I agree that composting in place is a good idea, especially if it would enable you to keep all the material onsite instead of sending some to the landfill, saving you both time and money. The concerns you have about turning the compost and covering the bins would be important to address if you wanted compost faster or had limited space. In your case, since you're not in a hurry, you have lots of land, and what you are doing is effective, the less work the better -- I think it 'll be more productive to figure out how you can spend less time on the composting process (move piles only once, to their final locations, for instance). I have 6 compost bins and a relatively small garden plot (at a community garden, so I have to use bins). I turn them rarely, and I get good compost. Without turning, it takes a little longer. My understanding is that turning can speed up the process if you monitor temperatures daily and turn after the temperature spikes and then declines, and that otherwise turning doesn't make so much of a difference. Covering compost does help control moisture levels and help keep the compost critters warm and happy, but if it works without covers, that's ok too. I have one bin made from hardware cloth, which was drying out too much during the dry season, so I added some cardboard to keep moisture in. It's not pretty, but after one dry season, it does look like it has been very effective. Again, the cardboard sides and the cover help speed up the composting process by conserving moisture (and, to a much lesser extent, heat), but I got compost the old way, too. When I do turn my piles, it's because I see ants, which tells me there are dry spots, so I water it and then (if I have time) turn it and make sure the materials are more evenly distributed. But dry spots usually occur if I've put in a bunch of stems and twigs, and not enough small loose stuff to fill the spaces, so the stems and twigs stay dry. If I were composting only horse manure and watered as I went along, dry spots probably would not occur.

Hi there, I agree with Barbra that it's a bit tricky to root them in the summer. When cuttings are cut early spring, the mother trees are still dormant. As it's time for them to naturally wake up, they'll grow leaves and start rooting so that's why it's a lot easy to root them in the spring. This is from personal experience and what a JL farms' rep told me. They had a cutting cut in the fall/early winter and by early summer, it still hasn't rooted. But another cutting cut from the same tree in Feb has rooted by May. With that said, it's not impossible to root in the summer. For your cutting, I'd keep it away from the extreme heat. When temp gets over 90, I protect mine from the afternoon sun. I'd like to root them in bottles so I can see when roots are formed. Also with a bottle, there's less soil (less moisture retention if it rains). Since my mix is fast draining, it doesn't matter if they get rained on every once in a while. But I wouldn't recommend letting them soak in the rain every day. :) Kenny

OK ladies...I need some help here. I am not married, but have been in a relationship for 14 months and we live together. I have had a problem in the past of sending suggestive messages to women online. Recently I sent a message to a girl I knew from a bar that I used to go to alot. Haven't seen this girl in probably 2 years or more maybe and were just friends and not very good friends at that. One day while she was away with her daughter at a gymnastics meet, I sent a suggestive message...which was never answered...My GF has looked through my phone on several occasions looking at who I talk to (when we first started seeing each other I was chatting with an old friend I hadnt seen for 20 years...I was very wrong in what I did there and it stopped well before she ever found it on my phone) I have messaged friends and said things that she thought suggestive and I should have worded my responses better. for instance, a friend was at a bar drinking and instead of saying as she says, I am with mhy GF I can't, I said wish I cold join you, but maybe another time. I honestly didnt mean anything by that as we had only been friends and that was it. another instance was I am in fantasy football and one of my leagues there is a girl, a friend for over 2 years and she has been seeing a friend of mine. she was new to the sport last few years and often texted me for advice. Once week while I was going to play versus her team, I reponded 'I'm gonna eat you up" - I am a former semi pro footbal player and that's just how trash talk goes...meant nothing suggestive at all...in hindsight, I now see that maybe my responses could have been much different. the message the day of the gymnastics meet was back in October...I haven't done anything since then but she still constantly monitors my facebook messaging. I honestly have not been chatting with anyone at all. I rarely even get on there at all. she see my messnger getting logged into and will send me messages to see if I will respond. sometimes I never get them because I am not even on there, or I will get them much later and respond to her. I just thought that my chat being logged in on FB was the reason. come to find out it is the Messenger App that has always been logged into on my conmputer and on my phone....I NEVER use it..but because of the thing last Oct...she doesnt believe anything I say and is even questioning a long lunch I had with my boss where we we drinking...which is what I told her I was doing. Please, please what can I do...she is going to leave me and she is newly pregnant with my child and I love her so much..I need help to try and get her to let me back in and re-gain her trust.. I am just lost and so sorry for all I have done wrong to her. but I really do love her and want to Marry her. I have been true to her 100% except the messages I spoke of and maybe a few others that I unintentionally said the wrong thing.... HELP!!!

