Sorry Lainie - all undeclared hitch-hikers get gassed in Customs. They won't let certain pests onto foreign shores - bad luck! :) Gonz - Andrew showed a range of photographic techniques. He was swayed by his artistic alter-ego, Penelope Boozer-Pitt, to steer clear of black backgrounds, as P.B-P. thought them boring. So he tried a light flat grey background (yuck!), and then a pukey green one (equally yuck), and showed us the "greenie" a la natural approach. General consensus was: black background looks best for the silvery tills, or even navy/prussian blue? What do you and others reckon? Mike - I will certainly be side-tracking to Florida after New Orleans, and California is looking tempting, with a Hawaiian stop-over on way home too. Yay! Cheers, Excited Kerry :)

Thanks Chris! I wish I had a greenhouse, but I dont really have a place where it would look good and get the benifits of the sun. I usually just put the plants around the house with the tallest palms going by the tallest ceiling . Last year all the plants barely had a place to go and this year I have a LOT more so Im starting to get a little worried. I think Im going to partially convert a room into a greenhouse since it has nice south facing windows and is rarely used. But one day I would really love to put all these plants in a greenhouse! Until then my house becomes a jungle with all the plants are fighting for their lives until spring finally comes! I think I am going to look up about greenhouses and maybe see where one can go. I can dream :) And thanks for the tip about the Fireball bromeliad. Originally when I took them out in late march, they were in full sun, but when the tree grew leaves for the summer, It got a lot more shade. I think next year Im going to look for a place with more sun and maybe if I get enough pups, I will have a few more plants too! And you got my ending signature just right! Sometimes I dont even notice Im writing it, lol.... Good luck! -Alex

Hello Everyone Yall's homes and furbabies are soo wonderful it is soo nice to meet you all. My name is RaNae I'll be 42 this year and live with my wonderful DH Doug we have been together since 1983- cosmically we were spose to be together- both born in same small town hospital 3 years apart- same ob, same lady signed our birth certificates- he grew up there we moved away by about 40 minutes when I was 3 months old....Jump to August 1, 1983 we both started working at Aeolian American (the last handmade piano factory in the US that closed in 85) in the small town where I grew up- He was in structural maitenance of the factory and machines I worked on the pianos- one day while I was working I saw him greasing a drill near my station and I thought to myself- gosh he's kinda cute- he has amazing eyes- shoot what a smile- I can see myself going out with him- heck I can see myself married to him... that was in OCT we met Christmas Eve Day that year 1983 I was 18 he had just turned 22 We started dating the folowing March of 84 and have been together ever since- LOVE at First sight does happen- he is sooo wonderful and honorable and committed- he helped care for my dying Father in our home for over a year when we were just 25 and 28 I have helped him through a Total Hip Replacement due to a childhood virus and manage our home and keep him on schedule. We have 2 wonderful furbabies- always have furbabies in the house lol. A year ago today we closed on our new house in Texas- because of my dh's transfer luckily our old house sold in 3 days(in a slowww OK market)and we were in our new home 31 days later- we had been on scouting trips previously thank God and our home although it is new construction- met our criterias of location, building practices- i.e. windows flashed- huricane straps- floor plan and smaller size and smaller lot and $$. Idealy we'd like to be in a condo in down town Fort Worth- Great City or in a true Cottage down there but this is great too. My hobbies include- crochet (made my first afghan at 5yo what a sight it was lol), cross stitch, just getting into needlepoint, painting, trash to treasure, I like mosaic although I have only done 1 so far, drawing, my sewing is improving- self taught by eye don't know how to work a pattern but my friend Jay Bird is gonna teach me that, and I enjoy making lamp shades and changing lamp shades and enhancing lamp shades lol. I'd die if I couldn't express myself creatively. I am a novice cottage gardner also. I have a cosmetology license and have worked retail and in different capacities in the dog world- i.e. kennels and groom shops. I love and collect sheep btw and hope to have a hobby flock in retirement. We have also been to Hawaii 3 times and love the Water- we used to live in Lower Alabama Daphne/Mobile area and would move back there or to Hawaii in a heart beat if my DH could work there. We also love back home the beautiful Finger Lakes Region of Upstate NY. Shoot I"ve had too much coffee and am rambling- imagine if we were in person you would'nt get a word in edge wise LOL RaNae

That compost looks good, 3 yards for $60 is great bargain. Here the cypress mulch is $40 per yard, that's years ago. Thanks, Sam, for the pics of flowers in your garden. I don't have Heritage nor MayFlower so I enjoy seeing them. I love the deep colors of your cosmos. I used to have cosmos but the colors were faded pink in my alkaline clay, and I'm allergic to them (cosmos is related to ragweed). Wilbur is a delight to see, I wish I have a miniature stuffed-animal that looks like Wilbur to enjoy. My kid is into cats so I will have buy her a stuffed cat. We gave away her BIG stuffed-cat, but I'll get her a tiny one for her upcoming birthday. Your Mayflower is so big & lots of petals on that one. "Greasy" is good stuff. Salmon bits is greasy (high in Omega-3 fatty acids), but that gave 120+ blooms per flush on Bailey's Young Lycidas. To get shiny & glossy foliage, the fatty acids in cracked corn really helped with the shine on the leaves. To make such BIG blooms with zillion petals, more energy is required. What gives energy? Chemicals alone? No, I can't imagine sending someone to work with a drink laced with chemicals. I would send something substantial: fats & protein & fiber keep a person full, and it helps to give energy for roses too. Alfalfa is high in protein, fiber, plus some fat. Fish meal is high in protein, high in fat. Cracked corn is very good in producing zillion petals: that's high in protein, fat, fiber, and minerals. Red-lava-rock is solid, if there's acidic rain to break down, same with pea-gravel: solid minerals, if there's rain to break down. Fish meal is fast to break down, that works great for alkaline-tap for Bailey in LA. Fish-emulsion is even faster, since it has acid added. Acidic Cracked corn and alfalfa pellets broke down too fast in acidic rain, and gave my roses black spots, due to the release of acids. For acidic rain, I use ALKALINE & slower-released like red-lava-rock for potassium, and pea-gravel for a vast array of minerals. Below is Excellenz Von Schubert that Seaweed in CA grew In full-sun, fertilized with fish emulsion. Seaweed uses Gardner & Bloom organic potting soil for EVS rose, it blooms lots for her, despite her low annual rainfall of 11" per year: