Hey Nik, yes root pruning is just what you described. A sharp shooter shovel works best since the blade is so long and sharp. I even sharpen mine on the grinder before I do any root pruning. The general rule with root pruning and removing top growth is that you need to remove nearly as much top growth as you do roots since the diminished roots will have to support supplying water and nutrients to all of that foliage left above. It's really a judgement call as to whether or not you root prune now. You will need to coddle those plants a bit for a while if you do and of course, there's the loss of the top growth... The longer they stay in the ground root pruned, the more new roots they'll grow but *for me* I would be disappointed to lose the top growth if it turned out to be for nothing :). If you choose to root prune now and it turns out to be unnecessary, you can always still give them the root stimulator to speed the recovery. Nik, the Demo Garden is something I think you would enjoy seeing. It is behind the annex where the extension office is. I can never remember if that is annex I or II. Also kind of behind and to the left of the criminal courts building. If the apartments that are in some of the pics I've seen of your place are where I think they are (across from City Park), then you are very close to the garden. The garden was constructed solely through donations and master gardener labor. We just did a children's gardening school there yesterday where the kids were supposed to make their own stepping stones and also some to leave in the garden with their names and hand prints on them....Mostly what we really made was a mess, LOL! Anyway, you're welcome to take a looksee anytime you'd like. Rose, I just removed a WELL established Texas Star Hibiscus a few weeks ago (temps were in the mid to high 90s). A friend of mine wanted it so I root pruned it. Some of those roots were about 1 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter..... LOL, I was hopping up and down on that silly shovel! Just one of the VERY good advantages of living in the sticks is that no one can see me doing any of those great circus tricks. Anyhow, the hibiscus sulked for a day or two, but I continued to water it and a little over a week later when I took it out (cutting through a few more roots that were growing straight down), there were great new roots all over the root ball and it didn't bat an eye when my friend planted it out. I just put it in in an empty mulch bag since the root ball was pretty good size and she was going to plant it when she got home with it. I think this method really gives the plants a helping hand in recovering from the stresses of being relocated. Hope it helps you in the future too :). Kristi

Having been a Labor/Delivery nurse for many years, I can see how it would have happened several years ago- the banding/footprinting of babies was not done on such a stringent timetable, with the safeguards that are implemented today. Especially at a public/community hospital I can see it happening. Unfortunately, with the severe cut in nursing staffing in today's world- I can see it becoming more common again. It is usually the fault of the nurse- it is her/his job to band both mother/baby IMMEDIATELY after birth. The bands are usually made up ahead of time- all you have to do is put the 'fe'(for female), time and weight on the bands. If there is a complication with either mom or baby at birth- maternal bleeding, infant slow to start breathing, the banding gets delayed in order to care for the imminent problem. It used to be that there were always 2 nurses involved in a delivery for safety reasons- 1 for the care of mom, the other nurse for care of baby. With the cutback in nursin staff that is not always the stanard now- 1 nurse doingthe whole scenerio herself is common. Not safe- but of course the hospital could care less- it is money that the hospital cares about. When my child was born- 1970's, the nurse tried repeatedly to bring the wrong baby at feeding time- the baby was even the wrong sex. There WERE arm bands, but she never even checked t see that the names matched. I hate to say it, but there are some lazy, sleazy nurses out there- boy could I tell you some stories...... I have often wondered how many 'switches' are really out there.

What a timely posting! DH and I have had our eye on a "for sale by owner" property for the last few weeks. We have been able to tour the inside of the house several times and have noticed quite a few "need to take care of" issues (must do list: new flooring throughout, insulate garage, replace fridge, reline chimney, thoroughly clean entire house, install new sliding glass door and other various small details). The current homeowner has told us that she received a foreclosure notice last week and that her and her soon to be ex-spouse NEED to sell and need to sell fast. The house reflects the lack of love in the home, the marriage suffered and the house suffered. I look at it as a plus in our favor. We can diy a large majority of the projects, and are hoping to pick up the property at 40k below market average (based on recent sales of the same size/style/model home on the same street). I hate to sound crass, but they need to sell, and things need fixing, so I want to work the situation to my advantage. Right now, for us, it's a race against time, to get our home sold before the bank steps in and takes that home from them. (We need to sell our home in order to come up with the downpayment on the "about to be foreclosed on" home). We used zillow.com and domania.com to find out what the current owners paid for the house, we figured that they put down a 20% down payment (the current homeowner is very open, and told us that she'd rather lose her 20% down payment than have a foreclosure on her credit report) and then we researched to see what the other comparable homes sold for. We are offering low based on the fact that they NEED to get out of that home (we are offering only enough for them to cover the current mortgage balance), we are also taking into consideration the amount of work that the home needs because of the neglect it has suffered. Benefitting from someone else's personal crisis is a tricky situation, it doesn't make me feel good to try to buy our new home for as little as possible (at the current owner's expense), but on the other hand, it would make a good investment for us. The home doesn't necessarily feel "right" for us, as it sits, but with about 20k worth of improvements, I can make it as close to perfect for us as is possible. The way I look at it, it's a win/win situation for all of us, they don't go into foreclosure and we get a heck of a deal. If you can get a great deal, and still manage to swing the costs of the improvements that need to be made (and the ones that aren't evident now, but are probably lurking there just waiting to be found by a home inspector)....then I say go for it. Impending foreclosure can be a great motivator for a seller! jiggreen

Thanks, LindaKathy! I just went to the forums and could not find anythng about the mama of last night. Found lots of other interesting stuff. I know we have great animals here too, but there is just something about all those strange ones in Africa! I just loved watching those babies sleep and stagger around, and then the impala babies jumping high and running fast and they're so small! I also love how the wildebeest, zebras and impalas pal around together. The other day they were all dozing in the grass, except one zebra mama who stood watch. thanks again! Rose in Tupelo