Very funny! I suspect the wind in this story was generated by hot air! Speaking of large fruits, what do you think about a 1689-pound pumpkin? That's the latest world record. Back to figs: I'd be interested in hearing what the largest QP is that was grown from cuttings I've sent out over the past several years. The biggest I was able to beat the squirrels to and put on a scale was an even six ounces, as shown on our Friends of the Fig Society website. One that the squirrels got appeared to be larger. If we pursued this like the pumpkin fanatics, do you think we could produce a one-pound fig? And, if we could, would we want to?

Earlier today, I went to the mobot website, and found information on Dr. Raven. He sounds like quite an interesting man. I think he's going to be talking about ecology, and not gardening, from the sounds of the article. There are so many events that come up that I want to go to, but end up not going to. (I guess I said that already.) I'll let you know if I make it or not. I just looked up the date Elvis died, 8/16/77. DH and I were at the Missouri Botanical Garden that day, in the area for a Jackson Browne concert in Edwardsville, Illinois. We were walking next to a white building of some kind, when they either made the announcement of Elvis's death for those who were there, or else we heard it from a radio that was playing. It was a great place, and the Japanese garden had recently been put in, but it looks like there have been a lot of additions since then. Thanks for the replies, Sue

Sorry.. posted this in Conversations in error.. have reposted in the Discussions section.

I have definitely seen cats that are in heat AND pregnant. In fact that was my most fun diagnosis while on my emergency rotation. Dad and his 9 year old daughter brought in their cat because they thought she was in pain. She was in heat and VERY pregnant. Saved them an exam by the clinician and therefore $115. They were relieved that kitty wasn't deathly ill as they had thought, but very concerned about what to do about the pregnancy. Turns out, kitty took decisions out of their hands by having 4 kittens 2 days later (Dad let me know that I was right about the pregnancy and in heat diagnosis, since it was not confirmed by the ER clinician). I'm not sure at what stage in gestation I can palpate pregnancy in a cat. The couple of pregnant cats I've seen have been very pregnant, so it was almost a moot point even palpating them. I am volunteering for operation catnip tomorrow so hopefully I'll get an opportunity to palpate some of the females. I'm on the neuter table though, and it tends to be quite the assembly line; I'll probably neuter 20 cats in 4 hours myself if they can keep cats in front of me the whole time (usually I'm too fast for the PE/anesthesia line) and they'll be 3 other students on the neuter table with me. Groomingal-I have never worked for a vet that didn't personally do a physical exam prior to surgery. One vet I worked for accidently tried to spay a male cat until further investigation (in his defense the cat did look female). But they always do a PE prior to all surgeries. And we do euthanize viable litters. It is cruel just to allow them to die because they suffocate slowly. I absolutely agree that if the pregnancy is found prior to surgery, the owner should be called and given their options, and that is what the vets I have worked for have always done. That said, we don't do spays or neuters without a prior PE with the owner present, so that situation doesn't occur often. In other words, a client can't just drop off a patient we have never seen before for surgery- they have to be present for the initial exam in case something comes up, like a heart murmur or pregnancy or whatever. I don't know if my new job will have that as a hospital policy, but you can bet that I'll be doing PEs prior to surgery of any kind.