This is the best site for seed germinating info I've come across: Tom Clothier's Garden Walk and Talk. I find Datura odd. Sometimes I'll get nothing from a bunch of seeds, and sometimes I'll get 90-100% germinating. I've never figured it out. I have had no luck at all with any of the doubles - it could be my technique, it could be the seeds are bad. 'Belle Blanche' should be easier than 1 out of dozens, maybe you had an old bunch of seeds? Clematis from seed can be slow (depending on the sort), and it might not resemble the parent (or it might!), but it should be fairly easy. Clematis will benefit greatly from a cold period. I've never grown chinese lanterns fron seed, but I've grown two close relatives from seed many times: tomatillos and ground cherries. Neither of those get fermented, so I doubt that the chinese lantern seeds need it. I should say that though I don't ferment my tomato seeds, I do remove the jelly-like covering on them (placing the seed on a paper towel and mushing it gently with your finger does the trick for me). The jelly supposedly inhibits germination, but I've had seeds that didn't get it removed germinate just as quickly as ones without it. I'd still prefer remove it by mushing though, as it may cause the seed to rot if it's left there being moist. About the cold period - you can't just toss the seeds in the fridge in their envelope. They have to be sown in slightly damp seed starting mix. If the seeds are large enough to be carefully handled with tweezers, I use small 1-2oz containers, and carefully transfer the seeds to larger containers when they come out(some may already be germinating). If the seeds are too small to handle in that way, I put their sowing pots into a plastic baggie and put that in the fridge (takes up a bit of room though!). A really good book is the "A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants". But it's pricey ($66.50 at Amazon.ca), and it's HEAVY!!! I got mine as a birthday gift - I couldn't justify buying it myself, but I really wanted it. I have found that mant books that you find remaindered at the front of bookstores are good enough, they may not be the best out there, but they're cheap. BP

"Just wait until you have to pack up all that crap and move it." My SIL just bought a retirement home so they are decluttering their current house as a preparation for selling it--she keeps telling me she can't believe how much STUFF she's got to get rid of. When I go to their house I always admire how it looks nicely organized and without extraneous things all over. However, I also admire her tons of closets and storage space which she says leads to keeping, you guessed it, all that stuff LOL. I've decided I will play a mental game this summer and pretend we have to move; maybe that will be my motivation to get rid of much unnecessary and unused stuff in our house! I use the holidays and shopping for gifts to satisfy any yen I may have to be a retail hunter/gatherer. The past few years I increasingly feel as if I am gorging myself after staying on a careful and healthy diet; by the time January comes I feel so psychically bloated from all the shopping /buying that I need another year to rest up and recover! It's interesting to me to watch my young adult daughter who is setting up her first home. She loveslovesloves Home Goods, Marshalls, Pier 1 etc. And when I go with her I usually find stuff I could easily buy. I have a rule that I can't take anything from those places home the day I see it. That usually short circuits the purchase, I'm rarely motivated enough to fight the traffic and crowds to go back a second time!

why would he be reporting hitting a deer if he was uninjured, If he had hit it in WI, because reporting that you have hit a deer with a motor vehicle is required by law. Outside of the requirement of law, the rule of Good Sense applies: You report it so the animal can be euthanized if it is severely injured and suffering. Or removed from the roadway if it expired there & has become a traffic obstruction.

I have nothing to suggest in addition to those already offered, but I will say re buynothing and freecycle-- when we first moved here 2 years ago, there was no buynothing and the freecycle was pretty dead. Over time though thankfully --- buynothing was created as well as a few other facebook groups ( and nextdoor) and even the freecycle got more active. So my point is,if it's not in your way maybe hold them a bit and try again in a few months to offer ? i know I feel so great when someone wants what I am getting rid of----the best was that we had received a gift of honeybells- too many for us so I took a photo of them in the box and said I would split up batches of 4 or .6. Needless to say I got more interest than I could provide for but the BEST was someone asked if they could have the shredded paper as they needed it for a decoration and couldn't find that brown raw color. I was so thrilled!