yes. Hydroton is an inert growing medium, it's a brand of fired clay pellets. It works a lot like using fine pebbles but the clay retains some moisture. Works similar to perlite but the particles are larger. Roger is planted in hydroton too. If you do a google search for hydroculture you'll get all sorts of info. I was reading a GW thread about Hoyas where people were having success growing their plants this way. I am a serial over-waterer. There. I said it :) Since transferring my houseplants to hydroculture, I've had no problems with drowning plants. You keep the level of water just below the roots (plant in clear plastic containers so you can see what's going on) and fertilize with diluted nutrients every other week or so depending. Follow the link below for indepth reading, photos, etc. So far, Roger's little friends seem happy. The leaves have plumped up a bit & the level of the water is still just below the cutting but I have a feeling I can raise the level without adverse affect. I'll probably do this today & continue to take a photo daily. I grow my new banana plant this way. It's a small plant that is quite happy with this set up. Nothing complicated as you can see, a clear qt sized chinese food container with holes cut into the bottom with my handy-dandy dremel tool. After a week of just water, I had to take it out of the qt container & put it in the primary container while I source out a large enough crock to put him in. The roots were growing out of the holes =) Here is a link that might be useful: basics of hydroculture

I do hope you took her to the vet already. My dog had a swollen toe, which I didn't think was a real problem since it didn't affect her walking or seem to bother her at all. I had taken her to the vet for other things and they noticed the toe, but didn't seem too concerned of it, so I figured they would know and left it as just another in a long line of benign bumps she'd previously developed. It became a natural part of life for months until it suddenly turned dark and made her limp, at which time I panicked and took her in. My deepest nightmare and regret... Even after they surgically took the toe off, she developed Mast Cell cancer from it. The surgery was too late and killed her about a month later. The kicker here is that once the toe turned dark, my vets relayed of their having heard of many other dogs getting Mast Cell cancer from swollen toes before and that if ever a dog had a swollen toe you should just take it off and not chance it, because even if it's benign in the beginning, the chances are it will turn later, and probably too late. These are the same vets that noticed it earlier and didn't say a damn thing! I'm angry and frustrated and just don't understand. I miss my girl terribly and feel I truly let her down. I know I was in denial and should have investigated further and not just count on bumbling doctors not paying attention or simply not giving a damn. I think I was afraid of knowing due to not being able to fix it, but this was fixable if caught in time. Please do not allow this to happen to your baby. You'll regret it forever. I do. My heart aches terribly from it all. I will never forget my beloved baby girl and pray I reunite with her in the ever-after when my time on this earth is done. God knows it would never be Heaven for me without her.

Well, how does he feel about it? I whacked my foot terribly about 20 years ago. Was pretty sure I'd broken the toe, but knew the dr. would just tape it to the next one. AND, of course, it happened on our ortho's day off. So I figured a roll of adhesive tape and a bottle of aspirin were a lot cheaper and easier than a specialist visit. Took care of it myself. It did take a good 6 weeks before I was pain-free. And yes, that toe is slightly crooked--but not enough to be a problem. And yes--a few years ago, I was having X-rays for a different, unrelated problem and there was the evidence, I HAD broken my toe. I'm perfectly happy with the choice I made--and if I broke a toe in future would take care of it myself (unless it was sticking out at a right angle, or something--LOL).

I live in the Madison area. My husband and I have been to two of the six Parade neighborhoods so far. In one, the homes were around the $550k. In the other, I’d say they were around $300k-350k. I heard someone mention that the lesser priced houses were a welcome addition to the Parade of Homes this year; that in years past, it was only more expensive homes. We have a 1200sf ranch, and we are almost finished building our new screened in porch. The next big project is the kitchen… and finishing up our single bathroom remodel. We enjoy going to the Parade of Homes to get ideas. We each bring a tape measure, and we constantly measure aisle widths, island dimensions, countertops, etc. It’s a huge help while we work on our renovation plans. I tend to look at overall layout and function. Here are some of my comments: - 9 of 10 homes have a great room set up, with a kitchen/DR/LR open plan space. The living room is often super tall (2 or more stories), and frequently, the only place to put a TV is above the fireplace. I’m torn on the super tall ceiling in the LR – I’m not sure I like the scale, and it tends to make the rooms feel taller, rather than wide, which makes them feel smaller in footprint than they really are. Also, TV is important to me, but above the fireplace is just. Too. High. -Speaking of TV, there is often a second TV room in the basement, or on a landing on the second floor. It seems like there is no way to close off the ancillary TV spaces from the first floor great room, which may or may not have its own TV. (open stairways to the basement, open railings to the great room, etc.) Really??? Is that cool? -Several homes had the kitchen sink in plain sight of the front door. In new construction (i.e., when all of the options are available to you), I’m not sure I like that. - Lots of pocket doors. I Love them!!!! However, I don’t love the dinky little hardware you have to fiddle with to get the teensy little handle thingees to pop out. There has to be a better way! -We looked carefully at the detailing in the screened in porches. Ours is DIY, and nearly finished. I was generally not impressed with what I saw. In just one of the lesser priced houses, we quite liked the detailing and quality of the work. In most of the houses, the screened in porches and decks were generic, regardless of the style or price of the house. (I like ours best!) -All of the 10 homes I’ve seen have a master bedroom suite on the first floor. It’s not uncommon to be able to lay in bed, and look straight out into the kitchen. (even in the more expensive homes). This is something I’ve been thinking about, because this will most likely be the case in our ranch home after our kitchen remodel. -In the majority of MBR suites, the closet can ONLY be accessed through the master bathroom. I am not impressed. -First or second floor laundry is standard now, which is pretty cool. -Mud rooms were an area that were greatly expanded in more expensive houses. In the less expensive houses, they typically felt quite cramped. -Yards seem small to me, in ALL of the houses, and the houses are close together. Kitchen comments: -For me, a 42” aisle is perfect. (our house and kitchen are small, so this dimension is important to me.) -For me, 12” overhang for seating at a 36” high counter is plenty. One kitchen had a 9.75” overhang for seating, and it was bad. -some of the islands are just out of control – too big! Too deep, too many angles in the differing counter heights. The above pictures almost always cut off the high/bar height portions of the islands. -One house had a giant pantry/storage area between the mud room and the kitchen. It was AWESOME. -Only the pricier homes had kitchens with lower drawers instead of regular lower cabinets. -I MUST have a landing space for the fridge – either across an aisle, or to the right of the fridge as you look at it. I saw one fridge that was all by itself next to a pantry closet, with no landing space within 7 feet of it in all directions. -I only saw a few prep sinks, only in the pricier homes. I can’t say I’m sold. They seem like a bandaid for poorly designed kitchens, IMHO. I have a friend who has one; she never uses it. -one kitchen (in a pretty pricey home) had a 32” aisle in front of a French door fridge. It was too small. -I hate MW below the countertop. hate it. Hate it. Hate it. (I am a heavy MW user). -Undermount sinks tend to be deeper than I like. -Several of the more pricy kitchens had GLASS pantry doors at a 45 degree angle in the corner of the kitchen, with the word “pantry” etched in. Really? Does anyone really want to display their pantry contents??? -Many homes don’t seem to have a formal dining room at all. If they do, it often seemed small (to me), and were typically near the front door, around the corner from the kitchen, with double doors that faced the great room. They seemed better suited for offices. But, I’m not a fan of an office that opens up in to the main social space of the house. And if it’s a dining room, I’d like better access to the kitchen.