Here's an excerpt which may help you define physical traits: The number and severity of symptoms vary from person to person. The lenses that enable the eyes to focus on objects can be intact or dislocated (off center). The heart can produce no symptoms until middle age, or its aorta (large artery carrying blood out of the heart) can develop a life-threatening aneurysm (i.e., the thin wall of the aorta balloons out under pressure) during adolescence. The tubular long bones (e.g., arms, legs, and fingers) can grow until the person is slightly taller than average or until the person is much taller than average. The breastbone can appear normal or can point outward (pigeon chest) or inward (funnel chest). In an extreme case, the signs and symptoms are obvious; the person is unusually tall and thin, wears thick glasses, and tires out easily with moderate physical activity. In a typical case, the affected person is taller than average for his or her age, is near-sighted, has an arm span exceeding his or her height (Fig. 1), is loose jointed (especially in the knees, wrists, and fingers) (Fig. 2), is excessively flexible or limber, has flat or "rocker bottom" feet, and has kyphoscoliosis (an abnormal forward and sideways curve of the back bone) (Fig. 3). It's from here: http://www.hughston.com/hha/a_12_2_4.htm I have some, I was tested due to long arms, extra tall, and I have both spine malfunctions. Now I have a heat murmur. But I don't fit any other characteristics at all. GGG

You don't need to buy a book. Check with your state's Extension Service. Each county should have it's own Cooperative Extension Office which provides free publications and information for the asking. They will have valuable vegetable/gardening tables available specifically for your area determined by universities and horticultural research scientists who have collected data from growing those crops in your state. Your tax dollars are already paying for this service so you may as well get some use out of it. Vegetable Planting and Planning Calendar for Missouri (download the pdf) complete with spring and fall planting dates (underneath the spring planting dates for appropriate crops), how much to plant per person, etc. They can also tell you the average last frost date for your area and ideal planting times for specific crops and varieties in your area. See how detailed this example is:

Hmmm...I'm torn about what would constitute a good book forum. Just MHO, but I think there can be an intimidating factor that is off-putting on some book forums. As I mentioned in my post above, even my best friends and I don't always agree on what constitutes a good book. But because of our history of friendship, we don't feel hurt or harshly judged when someone says, "that book didn't do it for me." It's especially hard to convey a difference of opinion when it's delivered in a post. Sometimes I re-read things I've posted which I've meant to sound funny or wry, and am worried that my tone might have been misinterpreted. So how about this - For now, how about a thread where we can list books that we've enjoyed recently, and some of our all-time favorites? Without giving away too much, we can give some general info and maybe alert people if they contain coarse language/graphic violence/sex, etc. I mention this because my MIL often passes on "CSI"-type mystery novels that she enjoys to me. I'm not especially prudish, but I do a lot of my reading at night instead of watching TV and I've found that reading books with disturbing themes like child abuse/decapitations/rapes, etc. are too disrupting to my sleep to read at bedtime. What prompted my OP is that I just finished a heartwarming read and was looking for something good to start on. Seeing a list of what you've all been reading is a good place to start looking. I'd already been thinking about "Snowball" that gina w mentioned above. I may download a chapter on the Kindle to check it out. Do any of you have other suggestions on how to approach starting a thread?

I think that the doctor's office can and will bill you for anything. We get small bills every couple of years, I guess the computers scour the doctor's billings and come up with things not paid. Are you obligated to pay? Maybe not, but they'll send it to Collections if you don't pay.