Moc, there is a place in Florida that carries the spot spitters. I think they sell retail. We ran a drip irrigation line, attached spaghetti tubing and plugged in the spot spitters, then stuck them into the ground under or between plants. The reason we are familiar with them is because we used them at the nursery to water the tree stock in pots, Upon thinking about it, couldn't see any reason they wouldn't work with drip irrigation hose, tried it and it worked. They deliver a lot more water faster than the regular drip irrigation spinners and drippers. You can find a lot more information about them and how to put together a system, just google John Deere spot spitters. Here is a link that might be useful: spot spitters

Thanks for your reply Ashley, it helps to know that there's people out there who understand, even though our situation is not exactly the same. We might see the skids more, but BM's influence is still very very strong so we have a similar outcome. And just this week there's another great example of it. The skids were supposed to come to our place for a week because it's holidays. They might be coming from Fri.night to Sat.night, but this is not even sure. The reason? Because it's holidays they want to spend more time with family. You can imagine how FDH felt when they said that :-( SD14 often writes on her facebook page that family is most important, but I doubt she'd think of us when writing that. It's just so important for BM to prove the point that we don't really count. For example birthdays. When it's the kids birthdays she'll make sure we don't see them on the day. She used to make skids believe that FDH didn't care or make an effort (while turning FDH's request to see them down), but now that they are older she can't do that anymore. So now she keeps them busy and because family is most important, especially on a day like that...you guessed it already. FDH's birthday is not a day we get to see them either, even though this is not an important 'family' day on her end, she'll still keep them busy. She's clever in how she does it because she doesn't deny the kids access to FDH. When they ask if they can come here for dinner on FDH's birthday she'll say "of course you can honey". Then she'll organise something and give the skids the choice, making a point of it that they should feel free to choose and not pressured by FDH. They always choose her option, no need to say. And not just that; by always telling them that FDH shouldn't pressure them, they start to perceive that FDH pressures them, even when he's not. It's programming, that's all that is. Another example when my family visits (from other side of the world, maybe once every 2 years) BM will keep the skids away from us, also normal visits are cancelled. That is when she plans 'family' time and family is more important. And you know what? I agree that my family is not so important to the skids. They have only met them a couple of times, they don't have a bond as such, they hardly know each other. My parents send birthday cards, that is it. And that is ok. FDH and I are not married yet either, they are not family to them. No problem. But, what's the harm in the kids meeting them when they visit? Why can't we have normal visitation? We do not ask for extra time or changes, only to see them as per normal would be nice! I kid you not, when my family last visited they saw the skids for 2 hrs...

Understandable about the plants, a little weird about the mattress, especially since it sounds like the store does business here in CA? A few months ago DH was looking at backpacks online- the kind that people who do multiple day trekking use. Some of the packs were not to be shipped to CA and that was one we just couldn't figure out. Some from the manufacturer could be and some couldn't. Never did figure that one out. They all looked like they were made of the same materials... I use to buy supplements from a large retailer in the midwest, but once CA pushed the prop 65 thing on them, they stopped shipping to CA. I can't blame them, no supplement company wants to have to put a cancer warning on a health product. I was trying to order high quality fiber supplements for a family member at the time- don't they tell us to take that to prevent cancer? Problem with prop 65 is retailers put it on everything to protect themselves so it means nothing. A few months ago DH ordered from a place outside of CA that had to label their products with a prop 65 warning and the company humored us by sticking the warning label on everything including the invoice, the plastic bag the item came in, and a sticker from their company. That was funny.

Matthias, it's a Charity motorcycle run to raise money for Prostate Cancer. It's world-wide, but our city has their own chapter and all the money raised goes to our hospital for prostate cancer research and treatments. Ride for Dad $2M has been raised so far for our hospital, and last year we raised $101K. This year is off to a great start as well. My late hubby was the Honorary Ride Captain last year, which is why it's so dear to my heart. We rode (as passengers, we don't own bikes) in the front group.