Thanks for the advice Greg :) I did pick up a soil moisture meter. After doing some more reading up about the drip lines, and finding one resource saying to "think more in hours rather than minutes", I had set the system to run for 45 min. three times a week. It's only run once since I set it, and that was on Wed. I used the meter in the soil both this morning and just a few minutes ago, and it was reading wet. So looks like I need to back it off some. I'll not run it at all tomorrow as scheduled (unless the meter reads dry, which I highly doubt it will since it's reading so wet), and also change it so when it runs next it's only on for 30 min. I may need to change the days I'm watering now that I got it too wet already. So I'll keep checking with the meter and adjust as needed. It'll take a bit to get the timing down so I've got the soil keeping just moist fairly steadily (adjusting as the weather gets hotter), but for now it is good to know that the water is getting down deep. I like the drip method rather than the soaker hose, as the water is going directly to each plant and not to other areas (and definitely don't want to encourage weeds to grow - they don't need any help!). Marj

We use whole and 2%, both organic. I use whole in my coffee and tea and 2% on my cereal. I use both in cooking and baking. When eating cookies or cakes, it's whole for me. I grew up drinking raw milk and loved it. It's probably one of the reasons I still drink whole milk.

Elsa was 8lbs 1oz at birth, then she was weighed at 1 week because she wasn't nursing well and was 7lbs 10oz, then again at 2 weeks she was 8 lbs even, then at 6 weeks we had to take her to the hospital and she was 11lbs 2oz fully clothed, and then at her 2m appt she was 11lb 12oz. I swear she is at least 15 lbs by now. She will be 4m on the 27th of this month. She is a little bruiser...she is chubby everywhere but most of it is in her cheeks...they literally hang off her face, the little punkin. Shelby

My personal experience says that how much a cat drinks is a very individual thing (dogs too). My male cat is one who will beg to have the faucet turned on to a drip, and he'll drink until he gets water logged and barfs. He'll also "swim" in a fresh bowl of water, and again drink until he's sloshing and throwing up water. He has done this since he was a little kitten and it doesn't indicate any problems. IMO, as long as your cat has been thoroughly checked over by a vet, what you really worry about is *a change in behavior*. A few weeks back, my boy cat was suddenly not drinking to excess and playing in the water as he's done all his life (he's 14 now)- that was a serious change in habit, so off to the vet we went and he was sick with elevated kidney values. He's since gotten better and had a good blood panel, so we are not sure what was going on with him- not ruling out kidney problems, but he is back to his original habits and health. My girl cat never drank much water- at least not like he does. When she started drinking much more water suddenly, and drinking it from weird places- like licking all the water from the shower floor after someone had bathed- that was again a change of habit. She does have kidney disease and the change of increased drinking was a clear sign of that. My late dog could drain a large water bowl in one sitting. She drank a lot and peed a lot, and it was never a health issue- at least not one that was ever found over the course of 14 years.