I have two suggestions, one for technical information, and one not so technical. To know everything about AVs, I would get the three book series written by Mel Robey. They are usually available at your local library, and the first book in the series has been updated and republished. Mel will not only tell you about the 'sparkle' of some blossoms, but also explain what makes it sparkle. There are very indepth discussions of ph, fertilizer, what makes a 'chimera', etc. Growing to Show by Pauline Bartholomew is an excellent guide to help you grow the best possible plants you can, even if you have no intention to show them. It is available on Amazon, and also the AVSA website. Barbara

I don't know that there are any vegetable garden books specifically related to Oklahoma other than Louise Riotte's books. However, as written, they were intended for a national audience. I think it is just because we know she was from southern OK (Ardmore) that we treasure her books so much. I like all her books, and listed some of them in the previous thread about gardening books I'm going to link below. Many of my favorite gardening books that I rely upon are mentioned in the link below, but I have a couple of new favorites that I don't think I'd read at the time last year's book thread was written, so I'll mention them here. "The Texas Tomato Lover's Handbook" by Dr. William D. Adams, published in 2011. Dr. Adams enjoyed a long and distinctive career with the Ag Extension Service in Texas where he tested tomato plants year in and year out with the help of Master Gardeners in his county. He also maintains his own kitchen garden, and sells his excess produce at market. If there is anything you need to know about how to grow tomatoes in our climate and soils, he covers it in this book . I love, love, love this book so much that if I had to get rid of all my gardening books and could keep only one, this is the one I would keep. It would be really hard, though, for me to get rid of the next two. "Homegrown Vegetables, Fruits & Herbs" (a Creative Homeowner book), by Jim Wilson (of Victory Garden fame) and Walter Chandoha, published in 2010. This book was written/photographed by two men with over 100 years of gardening experience between them. Best of all, Jim Wilson gardened in the south, so the book is well-balanced for all regions of the country, which is not necessarily the case with all books geared toward a national audience. This book is outstanding. If I was a new gardener who was just getting into growing veggies, fruits and herbs, this book would tell me everything I needed to know in order to know where to begin, what to do and how to succeed. I've mentioned this next book many times before. Even though I've had it for almost 3 decades and practically have it memorized, I'd panic if my copy was misplaced and I couldn't find it. Dr. Sam Cotner's "The Vegetable Book: A Texans Guide to Gardening" was published in the mid-1980s, and I am on my second copy, having totally worn out the first copy about a decade ago. Dr. Cotner was the head of horticulture at A&M before his retirement, and that was the position he held when he wrote this book. I learned how to grow veggies from watching my dad do it, but he was very quiet and didn't talk about what he was doing or why he was doing it--he just did it. So, I learned the how from observing my dad, but from Dr. Cotner's book I learned all the why's and wherefore's. It was this book that taught me about the effect of soil temps and air temps on plants, which may seem elementary, but most of us don't know those things when we're just starting out. Once you understand the effect of air and soil temps on your plants and their productivity, everything else just falls into place. My favorite guide to growing herbs is "Southern Herb Growing" written by Madalene Hill & Gwen Barclay with Jean Hardy. No one was/is more qualified to write about southern herb growing than Madalene Hill and Gwen Barclay, except perhaps for Jim Long. All his books are great too. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention "Texas Gardener" magazine, which I've been reading for a couple of decades now. Although it covers all aspescts of gardening in Texas, I find its info just as appropriate for OK. It does cover all sorts of gardening, everything from lawns to trees and shrubs to water gardening, flowers, fruits and veggies. It seems to me that it has at least as much emphasis on fruits, herbs and veggies as on ornamentals, and I love it. So, that's my two cents contributed to this discussion. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Previous Thread on Gardening Books

