OH MY-I don't know what to say. lol

Thanks for posting the photos of your visit to Orchids Unlimited. I wondered which ones you bought. A friend and I stopped there on Thursday last week and were delighted with the variety of blossoms. So many colors and sizes and shapes.

Brandy, I wouldn't have been very happy with those neighbors. Here in our county many ranchers use prescribed burning as a management tool but, while many are careful to burn only under the right conditions, some others are not. Many, many of the wildfires (I'd say most of them) in our county are from so-called controlled burns that become uncontrollable. It is extremely frustrating. It is one thing if someone burning under expected "good conditions" and with a plowed firebreak, etc., has the weather unexpectedly change on them and their fire escapes from their control. It is a whole different thing when people show total disregard for the conditions and for the danger they're exposing other peoples' property to and just go out and burn off a pasture just because they decide to do it "today" no matter the weather. Also, everyone, FYI---very high to extreme fire weather conditions will return later in the week. Rainfall at this time does not do much to reduce fire danger because cured, dormant vegetation doesn't absorb that moisture and hold it so the vegetation dries out quickly after the rain stops.

YQ, I believe there is basically no change in the "new terms" as now appear on our forum, than those that have already existed for years. At least so far as theh conditions of posting pictores or information ( -I haven't yet ploughed through the rest of the guff !!) It's just a bit longer and more "up front" (- but then the electronic world keeps gets getting more complicated and people keep trying to get one step ahead of the legal ramifications, and people claim they haven't read the "fine print". To put minds at rest (I hope, but please feel free to raise this with the site-owners for confirmation) this matter was discussed with the then-owner and webmaster, Spike, some years back. At that time, it was a hazy legal area, that , by GW posting your photos on its web-site without your written approval, that act might itself constitute a breach of copyright - YOUR copyright. So the user rules were brought in to make it easier. Everyone is assumed to give GW permission to publish what they post, they also, in posting, assure they are the legal owner of the material. The second intention, as I understand it, is to help protect YOUR ownership of your pictures, by GW "assuming" ownership for so long as your picture appears on the web-site or through cached internet searches. This operates as a "back-off warning " to people who might try to lift & copy images from GW and claim as their own. I believe there is no suggestion I-Village wants to make a coffee-table book out of the pictures or information its members post. the worst might be to have your picture glorified in the archives or reference material, but I believe it goes no further than GW. If copyright is really a problem for anyone, then simply do not post your pictures ANYWHERE on the internet, if you intend to use them commercially somewhere else. However I do not believe there is any intention on the site owner's part that by posting pictures, the creator "loses" his or her unique ownership of the material. Alison (who apologises that the ramble is almost as long as the rules !!)