Electric bill: regardless, right now I'm feeling it's worth it since after that horrible ice storm we were back on line in less than 24 hrs, despite being on a sparsely populated rural road 1/2 mile from the end of the line while our neighbors in more populated areas on a different company didn't get power back for 3 days . . . But yes I basically understand it and my health insurance (like CTLady we are self-employed and have to get our own.) My homeowner's insurance is one of my next projects, so right now I'd have to say I'm not too clear on it. White plastic fences: Our neighbors (who have NO sense) put them in and expected them to keep the horses in. The horses learned quite quickly that a little bit of weight against the fence would break it, but it took 6 or 8 escapes for the owners to learn. So while the aesthetics are not what I prefer, the practical aspects for farm use are nil. The same neighbors cut down every tree (and then planted saplings that are dwarfed by their huge house) and not only stripped and sold the topsoil, but dug a dangerously steep-sided pond just so they could sell that soil as well. By preference & for personal use, Mac, though I do dual platform for work. I use a cell phone for my convenience (ordering take-out as I'm leaving town to drive home) and to communicate with my husband at his shop and at craft shows. One thing I like about our landline, that in an emergency it will tell 911 my address if I can't, whereas my cell can't. Crafty: Not in the usual sense. I'm a wood turner and plan to learn to weld this winter so I can make garden trellises. Pack rat: I prefer the term cluttered, but yes I am. But my closets & computer files are pretty well organized. Books & TV: I read a lot. I've enjoyed '3 Cups of Tea' and 'Born on a Blue Day,' both biography/memoir, and in general read lots of garden & plant books & mysteries. TV is often evening background noise while we're reading or web cruising or when I'm too tired to do other than just veg. I'm quite jealous of all the pets (some great photos!) We are catless currently due to the danger cars present to pets on our road (the house is only about 15 from the road.) We have many more voles than when we had cats. Eventually we'll be further away from the road, and then we'll once again have cats.

Jeanie, there actually is a biting gnat that we used to have in the Sacramento Valley. It was a seasonal thing, and used to drive people crazy. They'd get in your hair, and ears, and everywhere. When I had to work outside, which was almost daily, I used to tie on a kerchief that was sprayed with DEET to try to keep them off my head. After nearly 3 years of fighting the mosquitos (there was a t-shirt with a huge mosquito and the logo 'official Colusa Co, bird' on it) and the biting gnats, I became so sensitive to DEET that I can't use anything at all that contains even a tiny bit of it. It makes me instantly and horribly ill. Maybe I can do some searching and find out what they actually are. I had wondered if they were around here this year, and had hoped they were not. Pat

Granny - Because of my inability to grow thriving house plants, that is why it took me so long to come around to gardening at all. I'm so glad that SFG gave me the confidence to try. So far, I'm actually doing REALLY well. I just about can't believe I did it all by myself... just had my SFG book handy. ;-) Medo - That is too cool that y'all talk and sing to your plants. I knew how awesome talking to your indoor plants could be, but wasn't totally sure about outside vegetable plants. My daughter was talking to the little plantlings when they first came up, so we just went with it. So far, so good! As for the computer, I did have two different operating systems on one computer once, but I personally think it's best to reformat, like EG said. I also reformat my 4 computer once a year or as needed. My new laptop (the fifth computer) is the only one with Vista, though, so I can't say anything much about that OS yet. Laura - You're hilarious! Welcome to the great OT world, girl. We're very grateful to have ya here. As for the white flies... boy, I sure hope I do not get any flies at all based on vegetable/fruit plants in my house! I don't like spraying any chemicals at all, so I'd have to get a hundred fly swatters or bug zappers or something. EG - Awesome pic!!! You can't even see all the bloody knees of the kids you knocked over to get there or their poor, pathetic cries, either. Great job! I seriously was laughing out loud. I almost dropped on the floor to roll with laughter. ROFL (almost) hahaha Carolyn - I bet that tomater was yummy! It's pretty funny envisioning you 'sneaking' tomatoes into the store. I can see you tippy-toing with them hidden under your shirt. I also see them catching you putting them back under your shirt and the cops throwing handcuffs on ya as you try to explain what happened. "See... MY tomatoes look so much better than THOSE puny, yucky looking things... How on earth can you not believe me? Just LOOK at the difference! Just look... no really... just look... don't you see it????" ~Angela

Some people are collectors of handguns. They've had to have had them registered for well over 50 years. There are strict rules as to the security with which they are stored. If they want to take it/them to a shooting range, they need to get a permit to do so. There's been some controversy lately, because some such people have had their guns/collection stolen, and some of those guns were used by people who had bought them in the black market in murdering people. They say that when a gun has been used in one rather high rpfile, or several less so, murders, its price on the black market goes down. A few years ago they started a registry program for long guns, and many fought it. Others said that it seemed strange that people had no problem with registering cars, but resisted registering guns. It cost huge amounts of money - over a billion, some said closer to two billion - and there was a lot of controversy over that. Some of us said that we didn't see why that should cost an arm and a leg, for they'd had a registry of all of the handguns for over 50 years, so it shouldn't be too hard to set up a parallel program to register the long guns. A recently elected government dislikes that registry and is talking about scrapping it. A billion (or maybe closer to two) ... down a rathole. ole joyful