My 80" big screen only cost me $700. I bought our projector a couple years ago and it has served us well. For the average family I would say it is the most practical route to go if you want a big screen. The one I have is only a cheap one, but at 800 X 600 resolution it produces a great picture especially with the right input. I get the best picture by hooking my laptop to the projector and playing DVDs, that way I get the full 800 X 600 resolution that is as good as or maybe better than high definition TV. We mounted our projector on the ceiling and just project on to a flat white painted wall. I have used a proper projector screen before, but found it wasnÂt any better than the wall. The projector screen wasnÂt wide enough to handle the full screen and wide screen format with the projector at a set distance even with the adjustable zoom feature, but with the wall we can easily switch between full screen and wide screen without adjusting the projector. I have a friend who has a big plazma screen TV that he was having some problems with, it was still under warranty, but still it is no easy task taking those things in to get serviced. Make sure they service them locally or you could end up paying some big shipping bill. Our living room is pretty small 12ÂX16Â, so for most of our TV watching at home we just use a regular 20" TV, but when we want to watch something special we break out the popcorn and switch over to big screen :)

Thank you everyone for your replies. I appreciate them so much. I didn't realize that Sevin came in a concentrated liquid form. I will definitely check it out. I've also never heard of nematodes. So I'm going to look up to see what that exactly is. Here's an update on the situation: I just came in from mowing the lawn, and as I drove by I could see that there are no Japanese Beetles to speak of in my yard; or at least not on any of my plantings. Having said that, my shrubs look like they were involved in a nuclear fallout or perhaps like a volcano erupted nearby. They are are completely covered in the white powder! As for treating the yard for slugs, I know we have TONS of them. When we planted the shrubs this year they were everywhere in the holes we were digging. I wonder though if it would be a futile attempt because I live way out in the country, and I am surrounded, in all directions, by hundreds and hundred of acres of prairie. To illustrate, we have bunnies that live in our yard, and just a moment ago the most adorable groundhog was hanging out by our back porch. This may be a dumb question (if it is, please forgive my ignorance) but do the beetles also attack in cities and in the suburbs or is this more of a rural issue? I am interested in the traps. I forgot about them. I know some people say they attract the beetles so much that it can, in the long run, make the problem worse, but I think I'm already in the midst of "much worse". It's just amazing to me that 3 years ago I never saw one, then last year I saw a good amount, and this year they have evidently taken over my yard. :Thanks again, everyone for your replies. It's nice to find people who know so much about so many things that I care about.

Yesterday morning (August 10th) on my way to my desert research area I was amazed to see numerous crop fields, roads, and unfortunately homesites flooded along US 95 btwn San Luis and Yuma. This afternoon (August 11) storm clouds are building southwest of the Shilo Inn in Yuma. I suspect more rain tonight. Noticed a few herbaceous plants sprouting the last few days in the desert. Hopefully by the time I depart to Baton Rouge end of next week I can see something in the desert other than dingy cresotebush and dead Plantago ovata, Allonia incarnata, Oenotheras, and invasive grasses. I've always chuckled when Arizona locals complain about "high humidity". The last few days it has felt like the Louisiana sauna I am all too familiar with. The humidity combined with 108 degrees F in the blazing sun is pretty uncomfortable. At least no mosquitos, fire ants, and redbugs!!

dcarch, some of us have always eaten all parts of the animal. I've grown up knowing about jowl bacon, liver dumplings, pickled pig's feet/knuckles, head cheese, cracklins, liver and onions. We ground up the heart to use in chili, usually, and made sandwiches from tongue and made soup from the oxtail way before it was popular. We always ate the "giblets" when we had turkey or chicken or game birds too, grandma would save gizzards and pressure cook them until they were tender and made "chicken ala king" out of them. I had to smile the other day at the grocery store, I found chicken gizzards for sale in pints. Chicken feet were always used for stock, as was fish heads, soup bones and pretty much everythng else, including the testicles/mountain oysters. I was taught that wasting any part of the animal was disrespectful, that animal was killed to feed us and so everything must be used. Of course, we were also taught that if we killed it, we ate it. Period. Nothing was ever killed for horns or display or for the "sport" of it. I still think that a big part of the problem is the sheer volune that we think we must eat. Half pound burgers and steaks that weigh a pound or more and whole racks of ribs. Cut our comsumption in half and we can afford the "good stuff" without increasing the grocery bill substantially. Annie