Ridership of our public transit is up 42% in the last year. All day pass is $1.50, $.75 one way. Our city bus service is funded by a small percentage of sales tax. Some routes run every 15 mins, some every 1/2 hour, depending on the time of day. We are having a mixed blessing of a problem. We have out grown capacity at our transit stations to pull buses into bus bays. We just convinced the city to give us one side of a block (this meant taking out parking meters)to park another two buses. We have funds to expand facilities, but not enough to by more buses, or we have enough funds to buy more buses but no where to park them. We have hired 30-40 new drivers since December and I am still working overtime each week. Another issue is one I am seeing here. It is the chicken and the egg problem. Should we run a route to an area that has no or limited bus service and hope they will ride, or do we wait for demand that will support the extra bus (which we do not have) and driver that could be used elsewhere. I am very proud of the fact that we have such strong support in the community, but it is going to take the effort of the community to make some sacrifices to build a strong public transportation system.

Yay! I just found out about manure closer to my house, too. It may be pretty fresh, (I haven't gone yet) but the stuff I picked up this spring wasn't as well-aged as what I'd gotten last year, anyway. I guess I should go get some soon, so I can age it for next year. I kind of need some right now, too!

That's great news, Vera! Maybe I sowed them inside because I had bad luck Wsing them 2 years ago, but I don't really remember. I don't know if they will reseed here, either, although I'll take Karen's word for it. Although I had sort of an agricultural accident here today... and I'm sure any Melampodim will either be six feet tall or not germinate at all :)) Yesterday I went to the stable where they have a manure pile about the size of 2 greyhound buses parked end to end. I got my manure and spread it lightly over the garden only to have certain plants start folding up their leaves. Obvious fertilizer burn, but I have one to this same manure pile for over a quarter of a century and have never had hot manure! Not once! Durn it....between that and the freeze forecasted on Tuesday night, I am not a happy camper! I am also more sore after planting today than I should be. Maybe it's true.... I *am* the old woman in the mirror. Gawd, I hope not! Lime

vancleaveterry I was wondering this too - if I let the pile rot long enough (a few winters) - would most of the material just break down naturally - and then be crushed further by running over it with a good size loader? Any large logs and stumps could be seperated - but the smaller stuff could just be spread out into the rest of the lot like mulch? I had an excavator estimate that I have around 100 tons of stuff. It costs 60 dollars per ton for dump charges - plus labor and truck fees. So hauling it off seems like a big expense that I can avoid. Renting the chipper is not expensive - but do I even need a chipper? Do you think spreading and crushing with a dozer would work? I do have plenty of room on my lot to spread the material. Many thanks