Thanks Inga, I'll put some in a pot and sees what happens. At the moment the snails and slugs are having fun at the emerging sunflower seedlings-they really love them. I had forgotten that last year I had to do a second planting so I'll take extra precautions.They came up so quickly after the weekend heavy rain. chas

Yes, my sweet Copenhagen died just before Christmas. I think the foundering was all intertwined with his other issues. He got shaggy curly hair he didn't lose in the spring, then started losing weight. The vet was certain he had Cushing's disease, but when tested he was negative. The vet then thought perhaps a thyroid issue or other metabolic problem. He got thinner. Then I found him lying in the barnyard and he couldn't get up. I called the vet and for some dumb reason I went to the house and got a quilt to put over him so he wouldn't be cold lying in the snow. So I sat in the snow with his head on my lap and waited for the doc, kissed him and told him that it was all green pastures for him from now on. And then, with the help of Doc Gilbert, he was gone. It still seems empty without him, but when I rescued him I told him he'd be here with me until I died or he did, and so I kept that promise. Cope was 23, and I still have his big dumb friend, King, who was Dad's old buggy horse. He's 26. Sadie is 14, old for a St. Bernard and even Red Cow is 17. Ashley says I run an assisted living facility for old animals! Annie

Human Nature. The grass is always greener on the other side...of whatever it is. When I worked at the beach, what I used to call the "perma fog", where the most successful lawns were slime mold, people wanted cacti and desert scapes. A few miles inland and higher elevation, where the cacti were naturally suited, they wanted tree ferns, mosses, hydrangeas, etc. Add the desire to see something different from what surrounds you. Why should you have planted what grew all around you? All you had to do was look in the neighbors' gardens and you had what you no longer see everywhere.

Unless your doctor has told you it is carpel tunnel it may be other things. I have a tendon in my wrist that ruptured on my right wrist. It forms a knot ever so often and can cause tingling etc. My left hand has a pinched nerve somewhere in my should that causes the three outside fingers to have the same problems. I do have carpel tunnel problems on the other finger and thumb on that hand. I had to stop gardening because of the pain in both hands. Talk to a hand surgeon to see what they suggest as it is one of those you can do it now while it is not a major problem or wait in pain until you have even worse problems.