Here's my take. I know we all have our preferences but I never blame a medium for problems. That is just me. Here again, however, we have a testimonial from someone who deciding that their mix is too 'soggy' repots into something more open but then experiences continued problems now perhaps due to too dry conditions leading to brittle, dead, roots that don't develop. The unassisted (by artificial light) west window is at once too much light and too little! Your area can see frequent clouds and I suspect an atlas would show your locale receiving less than 180 clear days out of 365. IMO this is too little for good growth of anything but 'low light' species. OTOH when the sun 'is' shining and temps are up in the mid-80's possibly higher that is too much, even I admit that. The only recourse is to shade away the worst of the natural light. What is left will not cause heat stress or scorch but neither will it be able to put size into a p-bulb. The difference must be made up artificially. If someone knows of another way I would like to hear it. When orchids stall, sulk or otherwise go on strike the reason will always be found outside of the pot. Too litttle (rarely too much) light, too little or too much heat, too little or too much ventilation... external causatives. Water 1x/wk for a plastic pot, 2x/wk for a clay pot regardless of what is in it and call it good! Do not spray or mist or otherwise try to 'top up' orchid pots. That way lies madness and also root rot. With experience will come the ability to experiment in ways that will not harm your plants. Until then its best to follow some rules. They won't always be a perfect fit but they work for quite a lot of growers new and old. H

Brenda, it is nice when even family members are enablers, eh? LOL!! I actually keep telling my husband "There's this garden in Western NY that someday we have to go visit!" I would love to see your beautiful garden some day. The different areas you have planted and the variety is amazing. I've been lusting for some more photos from you. Would love to see what you have on file for your veggie garden from last year if you have any time to post some. Goodness! I finally cracked open the catalog for my local nursery who I really like to support. She's a true plantswoman who I so enjoy chatting with, etc. I just sent an email over to her with my "list" (is was a long one) of plants to put aside for me for pickup when they open. It's a terrible habit I have of giving her a list each year for pickup. But my birthday is always right around when she opens, so it's a birthday present, right?!?! LOL!

I don't know what i'm going to do - she's already been buying litte outfits! I did give her a gift bag full of baby things for Christmas, making sure that i added some Toronto Maple Leaf socks (Eddie's a Montreal fan, the traitor...). I have a blanket made and i also have a little dress that was supposed to be a gift for someone else and never quite made it. Since she will be a summer baby, she won't need much in the line of sweaters and blankets. I'm going to ask Mike if he'll attempt making a change table for them. We have a crib that he made and a cradle that a friend made, so they'll have that. I can fix up sheets and things and maybe my mother-in-law will do a little quilt. Still waiting for her to have the ultrasound to find out for sure that it's a girl - the ring on a chain said it was! :)

What HAVEN'T they been up to? LOL. Xena likes to steal. About three times a day I have to find and return the christmas-tree shaped plant pick that she steals from a mini-rose on the kitchen table. I tried taking it out and putting it away, but in a fit of pique she started to eat the blooms! Back the pick went, back to stealing went Xena, and no more flowers became mutilated. So far this system is working for us. Jasmine is being quite the sucky baby. If my posture even suggests the existance of a lap, she is on it. I leaned against a low box the other day while taking a phone call and she scrambled right up like I was sitting in an armchair or something. Then she proceeded to look perturbed because there really wasn't enough lap there to lay across and she was clutching with all her worth and STILL sliding down my legs. She has perfected the art of "log rolling" - as I turn over at night, she skillfully balances and walks as I turn, then settles onto whatever side ends up at the top when I am done. I suppose I wouldn't mind all the warm snuggly attention. But she drools. Ew! LOL Ruby? What can I say about Ruby. Today I wore make-up because we were going to a local pizza joint to celebrate DD's birthday with family. I had a few moments before it was time to leave so I snuck in a few moments of reading. She trampled over to me across the back of the couch, placed her paw on my head to steady it, and proceeded to sniff all over my face. First she inspected the eye shadow. Then she sniffed each individual eye lash, running her flat nose along the length of each one. She checked out the blush on both cheeks. But the best snurffle was reserved for last! My lipstick. Burts Bees, and it has a bit of mint in it. She sniffed and snotted and sniffed some more. Then she delicately gagged in my face (she does not like the smell of mint at all LOL). No wonder I don't "make myself up" very often!