaves were eaten off (Cherry Berry and Dancing Queen were gone in days, a few others took about a month). I used the late night and early morning picking off method along with Diatomaceous Earth dusted around ground and base . 2. Feral and house cats roaming free around the neighborhood. Very destructive to the environment by killing the wild birds, marking territory on my porch and deck (ugh, that stinks!), and using my landscape and garden beds as their litter box. 3. Digging out volunteer trash/weedy/invasive tree saplings whose roots seem to go down to the core of the Earth. Cutting it down only encourages more stems to grow. 4. The garden hose- same exact problem as stated earlier in the thread... I spit on your nozzle. :) This year will be considering the possibility of drip irrigation systems (but will it work with only one spigot?). 5. Temperature fluctuations and the high stakes of gardening and container gardening. Is it spring or winter? Last year I asked is it Summer or Fall? Should I bring the pots in or leave them out and risk a black frost? Do I have to guts to see if they will be OK? It seems like with some temperature dips and frosts there is just one one shot... should I risk it because I am tired of dragging the many containers in and out of the wintering space that gets too warm in the day or should I play it safe, suck it up and make the many trips back and forth to protect the tender plant greens each evening? So far I have played it safe after reading about "dogwood winters". I have not been gardening as long to have discovered the humor in annoying things as the others... but it is good to know that many have the same frustrations. Please share yours, too!

Advice/suggestions from a layman: Control panel>mouse> open it up and do some changes then put it where you want it and try. Control Panel>keyboard . move those sliders around and check it out. Vacuum out the keyboard. I have a lap top, but I use a external mouse and keyboard as I have it set up similar to a PC. Not very portable, but it is seldom used outside my home. Grady

I know the feeling well!! When I was up in Pasadena(CA) a few years ago(I live in San Diego), I was driving by a Marriott hotel where all the cabinets had been torn out. Mind you, these were not your ordinary cabinets as they were trimmed in rope moulding, etc. Some had wetbar sinks still installed, but most were separate cabinets, with nice countertops still attached. I've kicked myself numerous times for not picking up a couple(there were people with trucks helping themselves). I'll never pass up something like that again!!! patty_cakes

Nice tips, bmore. Wonder if I can use that same technique with Firefox. Have to look into that. Tamara responded to my complaint, stating that she had reported the problem this morning and a fix should be in place soon. She also told me that generally these types of ads should only appear once per session. If only they were that infrequent! I even had the Duracell ad show up on the message preview page and I've never seen an ad there before - not even when we were dealing with the underlined green word hyperlinks mess. Oh, scratch that. I just noticed the Dove bleed-in ad from the right when I previewed my reply. At least it's not nearly as annoying as Duracell or Penney's ads. I've seen the Penney's ad once so far today but no Duracell ad. I'm hoping they've gone away for good.