Thanks again, everyone. I like hearing about the different cultural "tips" as well! :) Since noone has mentioned the cucumber thing... I know, I've got cukes on the brain right now... About 15 years ago I read in Gourmet Magazine about a technique of cutting cucumbers that decreases the bitterness. I always do this now and hadn't thought of it, as a tip or tale, until I just ran across someone mentioning it on the veg forum. Anyway, what you do is cut the end off of the cuke, then rub the cut piece against the whole cuke in a vigorous circular motion until you have a foamy substance. Cut another narrow slice off of the same end to remove the foam. Repeat on the other side. This really seems to work for me. I've had very few bitter cukes and when I have it is usually when I've not worked it up into a foam. Another thing, which I wonder about... My mother always says that my paternal grandmother said to plant beans in the DARK of the moon. That seems strange to me because beans are an above ground crop (if you follow the whole Farmer's Almanac thing). But, it does leave me to wonder if it fixes nitrogen in the soil better or something? Has anyone else ever heard this? I, for one, cannot grow beans to save my life. If they survive they produce very few. Next year I'll pay attention to the moon. Thanks again, everyone for sharing.

"What would matter more in the long run...a bigger root system, with a smaller crown, or a smaller root system with a larger crown?" Hostarox My belief is that there is a loss (IÂve explained how I come to this position) but I can't find any research and I haven't done any. That is why I'm trying to enlist a seed grower to try some work on culls. If I still had hosta in tissue culture I would take 18 (the number per flat) and cut the roots off and leave 18 alone and see what would happen. "What I want to know is if anyone has done any research to see what a Hosta (monocot) root system does if put under sudden duress" Hostarox No I donÂt have research. That is exactly my question! I assume all plants have mechanisms to respond to stress, my question is; does stress create a loss. If so, then donÂt create the stress. Plants have signals to grow, bloom and go dormant etc and I assume signals to respond to stress and survive. Same question is there a net loss from stress? "You can tell the difference easily because the dormant buds point up and have green coloring while these root buds are white and point down on the same plant." Dave I should have known that, duh? Now that you point it out I have seen exactly what you describe. Would you like to try a little experiment to bring data to this question.

Hi all, I just found this site. My husband is an avid deer hunter. I know that he'd really like to check in with any hunters from Texas. When he gets back fron his lease, I'm gonna tell him about this place. Sometimes, I think he loves hunting more than me.... just kidding. If you're from Texas and love to hunt, you'll have your very own pen pal right here when he gets home!!! I guess pen pal is not the right word. Maybe.... source of information of where he's hunted now and in the past. Good luck to all you hunters... you know that your time is running out!! Happy New Year.. Vickie Decatur, TX

nofaves.... In many ways he sounds like my husband, but in some ways they are different... My husband NEVER wanted me to quit my job (we had very comparable jobs and baiscally earned the exact same amount of money... whoever had the last raise made the most money)... although I wanted to SAH. I agreed to go back for 6 months and then decide what I thought then. Well in that time his life did not in any way change. I and I alone was responsible for all that I was prior to our daughter, plus everything relating to do with her, after all his job was IMPORTANT (I took that to mean mine wasn't???). When the 6 months were up, I told him I was NOT staying at work... but that I was not leaving right then I would stay no longer than one more year... but if I got really ticked at work, I would give my notice then and there... so in other words you are on notice that sometime between today and 48 weeks from today I will be quitting my job.... So, I made it through the year, but about 3 weeks before I am planning to go talk with my boss, he decides to quit his job and start his own business! I explained to him that was fine... but that I was still quitting my job as planned, after all we had a full year to plan for the loss of my income (50% of our total remember) and I went in to resign as planned and was talked into staying 1/2 time by my boss (we worked out a great deal)... then about 3 months later I was (oops, surprise) pregnant again... in no way planned.... so we talk and I say I will leave my job after the second is born... he agrees... mind you in all this time he is still not picking up anything to do with our daughter... although now I've switched to an alternating schedule of 3 days per week/two days per week... Anyway the second comes along, I stay home, a few years later we adopt a third, and then fast forward to the last few years... DH has become very hostile over the fact that he is my 'beast of burden' and that I have not contributed to the household. and btw, I do nothing at all all day long, nothing. I can't tell you haw many times I've heard that I have done nothing at all... Then I caught him having an affair... this was of course my fault, as I have no interest in life with him or doing things with him relating to business... what??? basically what he meant was since my life is revolving around our children I am no longer capable of having a conversation with him on anything he is interested in... OH! so that's how you justify screwing around??? We're in counseling, I took a part time job (mind you he was upset that it wan't full time or good enough) to get my children use to the idea that mom won't always be available for them, and low and behold that causes all sorts of conflict in our life now too... first the job is not good enough (I no longer am qualified to go back to the management position I left after 12+ years of not working), second now he has to step in and fill gaps when I'm not available... and don't you know he has work to be doing he can't deal with doing things for the children, his job is important, mine isn't, so I should figure out how to get out of mine to take care of what needs to be done.... Well jack, you can't have it both ways, you said get a job and you'd fill in when necessary... either I wasn't doing squat before and I should have a job, and you'll step up to the plate as promised, or I was actually doing things, maybe not important in your eyes, but certainly things that need to be done (as he agrees... driving to/from private schools, sports lessons, practices, games, dance etc) I think he now realizes he was foolish about his harping on me about a job but is boxed into a corner... he complained I was doing nothing and needed a full time job and now that I have a part time one he can't handle what is being requested of him... how can he get out of this gracefully??? He certainly can't tell me to quit what he wanted me to do... We had all sorts of conflict over the past 18 months over trips... we typically would take 2-3 trips away per year... well part time workers with a regular schedule only get so much time off work.... so that curtailed trips... he'll come out with some wonderful idea... how about for a break we take the kids to ... and I'll say you're welcome to take them but I have no more time available to take from work... and he'll do a double take and say oh... he certainly wouldn't consider taking all three by himself... maybe the older two, but not with the youngest too. I've given up trying to figure him out... he's really not a bad person, although the affair has truly tested my limits... this job thing is testing my patience... time and time again we go around and around over whether or not he's going to step up when needed... and I'm not quitting without him saying to .... I know that's very 'in your face' of me... but enough is enough already.... Why do I stay after the affair... like I said he's really not a bad person, he's just very self centered and thinks the world should revolve around him.. I knew this at the beginning... I and the counselor are trying to get him to see life from other perspectives, not just his, but mine, the children's and "other" looking in... Sadly, he thinks the world views him positively... professionally this is probably true, but privately, socially this is not the case any longer... I have said in counselling with him there how I get calls from mutual friends wanting to know am I alright after we're together because they don't like the way he acts towards me or the children when we're together... this took him so by surprise I thought he was going to faint... How do you get a 52+ YO man to understand that the world does not revolve around them and that others have ideas and thoughts and feelings that are just as valid as theirs???