StressBaby, They are serious fish and if you are going you had better be in good shape. Fishing for them is work. The only people to go with are Amazon Tours. They are the Caddy of the sport. Email them and tell Phil I sent you. It is not cheap. A week long trip now cost $4950.00. But they cover everthing once your hit Brazil. It is the trip of a lifetime and you will not regret it. I will never forget my time there. It is a special place and Phil and Ruth are true lovers of the area and the people. They have schools and clinics for the local people. They are first class people. Phil's family were missionaries/pilots in Central and South America and Phil is a true Christian. you would have a super time, I promise 1eyedJack and the Dawg

Agree with John in putting the soil back over the small roots. Citrus are shallow rooted trees, so you definitely want to cover those small roots. What we usually do not do here is pile the soil up against the trunk higher than where the original soil line was in the pot (unless the soil was obviously too low). JR, here's how I plant my citrus trees in S. California. As long as you're not on clay, this should work for you. I dig a hole about 2 to 3 times as wide as the pot. I fill the hole up twice with water, letting it drain out. I then plant the tree so that the trunk will be at the level of the soil. If I see roots circling the pot, I try to gently loosen then, or if I have to, carefully trim them, so they grow straight out and not in a circle. I use a long-handled rake or shovel to be sure my tree doesn't get planted to deep or too high. I back fill with native soil - I do NOT amend my soil. I create a nice deep well around the drip line or a little ways out. I fill that well with a combination of chicken manure (not too much), and compost. It is also where I'll broadcast fertilizer in about a month. I then fill with about 3 to 4 inches of chopped wood mulch to help conserve water. I take care not to pile the chicken manure/compost or the mulch up against the tree trunk (although it does end up migrating towards the trunk if the wells get overfull, so I do try to move the mulch away from the trunks periodically). I deep water the tree, then place it on a drip. Every year I re-fill the well with compost/manure and re-mulch. This gives the tree just what it needs: Great nutrients percolating down to the feeder roots, just like Mother Nature would provide. John, with only about 5 to 10" of rainfall a year out here, we have to mulch our trees. The only issue I get now and then, are slugs and snails hiding out in the mulch, so I will wrap the trunk with a bit of copper tape, and sprinkle Sluggo in the wells. Rhizo is right on about the mulch, especially in areas like mine, where our soils are thin (I'm on just about pure DG, awesome great for drainage, not so great for micronutrients.) The compost/manure and the mulch make a big difference for me and all my plants, not just my citrus and avocados :-) Plus, everything looks very nice, and keeps the weeding down to a very bare minimum. Essential when you have an acre and no one to help you weed! And now, after a couple of years, I can reach down a few inches into the soil and see nice, rich black topsoil that is full of earthworms. Perfect way to grow any plant, especially citrus. Patty S.

