I had read the story of the Taiwanese dramatically increasing their yields of Irwin Mangos by attracting flies to their orchards. The one I read said that one farmer had much better yields on a part of his property that was near to a rubbish dump. He had the idea that the flies might be something to do with it, so he found fish carcases from the local fishing industry and scattered them around his orchard. I think they may have extended that into some sort of spray. I think a lot of breeding programs around the world rely on random outcrossing from cross pollination of closely planted trees. In Australia, the R2E2 variety was a result of this, but it was later decided after failure to repeat this success despite a large number of seedlings being evaluated, that this had been a very lucky result. Hand pollination was adopted because, although a very labour intensive method initially, it avoids a lot of wasted resources evaluating seedlings that aren't the intended hybrid. Now that there is more research into molecular markers it is possible to tell which seedlings are hybrids much sooner, so the random outcrossing method may be better with this technology. David

Now that I have more time.. My old neighbor & his lady friend had trac fones. He either had me do the minutes on both phones or went to Radio Shack because it was the only place that would do it for him. The last time I put minutes on his cell phone; it was pretty involved. He had to purchase the card then scratch it off & reading the numbers on the scratch off were a pain; then having to enter it into the phone. We have verizon; I'm not sure what type of pay as you go phones they have but they're expensive to do it that way. Last time I looked it was $30 a month plus minutes charge. I know people that do other pay as you go; Boost; virgin mobile & they are cheaper; especially if she's not going to use it much. I have never seen the one "elderly" phone in person but the pictures look good. The problem she may have is learning to use the address book or having to see the numbers to enter them in. If she can see the numbers; she may not see the screen. My 46 year old eyes are starting to have problems lol One thing to consider would be a case that she can wear around her neck; get her into the habit of having it with her in case she ever falls getting the mail or where ever because my neighbor did fall going into his house; I don't know how he managed to get up & climb 6 steps to call 911. Of course he'd just brought his trac fone into the house & put it on the table; then went outside to finish unloading his car.

htnpz wrote: "I thought, that while they were pretty, light filled rooms, they do seem to be photoshopped. It reminds me of the function on photoshop that allows you to remove dark shadows out of a picture (room), instantly making it light and brighter. " Or else the rooms were professionally photographed, which means a photographer placed lights around the room to brighten and emphasize aspects of the decor. You can't duplicate it in real life. And that's the problem with trying to make your home look like pictures in magazines or blogs: real life doesn't have the same subtle aura. Predominantly white decor looks flat & dull if you don't have great light, IMO.

Things change quickly with a baby. I wanted bright and colorful so all these subdued pastels have me ready for a nap. My nursery had nothing on the floor a toddler would want to climb on or pull over to be used to help climb. That shelving with the lamp on top--DANGER DANGER WILL ROGERS. What feeding accouterments? LOL I nursed all mine until they slept through the night. We had a dimmer switch on the overhead light--the only light in the room. At night feedings I could quietly in subdued light nurse and change baby with little or no noise or activity. Baby went right back to sleep.I had a soft sculpture (Noah's ark and several animals velcroed to the wall above baby's changing table. Language learning was important to me so baby and I did a lot of animal noises and descriptions of fur and size etc. They came on and off easily for baby as they grew and needed something to keep them busy. I too would have your chair kiddy corner. I hope it rocks. I second the no time/need for feet up but everyone is different. No cords, on drapes/shades/lamps. Safety first. Love the fun knobs idea for the dresser. I would find a shade and go with a valance. I know they aren't THE THING--but they are safest for baby. Before you blink drapes will be used to pull himself up. Drapery rods pull away fairly easily. Have fun, I so miss those years!!!