Fantasic replies, and made me laugh quite a bit, too. Thanks! Ironically, given the tone of the suggestions, I've been trying to ration my online time because I'm studying for my board exams for my independent license in mental health counseling - which is why I'm just getting back to this. Needless to say, I love the idea of marital compost harmony by each just doing one's own thing. Duh, wonder why I didn't think of that before? It had occured to me already that if one builds a 3-bin composter, one could fill the outer two bins simultaneously for the first round of rotting, and then hopefully dump them in the middle when there's enough less bulk. So we'll try it - his & hers composting. :-) BTW, my hubby now has 1 job offer & other interviews still upcoming, so he's much less stressed. Still, why not try the math vs. hunch experiment - sounds like fun. What's the rough balance between leaves & horse manure, anyway? I was going to fudge it with about 5-6 parts leaves to 1 part manure. Plus whatever weeds I have on hand at the time, which is always tons. Maybe as much as 1 part. Lots in our neighborhood are about an acre, so we're close enough for smell problems, or I wouldn't care in the least if I got it wrong. My veggie garden is in the front yard (best sun), though, so the neighbors already think I'm nuts. ...Meanwhile, I find myself eyeing the vast amount of shredding at work (mental health agencies generate tons of shredded paper) and wondering if it would mess up my pile too much. Actually, I am now eyeing anything and everything and wondering about composting it. P.S. FWIW, I know how to use an abacus - I was fascinated by them as a child. I've seen a slide rule, but I don't know how to use one, though.

@ Andrew- A lot of questions, lol. Ok, so about the mangoes: I do think Carrie is a condo variety, but more importantly, you should read this article (assuming you haven't already) from Fairchild about mango pruning/maintenance. It represents the cornerstone of my strategy to keep them going in the north: http://www.virtualherbarium.org/tropicalfruit/mangopruning.html In the Fall, I usually pull them in only when the temps are predicted to drop below 34 degrees. Of course, the longer they are exposed to those temps, the more likely they will bloom. Hence, all of the blooms I got this Winter (they were all out until November.) The Squirrel issue only affected me last Summer. Usually I use bird netting (I have a lot of cherry trees and blueberries) to keep them at bay, and it works fine. For some reason, I didn't think they would go after my one peach tree since they didn't touch the other one. *shrugs* As for the lychees: Not all lychees are equal, nor are everyone's taste buds. Taste seems to be a highly subjective thing, so it depends on what variety you tasted. If you ask Lycheeluva, he will, overwhelmingly, recommend Mauritius. I tend to like Brewster/sweetheart the best, and I'm sure Harry will definitely have a more informed opinion on this since he has so many varieties at his disposal. I got my lychee trees in 2007, and the Emperor seems to be on a 3 year schedule. Other cultivars are more consistent like sweetheart and Mauritius. It varies by cultivar a lot. The Emperor is easy to pollinate because it has primarily M1 male flowers (they are the first to bloom). This is in contrast to cultivars like sweetheart that tend to push females out first, then follow with M2 males. That is problematic since a lot of the females will drop before the males show up. Cross pollination (with regard to pollen) is essential to get the best/steady yields. Of course, there are other variables in there too, but flower order is key to having available pollen for us northerners. So, that being said, I would probably recommend a sweetheart since they are high quality/flavorful fruits with consistent blooming cycles. If you could add another cultivar, that would be advisable to get the cross pollination. I would also recommend tasting as many different cultivars as you can to get an idea of which is your favorite. I know, easier said than done. I recommend chatting with Harry about his choices before buying too. @ Simon- There you go making me blush! I'm not sure how consistent the Emperor is in ground, but the volume of pollen can't be discounted. Probably a good choice for pollinating your sweetheart. Hey, how is that Kaw Luk doing? You know I have a standing order on an air-layer from you when it gets bigger ;) Maybe we can exchange air-layers one Kwa Luk for one Emperor? Maprang? I've read Jay and others chatting about it, but never tried one. I'll have to put it on the tasting list. @ Sb- Thanks, I'm holding the torch high. There's nothing like taking a picture of flowering lychees with snow in the background. Any new pics in that nice greenhouse of yours?

Well, at least your parts were stolen over a period of time. Mine were all stolen in the same night! (many yrs ago) Never will forget the morning I woke up & stretched my arms above my head---duh----where'd all that hanging skin come from---YUCK! Donna (^_^)

A site visit by a structural engineer is not that expensive. Two years ago here in Portland ours was only $60 for an hour walking thru our project telling us what we needed to do to. I admit I'm a bit of a Safety Sue, but there's no way I'd invest in a new kitchen just to make it pretty and not structurally sound. Also, even though we plan to live in our house forever we can't know what the future holds. If we ever need to sell unexpectedly I'm not going to have a seller's nightmare because I cut corners, so we always get permits. When we sold a house last year we didn't know our panel had a double ganged (?) breaker and you wouldn't believe the fuss the buyers agent put up about that. The stairs from the garage to the kitchen didn't have a railing and they wanted a credit. Junk like that. I imagine selling a house with a sagging ceiling and unpermitted kitchen could be a challenge to sell.