>>That explains the oil... Any ideas on the white fungus in the last pictures? If that's lipid coating, it has to come from somewhere...which means an extremely healthy and numerous population of bacteria and fungi. The fungi you have look much like the fungi I sometimes get in mostly-done compost, or used to get in areas where I was dumping over 100 pounds per K of organic matter. It doesn't look like anything to worry about as it's clearly not doing any damage. Strangely, even my compost bin doesn't do this, and that's one hundred percent OM. Hum. Try sticking your nose down near the soil surface and see if you can smell decay. You may not if oxygen levels are sufficient in the soil and whatever's decaying doesn't have a high nitrogen level. Heavy scent means heavy decay of high nitrogen stuff--which confirms the hypothesis that it's decaying OM. No scent doesn't disprove it, though, just that there's not enough nitrogen or enough anaerobic decay to produce a bad odor. I'm of the opinion that I probably wouldn't use that top soil again. For something like this to happen, raw organic material levels had to be absolutely unreal...and those are going to decay down to practically nothing over time. It's for this reason that filling holes with peat moss or other organics isn't recommended, eventually you lose close to 100%. In this case, most of that should still be soil, so some minor settling is all I'd expect. I'd expect decay to back off fairly quickly as the soil runs out of early-stage OM. Labor Day? Somewhat before or after? In that range anyway if the soil stays damp.

So the farmer pumps the manure into lagoons, and then just lets the material sit, indefinitely. He has no plan or intention of dewatering, he is not doing any mechanical mixing, and he makes no effort to recover the methane and put it to good use. The lagoon is not covered, so it receives rain and snow every time there is a storm in the area. What can I say-I'm glad I don't live in his neighborhood...

Thanks, but none of the above are the one which I had. This is a really old one that you could purchase at the store and put on your computer. If you did not pop the balls fast enough, they would spill over the top of the sides of the container and the game would end. It was the music that was so addicting. Wish I could remember the name of it so I can quit obsessing!

I recently installed laminate for the first time and it is easier than what you hear. Like most projects, it's all about the layout getting started. You dont want to just start at a corner, shift gears,and fly,only to find out that you have ended up with a sliver of a strip at the other side or end.If you are installing in multiple rooms, you have to keep them in mind as well when figuring out your layout.You want to keep the waste factor down with your layout, but most importantly that it will work out astetically for the room and into the next room(s) ,even if it means using more materials. I have done layouts in many applications,not just flooring,so this was familiar territory.It isn't difficult, you just have to think it out beforehand. Preliminaries on most projects include checking the square of the room,inventoring cuts and notches,baseboard and door jamb/casing concerns,and floor prep beforehand. Alongside the mfgrs manuals,there are books out there im sure that deal with layout/prep.