Depauw, In about 20 miles west of Louisville KY Everyone is welcome anytime, if you let me know I'll show you around if not just walk around and look. We will be on the Hostas of Kentuckiana tour June 16-17 and there are some really special gardens on the tour. One grower near me has 1,000 varieties at nice prices. "The soilless hosta in the stream, how are they anchored, and what do they do in the winter?" I move a rock and put them behind or anchored by the rock with the roots hanging in the water. I don't think I've lost any during the winter, we run the water except when is freezes hard. I don't know why I don't have freeze/thaw problems in this situation but we haven't had a really bad winter since I put them in (5-6 years). "Wonderful area you choose the make your home. Your hostas look right at home too!" Connie The cabin we live in is 200+ years old, don't know exactly but I'm sure it was built here because of the cave. We found a pistal (sp) that was used to grind nuts by ancient Indians and the cave has 3 varieties of bats including the endangered Indiana brown bat. Simple truth is I'm more fortunate than I deserve.

To those that said they have a heap of tiny white things in their bins, do they look like this? : http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=620706 A lot of these turned up in my bins when I spread some rotten pear scraps in them and they have since multiplied. I did a bit of research and it turns out they are white "springtails". They are much smaller than the brown ones you see jumping around when you pick up some garden soil and they seem to just be helping to break down the compost, like the brown ones do (I love the brown ones, I spread them around all over the place, as they make the soil so light and friable- just cover the soil with something and they'll go to work underneath it). The white ones don't spring (jump) around though, in my experience. They get to the food first, then the worms take over. The easiest way to get rid of them I've found is to soak some paper towels/tissues/toilet paper/cardboard in some blended vegetable scraps, or rotten fruit liquid and lay them down in the bed. Within 24 hours you can bet that they'll be covered in these little white guys and you just pick the paper/cardboard up and put them out in the garden, in the rubbish bin, or whatever. Or you could just put them in your pot plants, as I don't believe they'll damage the plants at all and will just continue to improve the soil/potting media in them, as composting worms would/do. Some made their way into some of my potted roses and they don't look to have done any damage whatsoever (been in there about 3 months). I'm pretty sure they just help to break down the top layer of the potting media. I also put composting worms into my pots, as they seem to eat the potting mix and convert it into rich castings, dramatically improving it's richness/quality/moisture retention. This means the media stays "fresh" and doesn't dry out anywhere near as much, as potting mixes tend to do after a couple of years. I just cover the top surface of the potting mix with some cut up old carpet and feed the worms under it as I would if they were in the worm farm. As well as making it more moisture retentive, they will help the mix to get heavier and more compacted though, so if you need to keep it more free draining, it's wise to add some washed horticultural sand, or small rock type things like scoria, or the very small stones used in some potting mixes, when you're initially potting your plant up. That way, when the mix gets more compacted and heavy the sand or small rocks will stop it getting too compacted and wet. I learned this scoria tip from someone who told me his exhibition roses were growing in pots (that aren't even all that big) and that some of them had been in those pots for up to 15 years (most will tell you to re-pot every 2-3 years). He makes his own mix of 1 part scoria (which is apparently used for potting bonzai's) one part rich/aged compost and one part something else (may have been two parts compost). He reckons the roses grow extremely well, with very thick canes and bud unions and that if he took them out of the pots the worms in them would be as thick as your finger. I was amazed and I have started using the scoria in mine now, when potting up. I potted up some bare-root roses with scoria in the mix about 3 months ago and they're going really well (it's now 3 weeks into spring) and their first buds are coming out. Here is a link that might be useful: White springtails

It sounds like the collar your westie came with is a martingale collar. It is not a choke collar. There are different martingales. Some have a nylon or cloth loop, some have the chain loop like your westie has. Some people feel that the small chain loop as opposed to the cloth loop provides an audible correction when the chain loop tightens up and helps with training. I love the martingale collars. Humane version of a "choke collar" (for lack of a better word) that tighten up to a certain point. They tighten but donÂt choke. Originally developed for dogs that have larger necks than heads, like a greyhound, so that the dog could not slip out of his collar. Marketed as better than a buckle and safer than a choke. They serve as a safety mechanism. Acts like an unassuming nylon buckle collar by day when fitted like as a regular collar, but provides a limited restriction and prevents the dog from squirming out of his collar when he gets excited, The wider nylon band (as opposed to a chain) distributes the pressure more evenly when pulling occurs and prevents damaging the trachea. No worse than a dog pulling when on a tight buckle collar. It sounds like the dog is pretty well behaved leash wise. If there is no pressing need to escalate to a gentle lead to walk the dog, IÂd rather be safe and use a martingale which will tighten when needed. When the hunting instincts kick in and he lunges after those occasional nasty lizards- it will be harder for him to slip out of than a buckle collar would and provides instant tightening and more control but will go away as soon as he or you release  then its back to normal buckle collar. To me the martingale is the best of both worlds. Regular everyday buckle collar but with the ability to act as a training collar and to provide safety from slipping out of a buckle collar.

Ah, so I'm not alone in being unable to find the name of the canine 'actor'. (Haven't been able to catch it in the credits either.) He or she is a fine looking Westie. I did discover that the queen loved all animals and had many different breeds of dog at different times (including Poms, adellabedella). One site showed a painting she'd done of Dash -- quite good! Socks -- We tried to get to Maui this winter but the medical services available felt a bi 'off'. Now I'm glad we didn't go, as I've needed some help with MM-atypical pain. Had an MRI Tuesday that was no help tracing pain, but it shows improvement in the lesions from the multiple myeloma. My IgG 'numbers' are good enough that I may be able to have monthly chemo instead of weekly soon. You are so nice to ask! Sending a belly rub to Oskie! (Kind of glad we are still dog-less right now, with *mounds* of snow and minus temps that are to stick around for weeks due to Polar Vortex parked over us.)