Here in tree-hugging California you are are required to get a permit to remove any tree in your own yard that is more than 38" in circumference. You can and will be fined if you do...in the thousands of dollars. Even if you planted that tree yourself 40 years ago, fertilized and watered and pruned it. You have to provide proof that said tree qualifies for removal. (see below) Then you must replace it with a new tree 24" box size, OR pay an in-lieu--of fee which goes to planting a tree somewhere in our wonderful city. Are we the land of Fruits and Nuts?????? YUP ...but our weather is perfect here. *************************************************************** 1. The tree is diseased or badly damaged. 2. The tree represents a potential hazard to people, structures or other trees. 3. The tree is in sound condition but restricts the owners’ ability to enjoy the reasonable use or economic potential of the property. It may also unreasonably restrict an adjoining property owner’s use or economic potential of the adjoining property. If this applies, the factors below will be used to make a decision regarding removal. If the tree is healthy, the following factors shall be used to evaluate the application:  The need to allow construction of improvements and to allow economic or reasonable enjoyment of property  The approximate age of the tree relative to its average life span  The limited useful landscape value due to its inappropriate species, size and location relative to the existing structures on the property  The topography of the land and the effect of the requested action on water retention and diversion or increased flow of surface water The potential effect of removal on soil erosion and stability where the tree is located  Current and future visual screening potential  Overcrowding of trees unreasonably restricting the use of the land

My DD went to Columbia University in NYC and the campus is compact enough that her dorm was only a few minutes from her class rooms. She was in the habit of only allowing 5 to 10 minutes of walking time to go back and forth. I can't tell you how many times she'd call from her cell phone complaining that another TV show or movie was shooting on campus or nearby and the streets were blocked off and that she was going to be late for class. Law and Order was a frequent sight on campus. My DH and I would be watching an episode and all of a sudden we'd realized what part of campus was on the screen. Julia Stiles was in one of her Literature classes and Uma Thurman's brother was in another. Their father is a professor of Buddhist studies there. Those are the ones I remember. They shot several scenes of SpiderMan and Ghostbusters on campus and something with the Olsen twins. I remember she called and said they were so tiny they resembled 6 year olds. The luncheonette (Tom's Restaurant) that the Seinfield characters ate at frequently was on campus - they didn't film there but shot the exterior scenes. She nearly knocked Dustin Hoffman over when she was a freshman. She was returning to her dorm room carrying her laundry basket when he came out of her room and they bumped into each other in the doorway. His daughter's room was 2 doors away and he had walked into DD's by mistake. She frequently saw famous people around town but that's normal in NY. When I visted her I saw Jimmy Fallon, David Letterman, Regis Philbin, Erica Slezak, Kelly Ripa and some other soap actors who I'd recognize from the show but didn't know their real names. I passed Hayley Miles on the sidewalk and and gushed like an idiot telling her how I loved her films when I was a kid - Pollyanna, Moon-spinners, Tiger Bay. I'm only 90 minutes away so I've been up to see The View several times, Regis and Kelly, Rachel Ray, Conan. It's a fun day trip. A commercial for Toro lawn mowers was shot at my neighbor's house years ago but no one has ever seen it.

Rinse aid can (partially) counter-act the problems that all dish washers have with hard water. If you have really soft water, as I do, you can mostly forgo rinse aid and you'll still have excellent results. If rinse aid isn't an option, then what you need is a water softener. A whole-house softener obviously works, but that's an expensive investment. Instead, you could buy a dishwasher that has a small internal softener. I know that this is a pretty common feature on many Miele models. I don't know if there are other manufacturers who do the same. Please note that you will now have to buy salt to recondition the softener every so often. So, you won't completely be able to get away from buying some extra consumables. But presumably, you aren't allergic to regular kitchen salt...

It took me a while to find this, and I had to do some odd searches to finally find it! Anyway, I did want to respond... IdaClaire - yes, I am somewhat of a compulsive story-teller, and when I was in First Grade, I won first place in the UL story-telling contest. I had to look up David Sedaris, but he does sound inspirational. I've always wanted to write in the style of James Thurber, which I think is somewhat similar. Anyway, I have to thank for this comment because it has gotten me back on the short story collection I was working on. I had started to write my autobiography, not because I think my life is special, but several friends have asked me to do this, including Dolores Deluxe, who is an actress and also an author. I met her in San Francisco in 1974 when I was living in a theatrical commune where she was rehearsing a play that some of my roommates at the time were in. Our commune was in a storefront on Valencia street that had been a dance studio before, and so it had one cavernous room with 8' high mirrors and ballet bars. I recently saw Dolores again at one of her book signings, and then we had lunch near her bungalow in Venice on the beach. I have her autobiography and thought that I should try to write something similar, but that really didn't work for me, but when I read your post, I got the idea that all I need to do is get a collection of short anecdotes - something that would be much easier for me to do. I've decided that they do not need to be sequential, and I can try to make sense or order out of them after I've finished writing them. BTW, when I was at Rice, I took Larry McMurtry's creative writing class and got an A in it. I was told that some of my writings were Kafkaesque, which I did agree with, but those were especially the ones I wrote in high school and college. They tended to be a bit surreal. 3katz4me, you would have to fly your cats to Palm Springs, which is Cathedral City adjacent. I just had my pool resurfaced, and it has new equipment as well, and the heater works well, although I certainly don't need that in the summer. In September the water temperature was 85° without using the heater. I'm going there this week-end to do some more work on the house.