scalesmd, to post a picture here you need to open an account on a webhosting site like Photobucket - it's free. Upload photos from your computer to the photobucket account. In Photobucket, each photo will have a TAG line. Copy that line to the text of your message here. When you hit "preview message" your photos should appear. Hey bindersbee, this is a great question, and is relevant to fenceposts as well. We've been pondering how to do those so that the task of replacing them doesn't loom quite so quickly. Or, how to set them so that they can be easily replaced. So I'm very grateful for the responses too. There is also that new wood product made from recycled tetrapaks or something - Trex in the US I think? I think they focus on decking though, maybe don't make 6x6 posts.

The best posts are hedge apple, you might have to grow your own. I have a few seeds in the fridge to plant when I come back to canada. They say these will outlast the wire you hang on them.I will grow them against my neighbour's goats.(wicket thorns) They get out all the time and destroy my newly grafted fruit trees. Tops might winterkill in z4, when it gets really cold, but come up from the roots and make about 1", long shoots every year You can also make a solution on DOUBLE boiled linseed oil, add fine charcoal or hardwood ashes. I have a box, my husband buildt 25 years ago. For the first few years I used to take it in, dry. Now it sits out in the garden for over 10 years, on the ground and the bottom is still intact culejools@yahoo.ca Ursula

Correction from a doctor: there was no contamination, the gram stain was misread. There are at least four or five doctors involved in his care (usually they know why he's in so there are only two or three) so any information is subject to revision. The best current guess is that Alex had a viral infection that progressed to a secondary bacterial infection which resulted in septicemia and a shunt infection. Because it was so early, it's possible the IV antibiotics were able to knock out the shunt infection before it could get well-established. If results for the samples they collected during yesterday's surgery are negative, we will consider ourselves to have dodged the bullet. We still won't know for sure about the bloodwork until tomorrow sometime. I might not be able to post as frequently once Alex is moved out onto the floor because right now I'm piggy-backing on someone else's unsecured wireless network (Thank you permasteelisa if you happen to read this!) and I don't know if I'll be able to get a signal in his room. Ryan

i have a similar concern as ashley above. I am sure to build the playset, then fill the area with mulch. My concern is that burying the posts of the swingset in the recommended 9" of mulch will throw off the installation of slide and wall climb, which touch the ground. To be more clear, the bottom of the slide touches the ground when installed on a flat surface, but when installed 9" deep in mulch, the bottom of the slide is no longer touching the ground, its buried 9" deep in mulch!