Hi Bonnie, Long Ago is working on their site, so the page being down isn't surprising. I know she's like Burling in that she's a one person operation. You can imagine trying to take care of hundreds to thousands of plants; propagate them all; handle all the "chief cook and bottle washer" duties for the business and household, etc., AND mess around with a web site. It will get there. I don't know who will have stock ready first. Remember Long Ago is on the east coast and doesn't ship west of the Rockies. Burling is less than three hours from you. Actually, I prefer receiving young plants during weather as we're "suffering" right now. Replanted in a larger pot, in good soil, placed in filtered sun and kept well fed and watered, most will grow like mad with this heat. It sets the stage for the perfect opportunity to push them by keeping them disbudded. I'm impatient when it comes to pushing plants. It drives me crazier for them to just SIT there, appearing to do nothing. Kim

tsugajunkie, It looks like you're reading very selectively, not picking up on any of my points. I don't know what the actual numbers are. Let me be very clear about that. What I do know for certain is that used textbooks is $0 to author. The author would make more money by selling electronic copies of their book because more people would buy it. Heck, maybe people would be willing to pay even more than a paper book for it because of the convenience of not having to go to bookstores and wait in line then return the book because the professor changed his mind at the last minute. treebarb, I understand the problem of losing a lot of our manufacturing jobs to other countries. But saying that we should continue to waste paper to protect jobs is like saying we shouldn't use home solar systems because if everyone made their own energy, the people that work at the power plant would be out of a job. Or its like saying we shouldn't try to keep people off drugs because if nobody was on drugs, the people that work in the rehab industry would be in the unemployment line. There is a clear solution here. Provide hard copies for students that prefer that. Everyone else can use rights-managed digital copies and kindle type things.

I love those electric scissors! But, they won't help you make drainage holes. On 2L bottles, I find that a drill bit slides off and is dangerous. Knives, too. I do use a large drill bit, though--1/4". Starting with a small bit and then using the large one might work ok. I use a sharp pair of scissors, snip the bulges on the bottom, then poke the scissors in and twist a nice big hole. I think it's much easier to do this with milk jugs, you could start the slit in the side and let the kids cut around, and maybe put slits on the bottom that the kids will turn into holes. Or, maybe cottage-cheese containers or orange-juice cartons would be easier for the students to deal with. The cottage ch. containers can be stacked and drilled several at a time. For the juice cartons, I would use a utility knife to start a slit and let the kids finish the cutting. (I use the utility knife to start 2L bottles, too, then use the electric scissors to make the hemispherical cut) My junior high had a woodshop. When I was in 7th grade, every student alternated between gym and either sewing, cooking, or woodshop--and we had to take all of them. Then the state mandated daily gym, and those classes became elective. Too bad, but I'm sure the gym thing was important--although we only had 1 obese kid in the school back then. What does it look like now, Ashley? And, do jr highs still teach hands-on stuff?

A lot of what we have is grassroots organized. I recall when my son was in 6th grade a team he was on had practice starting at 4PM daily. School got out at 2:25. If he took the bus home, he arrived home at 3:15, and would have to turn around and i would drive him to the field. This impacted him and about 6 other kids that lived out in the country. Another mother and I asked the school for a room, and we rotated meeting there with the boys, bringing an afterschool snack. Kids did homework or played board games, or we went on the fields with frisbees and such if it was nice. We have bike 'train' that facilitates kids that live far out having a safe way to bike to school. The 'train' has stations where kids join or depart. They also have fun rides. We have 'in the gym' after school activities, these vary but there is hula hooping, kazoo band, volleyball, obstacle course, etc. School libraries are open for 2 hours after end of school day to provide a place for study and hanging out. Town library is awesome. School bus drops off at the YMCA in the next town, so you can get there, but you will need to figure out how to get home.