Linda, I am afraid that I have tried many applications of Meyers and never like the result, in complete contradiction to John and many others to me anything that has a Meyer in it would be better with a traditional lemon. Meyers have a "dirty" taste most of the time and at best have a weak orange flavor. I cannot tolerate drinking anything with Meyer in it, or any fresh application. I have made cakes, curds, pies, lemonades, fish with lemons cooked or grilled on top, etc with Meyers and never particularly like the result, though cooked they are more tolerable then anything with the fresh juice. However I had to toss out the salmon I made as the orange undertone flavor was awful. I just tried a jar of preserved lemons I made with Meyers and they were very bland compared to traditional preserved lemons. I keep trying to like them but I haven't found anything I prefer with them in it yet, mostly just things I find less offensive. I used to cook professionally and used Meyers pretty consistently in many applications and still never cared for them (same with kumquats though I REALLY don't like Kumquats and don't even want to try them in things anymore). I am pretty sure I am a traditional lemon kind of girl, which means more Meyers for the rest of you that like them! ;) Also I agree that its likely that your rootstock is taking over, cut off any branches that have different fruit and take note if the leaves look different in any way to your orange, that way you can identify it earlier and remove branches before they fruit and steal energy away from your oranges. Take pictures so if it happens again years from now you won't be struggling to remember what they looked like. Its likely that your neighbor had a tree whos scion died back/was taken over by its root stock at some point. If your friendly with them and they are the ones that planted the tree ask them what kind of tree it was when they planted it and if it changed at any point. If they didn't plant it they may not know. If you show us a picture of the tree we could help you figure out when to prune it.

I got a steel shelf system thats 7 foot tall and measures 2x4 feet per shelf. The shelves have metal sides as supports and wood chipboard shelves. I drilled two 1/2 inch holes at the metal ends of each shelf support to put short lengths of chain through. I used the common shop lights, but do prefer warm white, or grow lights, which are quite cheap at Home Depot, compared to some fancy pet shop that sells them for about $25 each. Each shelf gets two of the 2 light fixtures and being suspended on the chains, I can lower and raise them easily by pulling up and down in the chains and using a small piece of stiff wire shoved into a link so the chain cant pass through the drilled hole. I also have heat mats under the 11x20 inch trays. The heat mats are shut off once the plants are touching the clear plastic domes I place over each tray. I grow petunias, impatiens, portulaca, some herbs, tomatoes, seedless watermelons, peppers, and even broccoli and brussels sprouts as seedlings. These are all started aout the end of April, but also depend on what grwing length of time they need to mature. Some things that don't work as seedlings to be transplanted are corn, beans, and some herbs like dill, cilantro and a few others. My shelf system is against a wall, and I used aluminum foil on the walls to reflect light back to the plants. Usually, impatiens and petunias are in bloom once they get moved outside to the greenhouse the last week of May. My plant lights are on a timer and are on from 6am to about 10PM every day. They do very well and I have never had any problems with germination, or growth. I even started some asparagus from collected seeds, and they took a month to send up a very tiny thin spear. That summer, they get planted in my 'gus patch in an open area.

I don't buy fish or meat from BJ's so I didn't even know where to look for crab. I did find some today so I guess they carry it regularly. Earlier today I shopped at Wegmsn's and while I was looking for shrimp I found King Crab from Russia and I bought about 3/4 of a pound. The price makes it something for a very special holiday. Wegman's also has lobster on sale "through the holidays" so I will buy some for me and my son (married, but DIL doesn't eat it) for New Year's Day. He makes it into Alfredo. I eat my lobster hot, soaked in butter or cold, as in a lobster roll. I am interested in ordering crab from Alaska too. Nancy

Portland has a few nice gardens. One, not too dramatic in the flower catergory, is the Japanese Garden just on the edge of the city center. The Rose Garden is across the parking from the entrance to the Japanese Garden. One garden (you should keep these streets on record) is on a section of Military Lane off Macadam Avenue, overlooking the Willamette River about 2 miles south of downtown, it's called the Garden of the Bishop's Close. The natural scenery is fairly impressive around here for the wild areas. Mt. Hood National Forest is about 1 hour east of Portland. One way to go there, is to drive east through the Columbia River Gorge to Hood River city, and go south behind Mt. Hood, tallest peak in Oregon, only all year skiing in the USA I recall. That's lost lake at the base of Mt. Hood. With the gorge route, it's possible to stop at Mulnomah falls which is 20 minutes from the east side of Portland: It's about 3 hours to see Crater Lake far down south, but I'm not sure if it's worth the drive unless you plan to see more of the state.That's a lake in the top of a volcanic crater, with a small volcanic cone in the center. Portland is nice to visit, but if you come to Portland, it's Oregon that make the visit. This is a state to visit from May to September to really enjoy the green and get some warm weather. The coast is famous for scenery - here's one beach in Seaside, about 1 hour west. And on the way there, about 7 miles shy of Seaside, is this largest Sitka spruce in the USA, there is a sign. The tree is maybe 300 feet off the highway. On the way there, try eating at Camp 18 restaurant, a logging museum style restaurant - largest ridge pole in US. It has old machinery outside in the parking lot, and inside. Huge meals. It's in a forest community next to a small river. Before I forget, there is a very large new garden - the OREGON GARDEN, in Silverton, about 1.5 hours south of Portland. It is the new major garden of the state. Young, but nice. You can find it on www.google.com for sure. Some people like to "hop" north into Washington to see Mt. St. Helens which blew it's top about 1980. Visible from Portland. If you have children with you, look up on the internet APE CAVE or...