I'm another one with a "strict limit" though right now I'm over it thanks to divisions this summer. The target is 60 but I rationalize that if it's small it doesn't count as a whole plant! I think I'll always love the catts best, but I want to have some other things going. Four years ago I started with phrags from a gift plant, and now I have three; I was very picky becuase they are so big. Two years ago I added a bulbophyllum, then three more; the last one was one too many, though it's been blooming. I've gotten better at the research part, so I have fewer of those big disappointments, and that makes it easier to branch out in a planned way. Last year it was a psychopsis; the jury is still out on that. Like Kevin I've learned to stay away from the cool growers however beautiful (that includes Chinese cyms, my most recent big disapointment). I'm a windowsill grower and it's warm year round except for a few tricky weeks in the fall. At the same time I've refined my cattleya collection to focus on the ones that I really love and get rid of the so-so. Some things change, some things stay the same--that's what works for me. Margo

I was channeling Garrison Keillor's Powedermilk Biscuit slogan with my title! The problem with the space is it is too near a little tree I planted that is now getting to the point it actually provides shade, so the bushes are growing into my chainlink fence between me and my neighbors house, and the canes all shoot into their yard, because that's where the sun is now. Also, they sucker into their yard too. My neighbors are nice and like plants themselves, and I told them they are free to take any berries they want, but this is an urban row house situation and they have a tiny yard too, the canes are growing into the area where they have their grill, so they have to cut them back. This has been such a hard decision for me which way to go with my yard. Aesthetics or crops. Sun or shade? The yard is so hot a lot of the time since it has southern exposure. I planted three small trees, and after three years they have gotten to the point where they are providing shade, and excellent screening. But they are nudging out all their sun-loving neighbors, so I have to do a major redo of the adjacent areas. I have a sunnier spot in the back, but only room for a small number of things. I have a swing back there and I am torn between wanting to grow pretty fragrant things I can enjoy while sitting on the swing, and edible things that I can enjoy in the kitchen. I've done OK with herbs tucked in here and there and it pots placed in the sunny spots. But even they are getting crowded/shaded. I think at this point I need to find a place for a community garden plot. There are such gardens in the Lehigh Valley where I live, but they are quite far away from where I live and I know that would be excuse enough for me not to attend to my plot. Seeing as how I may soon sell my place, I have to move my home garden more towards low maintenance/tidiness.

Hi Trail! The thoughts we have about ourselves & others & events completely shapes our reality, defines our world. Hell, stress, misery, pain, suffering is created by demanding reality be something other than it is. Besides, whatever we resist, persists. That doesn't mean we can't move out of a situation into another. Peace or pain is predicated entirely upon HOW are we going to make the journey. We are stuck in the mud. We don't want to be. So, we needn't stay stuck in the mud because that is "what is." We work to get ourselves out! But what is our state of mind, what thoughts about being stuck are we stimulating as we pull ourselves out? We will be more effective & will suffer much, much less if rather than cursing, blaming, ranting at the mud, we just accept that we're stuck in it & put our energy into getting out of it! It's important to note that thoughts come & go. Any thought that enters the mind is harmless unless...we believe it. It's attachment to a thought that can make us miserable. We can attach to certain thoughts for years, never challenging them or questioning them...for years, for a lifetime! When we suddenly see something differently, the pain is released & we are tranquil. Did anything outside of us change? No. Just our thoughts. Life is internal. Very powerful.

Thanks, guys. The date for the surgery is June 10, but I don't have a time yet. It'll take place in a short-stay surgery facility. I didn't tell him about the blood sugar, but the scheduling person said morning is never an option. Weird. Must be what you said, Mcmann, about major procedures in the morning. A friend of mine just told me that they probably give the anesthesia (Diprivan) because the act of numbing the arm is very painful. I asked the doctor if he could do it with just a local, and he said he could, but he'd rather not. So that's still a possibility, but even an uncooperative patient like me would like her surgeon to feel completely satisfied with the parameters under which he operates, at least when he's operating on me. :-)