Good one, Steve! But it still costs you an arm and a leg!

I think it's great that he's not only cooking, but it turns out to be good. By guess&golly cooking may be contagious. Is he -or you- writing down the recipes? Even guess-&-golly recipes are better than none. I found an old notebook where I had written some when I taught my kid brother basic cookery. The trouble with B%G cooking is that after a few years, one forgets just what went in; those old notes reminded me of a wonderful marinade, and a great sauce for veggie stirfry, and a yummy casserole, none of which I have made in a couple decades. I had gone on to other recipes and in the process, forgot about these.

Thanks Dan. I learned to wire by going out in a rural setting and collecting different sized branches and twigs to wire. Then I could spend time practicing my spiral and bending techniques on throw away material. Using copper coated aluminum wire means you can reuse it over and over again. After becoming comfortable with using it, I could then start throwing it on plants worth wiring :-). I think most fail at bonsai because they want to rush the process by throwing twigs and sticks in bonsai pots and worrying them to death with constant dabbling. Or they buy mass produced crap from a street corner or the strip mall. I study a plant to decide if it's worthy. Most folks grab crap at best to work with. So after years of work and care, the best they can hope for is well trained crap. I develop a plan, do an initial pruning and wiring, then just care for it and let it do it's own thing for a while. I may need to loosen the wire in a few spots this summer on this one, but that will be about all I'll do. It will be pruned and rewired again late fall, early winter for next year. randy

"Surely this guy has some redeeming qualities?" Jannie..I'm thinking the same thing. Too bad we don't realize that until we're picking out a tombstone! "After reading your post, the single life sounds better and better;-)" I use to feel the same way! Trust me, it's not all it's cracked up to be (unless you're single by choice). Marilyn_Sue..believe me I understand your frustration, it's just that I look at things a bit different now days!