Thank you again Ron for being such a gracious host. The weather was glorious, the food was excellent and the company was the best. I second Sue's comment that it's wonderful to meet people and talk plants without their eyes glazing over. I love walking in my garden and seeing all the plants I've gotten at these swaps through the years. I'll try to take pictures. I'm already looking forward to the next swap and seeing what'll be big enough to bring. George, maybe you could celebrate your half birthday so we could have more wine? Hedy

Don't you love his thought that his city's stores were 'the best of their kind'? I loved my (much smaller) hometown the same way. Marshall Field's in Chicago had a big 'nursery' where mothers could leave their kids to play while shopping. It was cleverly located next to the toy department! Brilliant!

I think this article is tongue-in-cheek and was not meant to be taken seriously or literally. OK, I'll cop to it, but I think a lot of parents did/do this. I had 3 kids in less than 4 years and I was usually more exhausted than they were at the end of the day. Occasionally, when they were too young to catch it, I would skip pages during the bedtime story to hurry things along and get more "me" time in the evenings. Maire-Cate.....would you believe until I was 7 (I was the youngest and had 3 older brothers) my parents didn't even put the tree up until we were all in bed Christmas Eve. They were up all night decorating the tree, putting bikes and toys together, setting up the train set, etc.....I don't know how they did it! Forgot to add....after opening presents, mom making breakfast, we'd all get dressed and go to Mass. Lunch and later on Christmas dinner.....no dishwashers in those days. Mom must have been up for two days straight....bless her heart!

If the water level is high enough and you can add oxygenator plants like parrot's feather, coon tail, fox tail, elodea/egeria (illegal in some states), ludwigia sp, then you may be able to add livebearer fish like guppies or platies for mosquito control.They are live bearers and feeding on the mosquito larvae will probably result in hundreds of fish very soon (which you can give away as gifts or donations to schools or sell to your local fish store (pet). Betta fish are also an option and one that doesn't require as many oxygenator plants (though their prevalent presence would make all the difference); you may be able to add more than one male if the pool is large enough (they are territorial) and several females (number depends on size of pool); these fish will probably also reproduce due to the nutrition they get from the mosquito larvae, though not as many fry will make it to adulthood.