daggett, I have 14 cats and 3 dogs, two of whom are herders. Pippin is an Aussie with moderate herding drive, and Tasha is presumably an Aussie mix with VERY intense herding drive. All of my cats have lived with dogs for as long as the cats have been members of my family. Even so, they are wisely nervous and cautious around dogs they don't know. When we adopted Pippin as a newly neutered young adult, he came from an Aussie rescue where he had been fostered with a cat or two. I was told he was curious about the cat but not at all pushy, so I thought he'd make a great fit for our family. When he arrived, he was, indeed, curious about the household cats and spent some time trying to follow them around until they hissed and backed him off. He took their reprimands well and left them alone. The next day, Pip and the other dogs came out to the barn with me for morning chores. The eldest cat, Billy, had gone out earlier to start his daily farm sentry duties. As soon as Pippin caught sight of Billy, he took off after him with bloodlust in his eyes. This was no playful romp. This was a hungry wolf after a rabbit. I screamed at Pip and ran after him, but he could not be called off. He was after a kill, and there was nothing I could do to stop him. He didn't know me yet and hadn't accepted me as his pack leader. He also didn't know Bill and hadn't identified him as part of his new family pack. Gratefully, Billy escaped into the hayshed before Pip caught up with him, and I eventually caught up with Pip and dragged him back to the house, screaming at him along the way. If I hadn't had Pip flown up to me in MN from TX, I would have returned him to the rescue that day. Because that wasn't an immediately available option, I decided on a different tactic. I purchased a muzzle and put it (and a leash) on Pip when he came outside with me. He continued to be fine with the cats indoors, but it took about a month before I trusted him outdoors without the muzzle. With Pip, the key was to give him time to identify and integrate into his new family pack and to understand and accept the pack order. Over the course of a month, he realized that all of the cats were part of his new pack, and he never chased one of them again, inside or out. In fact, Pip is submissive to all the cats (he's a submissive personality, anyway). It wasn't until I got Pip into basic obedience classes, however, that he fully accepted me as his alpha pack leader. Tasha was and is a different matter altogether. We adopted her as a tiny puppy, so she was raised in a household full of cats. Even so, she has always been much more problematic for the cats than has Pippin. Tasha is MUCH more intensely driven than is Pip, and she's also a very pushy alpha personality. Everything in her universe BELONGS to Tasha, is DOMINATED by Tasha, and REVOLVES around Tasha ... everything except me, that is. She knows and accepts that I am her alpha leader, but everything and everyone else breathes her air at her pleasure and mercy. With Tasha, it is obvious that herding drive is an extension of prey drive. The intensity of her herding behavior is really quite remarkable. I have no doubt, though, that she would have turned into a killer if I hadn't set very strict behavioral boundaries on her and if I didn't continue to enforce them on a daily basis. I am still constantly having to tell her to leave the cats alone. She simply wants to dictate every move every animal (or toy) makes in her world. Unfortunately because of her cruciate problems, I can not allow her to exercise as much or as vigorously as her mind requires, so keeping her behavior within controllable limits is a constant challenge. As I noted in my earlier response, herders are amazing dogs, but they are NOT easy! Now back to your dog. You made a MAJOR mistake by ever allowing your dog to chase your cats. Not only has the dog been rewarded for his bad behavior by achieving the desired effect of "herding" the cats, but the cats have now learned that you can not or will not protect them from the dog. They have lost trust in you and in the safety of their own home. They are trapped with the enemy - an enemy that they are very much aware can and may want to kill them. Of course they're hiding. Every instinct they have tells them they must hide for their self-preservation. They have no experience living with passive dogs, so all they have to respond to are their own instincts. As I mentioned earlier, you must keep your dog either leashed or locked securely away from the cats at all times until and unless your cats adjust to his presence and give you the opportunity to train him properly. Do NOT in ANY way try to force your cats out of hiding or into the presence of the dog. They must be allowed to make peace with his presence in their own time and way ... if it's going to happen at all. Most likely, they will start coming out under cover of darkness, late at night after everyone has gone to bed, the dog is securely crated, and all is quiet. Once they start reaffirming their safety under those conditions, they will probably slowly start to appear during daylight hours. If you do NOT allow the dog to approach them or intimidate them in any way, your cats will eventually get braver. It may take months or years, but if you assure their safety and work to regain their trust away from the dog, they will probably eventually come out of hiding again. You can help your cats by spending lots of time alone with them in whichever room they are hiding, trying to coax them out of hiding just to enjoy some petting, playing, and treats. Like I said, they have lost trust in you, and you're going to have to work to regain it. Let them know that they still matter and that they can safely spend time with you without risking interaction with the dog. Unfortunately, you won't be able to teach your dog to accept the cats as part of his new family pack until and unless the cats come out of hiding and start reintegrating themselves into the household. It's a waiting game now. Make it impossible for the dog to get anywhere near the cats on his own, and give the cats the supportive loving they need to feel safe again. Hopefully in time the cats will give you a second chance to be their protector in the presence of the dog. Good luck, Laurie