Hi Norwega, My sister has 3 teenagers, is a single mom, so finances are tight, but she has never learned to manage her own money well. Your sister's kids will always (and HAVE been) watching her values & habits. Will SHE be willing to read and/or listen too CDs/Tapes to break her established patterns and re-learn new habits? If not... the kids are not likely to do anything different UNLESS they are doing so in DEFIANCE to Mom... Her middle son seems to be following in her footsteps, wanting to have things before he has the money. He's in basketball, which will hopefully result in a college scholarship. I'm looking for recommendations on books or other that our mom, his gramma, can work with on him on learning finances. Character is the underlying issue in finance. Far more so than any mathematical principles. If he's REALLY strong in Basketball, I recommend 1st getting him addicted to the focus on Principles by giving him "They Call Me Coach" by John Wooden (the winningest college dynasty basketball coach ever in history.) They Call Me Coach (Paperback) http://www.amazon.com/They-Call-Coach-John-Wooden/dp/0071424911/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-7614444-2019238?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175881006&sr=1-1 If your nephew is a student of the game, he'll definitely "see the light." A class on finances is offered in the high school, but he's a junior, and I imagine he's already committed to classes for his senior year. This came up because he wants to borrow money from me to go to prom. One thought was he could do chores for his gramma to work off the money owed from me. Please advise. Here's a list of appropriate "starter books" for anyone (but especially young people); Rich Dad's Escape from the Rat Race: How to Become a Rich Kid by Following Rich Dad's Advice (Rich Dad) (Paperback) http://www.amazon.com/Rich-Dads-Escape-Rat-Race/dp/0316000477/ref=sr_1_16/002-7614444-2019238?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175880409&sr=8-16 Rich Dad Poor Dad for Teens: The Secrets About Money--That You Don't Learn in School! (Rich Dad Poor Dad) (Paperback) http://www.amazon.com/Rich-Dad-Poor-Teens-Money-That/dp/0446693219/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b/002-7614444-2019238?ie=UTF8&qid=1175880409&sr=8-16 Rich Dad's Rich Kid, Smart Kid: Giving Your Children a Financial Headstart (Paperback) http://www.amazon.com/Rich-Dads-Kid-Smart-Financial/dp/0446677485/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b/002-7614444-2019238?ie=UTF8&qid=1175880409&sr=8-16 Think and Grow Rich: The Landmark Bestseller--Now Revised and Updated for the 21st Century [ABRIDGED] (Paperback) http://www.amazon.com/Think-Grow-Rich-Landmark-Bestseller-Now/dp/1585424331/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/002-7614444-2019238?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175880523&sr=1-2 The Wisdom of James Allen : Including As a Man Thinketh, The Path to Prosperity, The Mastery of Destiny, The Way of Peace, and Entering the Kingdom (Radiant Life) (Paperback) http://www.amazon.com/Wisdom-James-Allen-Including-Prosperity/dp/1889606006/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/002-7614444-2019238?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175880588&sr=1-2 Richest Man in Babylon (Paperback) http://www.amazon.com/Richest-Man-Babylon-George-Clason/dp/0451205367/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-7614444-2019238?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175880631&sr=1-1 Hope these help! Dave Donhoff Strategic Equity & Mortgage Planner

Quote:"your area is so full of wonderful subjects" Years ago I drove 18 wheelers covering the entire U.S.A. Every year Labor Day seemed to open the flood gates as people began their annual vacation migration in search of something to see. But what I found most amazing is that for every person that heads out of your community there is another traveling vast distances to come see your town. To that end I used to offer people a challenge. Take out a road map of your state and locate where you live then take a simple drawing compass and scribe circles at 5, 10, 20, 30, 40 & 50 miles. Now locate all the communities within those circles and contact their chamber of commerce for information on sites to see in their community. You will find a vast wealth of sites to see, all within a short one hour commute of your house, and many of them are absolutely free of admission. Now consider how much money you can save in fuel, food and lodgings and you have just saved enough to pay for that camera or new lenses you been dreaming about, not mention that you can continue that project year around instead of trying to pack it all into two weeks. Now in regards to how long it takes to edit 1300 photos. Actually the problem is not as difficult as it might seem. I began my interest in photography with a Pentax Spotmatic, which was the first 35mm SLR to have a built in through the lens light meter. (The Nikon F offered a light meter in an accessory viewfinder and Canon had not yet got into the professional SLR market). Lenses were manual focus, manual aperture and exposure was controlled by manipulating the shutter speed and lens aperture to center a match needle indicator in the view finder. As if that was not enough, in those days most films had an ASA (ISO) rating ranging from 64 to 325. I can vividly remember when AGFA introduced a 1000 ASA B&W film for the first time, and Fuji film almost took over the industry with a 500asa high resolution color print film. In those days getting the correct exposure was at best a bit iffy so it was common practice amongst the pro's and advanced amateurs to use a technique called "Bracketing" In fact, Bracketing is an automatic feature on most DSLR's but most people fail to use it. Bracketing is a technique where you shoot one frame at the measured exposure, then a second frame one f-stop under and a third frame one f-stop over. We could then push or pull an additional f-stop in the darkroom if need be. In those days there was no "live view" or "instant replay" so that is how we could insure we would have a usable print when we processed the film. I still rely heavily on that technique when i am out in the field where it would be difficult to return and try again, especially when shooting birds or wildlife where the shots cannot be repeated. When shooting macro shots of plants & flowers on a windy day I often set the mode to "Sports" which is shutter priority mode keeping the shutter speed as high as possible. This has a two fold effect. 1. By keeping the shutter speed very high it assures stop action when the subject is moving in the wind and 2. it keeps the aperture open, limiting depth of field, which generally puts the background out of focus giving a nice soft pastel background that does not detract from the subject. Back in the days of film bracketing the exposures was rather expensive when you considered the cost of film and processing, but in this age of digital when i go in the field I carry 5 or 6 SD cards and 5 sets of batteries so I am not concerned about wasting a shot or two if I can be sure that I will ultimately have the shot i want. In addition, I generally do not take just one shot, but rather I like to shoot a series of shots that show different aspects of the subject. By example, I am attaching a series I took of the evolution of a Dandelion. My brother said i was as crazy as an outhouse rat for taking pictures of dandelions but I like the outcome. DANDILION PLANT IN BLOOM DANDILION BLOSSOM DANDILION IMMATURE SEED POD DANDILION MATURE SEED POD DANDILION MATURE SEED POD DANDILION SEEDS