Wow, I am so glad that I'm feeling a bit better to come and say hi! I started reading at the top and read all the way down. How nice to get to know you all better! I know that I didn't join in this swap or last months but hope it's o.k. if I still answer the questions and tell my story too. O.K. well I won't repeat what you guys already knew about my sickness & recovery. But here is a bit about it that I didn't say... Although this isn't a fact in stone just my opinion (on the cause) I have lived in the country all my life and the crop dusters dump their poisons all over everywhere as people have homes next to fields the wind carries that stuff. When I was 12 (I'm 38 now) I started developing strange health issues. When I was 16 they were very evident. When I was 25 I began having seizures, was in a wheelchair, in and out of a normal state of mind. Lost the ability to read, didn't know my family. It was dreadful! What a trooper my husband is! May 7 of this year made 8 years that I have been seizure free (no meds, that stuff is just about the devil incarnate itself). MS was what I was diagnosed with. My Mom tells me that when I was a baby that when the crop dusters would dust the crops all around us that I would be sick to my stomach and vomiting the entire day afterwards. I believe there is a connection between the 2 if not the cause. My Mom also has MS. I strongly believe that chemicals are causing all sorts of maladies with people, bees & animals. People do not believe me when I tell them I believe that so many diseases are caused by the poisons that we've created and that we are to blame for so many diseases afflicting us. As a kid we played in the fields bare footed! I live nowhere near fields and if all of a sudden the hundreds of acres of woods around me were turned into fields well I would rather be homeless under a bridge than to ever live anywhere near crop dusting planes again! lol However since my b-day was in Dec. that's the only thing that has changed I'm now 39. Well, that and I started having seizures again back in Nov. (sighs) I was soooo looking forward to making the 9 year mark to dang it. Q. # 1 That I am outgoing, I am not and I struggle with being an introvert as well. #1 because I can't remember people. In town I see people that say "Hey Rena', I haven't seen you in forever! How's Roy and the kids?" I swear I have no memory of ever seeing them in my life! And it happens constantly. When my husband or kids are with me I then ask "Who was that? And where do I "know them from?" So I hate going in public where I run into people that I can't remember at all but who apparently know me pretty well. It is disconcerting to say the least. And how do you say Um sorry but I don't remember you. So I just hug them back and smile like they are my long lost buddy. Q. #2 (Although I missed the game so I'll just list 3 true things.) 1. I can't stand facades. So I make a point when people want to be my friend I tell them everything negative about me 1st. (Although I am a super-positive person.) I figure skip the pretenses and get right to it if you still like me after then you are my true friend and we can have a true friendship. That way we don't waste each others time if down the road you feel like wow that Rena' is a real ding-bat. lol Right up front you know everything about me. Ex. I like you because thus and so... Then I counter with 2 things about me that should be improved. You then say well I like that about you, I counter with more truth. So my friends know everything about me the good the bad & the ugly. 2. Even though I reveal everything about myself I never ever ask personal questions of my friends. Period. Because if I'm your friend it's unchangeable, I'm your friend. 3. I am such a one track minded person that when company comes over for dinner and I'm cooking you better not talk to me. lol You'd think my husband would know better by now... The other night I felt well enough to cook (hamburger steaks) and he sat down and served himself, his eyes got as big as golf balls after the 1st bite. lol I forgot ALL seasoning, no salt, no cajun seasoning, no worchestsire nada... The whole time I was trying to cook he was talking a mile a minute. My brain can't be in 2 places at one time. Jeesh, he knows that! Aw well if he forgot he was reminded. lol Q. #3 The worst was when I couldn't hold conversations with any of my family and not understanding them when they tried to talk to me. The best was when I got better and could play ball with the kids, hug them, talk to them and understand them. Also forever I will remember cleaning the bathrooms for the 1st time since I had gotten better and singing loudly while cleaning the toilet. I promise you've never seen someone as happy as I was cleaning a toilet! lol Q. #4 Seizures returning after 8 years of zero. But I am unbelievably thankful for the 8 good years just wish it would of lasted 'til death. Q. #5 The most? That I relish the uniqueness & diversity of my family members and friends personalities & strive to never ever be judgemental of others. Although I am unrelenting with judging myself and forever fall short of my own standards which are ridiculously rigid. And that I am an eternal optimist! (Albeit my husband says my "head is in the clouds.") Hummmmm is he saying I'm an airhead?! lol The least? Wow, that's a toughie too many to choose just one but let's see ... I create unrealistic goals for myself all the time and always am disappointed when I can't achieve them. Wish that I could be more realistic when setting goals. Also I start things am gung ho in the beginning but then get bored or lose interest or am overwhelmed at the unattainability of the goal. And battle depression as a result. Anyhoo on the bright side yesterday here was so warm I was in a short sleeve shirt and planted some more bulbs, yes I know they should all already be in the ground (all 400 of them). lol Got about 10 planted... Only 390 (or so) more to go... HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! May it be your best year ever!!! Rena'

Whoa, if you get a degree in industrial arts you get to acquire carpentry textbooks along the way?!? Sweet! Kim, I've always enjoyed/appreciated your contributions; given the wisdom of trial and error that was behind them, I see why they stood out. My mom got us a couple of the Reader's Digest fixit books (have to run downstairs, one of them might be the very one you have); I like the way they are encyclopedic and detailed. I know Jane Powell but not the Small Houses books (do you mean The Not So Big stuff by Susanka, or the Small House anthologies from Fine Homebuilding?) Thanks for mentioning books; I think I might start a reference book thread for this forum. Hey Casey, THANKS for taking the bait. And you are NOT a bloody genius, you are an old house DEITY for crying out loud! Would you please start your own show on youtube? Or maybe just a house tour? Even Petch house has youtube videos. Or, do you already have a project blog and everyone knows about it but me? Actually for someone with a degree in historic preservation, I am impressed with how low-key your posts come across; they read more like an old friend who's "been there" and wants to pass along lessons learned along the way, it's really very nice and encouraging. But if you ever want to browbeat me feel free; I would take it as a compliment. To be honest if I post about something I'm thinking of doing to my house, and you don't opine, I figure one of two things is going on: 1) you're not on the forum; or 2) you're politely disapproving. Most of the time I assume it's 2 because you seem to be pretty consistent around here. But I just want to say, and I hope I speak for many, that I love love love your posts, especially when I'm searching on a problem I'm trying to solve and something from you pops up! (PS I finally got around to using that general finishes gel varnish you recommended and it was fantastic, thank you; I will post photos to the woodworking forum sometime before the next census.) Oh, and I love the way you "aged" the color tones in the new pine beadboard in your kitchen; reminds me of the pine in my grandmother's kitchen. When I was really little I used to look at the gleaming pores and think it was the closest wood could get to 24K gold.