Mojove. The only fruit trees I grow indoors that fruit are citrus (lemon/lime/orange) and one Olive Tree, 'Olea' I also have 3 Vanilla Orchids, 1 Coffee, 1 variegated, 1 green Gingers, but so far, none produced. Too bad, huh? Citrus and Olive are really difficult, if one has a bright room that cools a little in the evening, humidifer, proper soil, fertilizer, daily misting, inspecting and love. Talking/singing to these guys doesn't hurt either..lol. Are you thinking about getting a fruit tree? I've never tried a cherry trees indoors. Fruit trees, grown inside are usually grown as bonsais, but I don't know the first thing about caring for a true bonsai. The few Bonsais I have are Ficus and succulents. True fruit trees, cherry, peach, pears need a cold period. And a lot of sun. Some probably need two trees, male and female, (to produce) but this is speculation. I have Kiwi outside; to get fruit you need a male and at the minimum, two females. Figures, MEN! lol j/k. sort of..lol Plantmedic..Welcome. I don't recall seeing you around House Plants before..You grow Pothos in direct sun or am I misreading your comment? Mocco...my email should show, but I think GW is having problems. I even tried editing, but it doesn't go through. My email addy is hopefulauthor@sbcglobal.net Actually, I think moving around would be interesting. The only problem I'd have is if I had an outdoor garden, and had to leave favorite perrenials behind. Or, if moving to a state like Fl, where I couldn't bring my citrus would be very difficult decision. Plus, hauling indoor plants around would be a LOT of work. Otherwise, moving to a new home, different area/state, would be nice. BTW, Congrats on your marriage. I'm terribly sorry about Katrina destroying your new home. That'd had to be a true horror! Besides that disaster, you've lived through some lovely places. Alabama is a beautiful state. We don't travel much, 'pets' but visited once. If it was up to me, I'd move there..Perfect climate, very nice people.. An Andy Griffith scene. :) Southern GA and AL are gorgeous. I'm green w/envy. lol. Here in IL, the last time we've seen real sun was Wed. As I type, we're having more snow-blizzardy weather, and temps are very very cold. No desire to even step out the door. Welcome again. BTW, I've never been up east, but every picture I've seen, everything heard, was pleasant. So, you're back in Al, is that correct? Brookfield is okay..as for transportation, you MUST have a car.. When we moved here, it was like moving to the country. I was used to honking horns, public transportation. You don't see taxi's here, and in order to ride on a bus, it's done on schedule..No buses at night. lol. I've been to Kankakee many times..Very pretty town..Kank has bird shows I enjoy going to, but haven't attended in a couple years. Ha, Chims are expensive everywhere. lol. Have you ever shopped at Violet Barn/Rob's Violets..there's a couple other AV nurseries I browse through and bought from..but it's been a while. Ted's addy is 16930 S 84th St. Tinley Pk. I can give you the phone number if you're interested. They're closed Sun, that is, until March..The original owner is still around..he loves talking plants, and quite proud of all he's accomplished. The greenhouses are wonderful. They always have something rare, and all their plants are healthy. Every last plant I bought at Ted's is doing well..We found Ted's in the late 80's, early 90's. Oh I just love it. Check out the website.... tedsgreenhouse.com The website doesn't discuss indoor plants, but believe me, that's the main reason I go there..lol..Although they have lovely annuals/perrenials in spring through fall. Which Arboretum do you mean? Lincoln Park? There's a few locations. I'd love to go to a Gesneriad show. Whoppee!! lol Have you ever been to this show? Toni

We used a garlic oil/citrus oil mix that was proprietary to Terminix for 3 years, it worked fantastic. It was applied to the trees/planting beds around the perimeter of our yard. Reportedly the citrus attracts mosquitoes, once ingested the garlic destroys their digestive system. Initially it took several weeks to really notice a difference but once it took effect, this stuff worked outstanding. We live in a heavily wooded lot with a small stream that tends to leave pockets of standing water here and there, as well as about 100 yards from a very large lake. It worked great and had no adverse effects on my dog. For whatever reason, Terminix discontinued it in favor of the "traditional" toxic chemical Deltamethrin, which is supposed to work much more effectively and much faster. We've had 2 applications this month so far and the mosquitoes are as bad as we've seen since before we hired Terminix the first time. I'm going to give it another month and if I do t see a reduction in activity, we're going to terminate Terminix in favor of a garlic oil...

"We passed on an otherwise perfect house because it abutted a highly used nature trail. Sure, 99.9% of the people going by are fine, but what about the .01%?" That is why I mentioned checking the predator list. We looked at a nice house on 5 acres that was in a great area. The elderly resident was moving into a nursing home. While we were walking the property, we happened to run into the neighbor next door and had a chat with him. He seemed very nice. When I got home I did an offender search for that vicinity and was startled to learn that this 'nice' neighbors son was on the list for child offenses, domestic battery and burglary! He had lived elsewhere for awhile but was back living with his parents. It made me wonder if the children of the elderly woman had moved 'mom' out because of this. Needless to say we passed on the house. A little later I was curious to see who bought the house and learned that a couple with 2 young children had moved in. I didn't want to take the chance that they didn't know about the guy who lived next door, so I sent them an anonymous note with a print out of the offender and the stats (address). I didn't want to scare them but I would have felt terrible if I had neglected to share what I knew. It takes a village to keep kids safe in this day and age. I'm very happy to do my part to help any/every child enjoy a safe, happy childhood.

A dog's room? My dog owns the whole house. LOL. Yeah, mine too. He has three beds -- one by the computer, one in the living room, one hidden behind a catty-cornered recliner in the family room (we always avert our eyes when he heads back there, as he genuinely believes we don't know about that one) -- yet at night he still sleeps in my or my youngest daughter's bed. And he has "his sofa" in the office. He's trained to ring a bell when he wants to go outside, and he loves that we live on the corner in a big neighborhood where loads of people walk other dogs. He himself gets a good long walk every morning with my daughter and another with me in the evenings. He goes to the nearby bark park frequently, and once a week he goes to Camp Bow Wow to socialize with other dogs. If I go back to school in the evenings, he goes with me. He has a little towel and water bowl in the corner by my desk. His biggest problem in life: We force him to take a bath. He's not the unloved fellow who was tied to the shelter in the middle of the night and abandoned (probably because an irresponsible backyard breeder learned he was completely blind; thus, unsellable). He's not the same scared puppy we brought home from the shelter, covered in ticks and fleas. As for building, I always intend to have a dog -- probably a small one about our current dog's size. I intend to do a couple things for him: - I'm planning a spot for him to eat in the mudroom -- also space to store his extra food, etc. because I'm frugal and like to buy in bulk. - I want to put in a doggie door so he can come and go to the backyard without waiting for us. - And I'm planning for his multiple beds again. He really likes being where we are.