Community Plant Exchange September 26, 2004 1:00pm-2:00pm Southeast Ann Arbor Area Park Ellsworth and Platt Roads in Ann Arbor The Neighborhood Coalition of Southeast Ann Arbor is a community-based organization promoting healthy, safe and fun living in southeast Ann Arbor. The Community Plant Exchange is but one of our events. Below are tips to enjoy this fun community event. Participation: Everyone is welcomed to participate. Anything that you feel another gardener may find useful (books, pots, tools, as well as seeds and house and perennial plants), is allowed for trade. If you are new to gardening, this is a fun and inexpensive way to meet fellow gardeners and learn new things! 1) Please set up your exchangeable labeled items on a table, blanket, or even the back of your truck or trunk of your car. By 1:15pm, we will have a short time for everyone to walk around and see what is available. This allows everyone to speak with others who have something that youÂd like to trade. What to Bring: 1) A box to carry home your new plants 2) Plastic bags to safely wrap your new treasures 3) Items youÂd like to share -Plants or seedlings in individual containers (i.e. seed trays or yogurt cups) -Seeds, a minimum of 12 seeds per exchange -Cuttings wrapped in wet paper or in a container -Tubers/rhizomes with at least two Âeyes Remember:  This is a plant exchange. All items are to be offered for trade and not money.  Please label your items. After a while, even a Master Gardener can get confused!  Feel free to bring items you canÂt name. Some gardeners love Âmystery plants  If you have any questions, please call Susan at 734-216-9653  Have fun! Help us out by completing the evaluation form at the Information Booth

I think it's too late now to do either dethatch or aerate. They are supposed to be done while the grass is dormant. I've heard the same thing about crabgrass preventer. I'd be interested to see what others say.

I await W7. I'm at work at the moment so I don't have my bookmarked pages available. W7 is not an actual new release, but rather an upgrade to Vista. Vista's architecure was security based where W7's is going to start with the Vista foundation but be be performanced focused. The available editions which we have become accustomed to are reported to be changing their content. The identifying names are pretty much the same, but the versions' capabilities have been refined. In all as I explain to people, the release of W7is quite similar to the release of Win98SE in improving Win98OE. Personally I haven't found anything wrong with my Vista system and I do forcast the habitual release "uproar" will be present with W7. I say this as I get the impression from talking with users, and reading posts and columns that the XP users are complacent with their systems and are not going to be too responsive and comfortable with any type of change. DA

I check the kids back packs for notices and have a folder in the oldests backpack that BM checks for notices. I make a copy of the notices for us and send the original to BM in the folder. So when she has the kids on her two nights only one school night though she leaves them so I can copy them and send them back on sunday night. Communication is not easy with BM. She has to be told weekly to write stuff that needs to be communicated between parents down instead of telling the kids. They don't remember stuff and she gets all over them for "not telling daddy". She doesn't have email and voice mail is always full. I send text messages via the computer to her phone. Her calls to my cell go directly to my voicemail(security feature on most cell phones). She can call the housephone and leave a message there. Its a lot of work but stopping by the school once in a while to pick up notices worked for me at the beginning. Until we started the folder/calendar in the oldests backpack. Last summer we exchanged a notebook & calendar ... of events the kids had planned. Same will be done this year.