Maryann - I understand what your mother was feeling, but please tell her it is a very natural feeling. For many years every time I first went to a new country to do the butterflies I had a little nervousness about the new species of dangerous critters I might encounter while there. But once I ran into my first on a trip and it all ended well, they were pretty much forgotten the rest of the trip. I soon got over being nervous when going someplace new. A little story on myself... I well remember my first trip to another country specifically to do butterflies many, many years ago. I was nervous after hearing all the stories about the numerous species of poisonous snakes, spiders, scorpions, tree frogs and plants in Costa Rica. Having a friend who was also lep smitten that was born and lived there would help a lot though. First day out I went hiking in a rainforest alone as Olaf couldn't get away from his finca until the next day. I was tip-toeing around looking for a specific bug in very thick cover that I just knew the countries entire population of Terciopelo (Fer-de-lance) probably lived in, and that they were all just waiting there for me to get close enough. I had plodded along for hours not finding the bug I was after, and luckily also no "Ticos". Then I finally caught a glimpse of what I was looking for flying along the ground in a small glade, Cithaerias menander. I know of no common name other than to lump it in with the Clearwings. They are on the small size of medium and don't fly fast, but the are very difficult to see in the dark dappled light of a rain forest due to their all clear wings except for a splash of red on the hind wings and flying close to the ground darting around plants. They seem to appear and disappear with every wing beat and are very easily lost sight of. I stalked at first trying to intercept this jewel, and then ended up running full out when that failed and I spooked it to finally net my first example of this bug. I had run in leaps and bounds for a long way and had completely forgotten about the Ticos. After realizing that I never worried about them again. I had plenty of encounters with them later on that trip (and other nasty things), but with the insight of Olaf I learned and kept out of trouble. BTW, a later trip down there with Olaf to do some specific backlighting was always referred to after it by us as The Night of the Jaguar (and later always saw a blank stare in Olaf's eyes when we talk about it). But that's another story. LOL L.

Hi Diane, I got mine in September 2004 (Wal-Mart) end of season sale. It is called "Rootein" Soil Conditioner for Indoor Plants -premium- Amazing results. It has the same dosage as yours. By Ceres. Even % is similar. I think, they dropped the line about testing and renamed the product hoping to attract buyers. Mine is in squared white plastic container with white-green label - 1.7kg. It stinks a little and looks like a very fine gray gravel with some white flakes. Thanks for the tip with ST- I will definitely call them and order some. After checking that gelatin site I went through recipes in Jerry BakerÂs Happy healthy houseplants. He also recommends gelatin. IÂm usually reluctant to use anything other then regular premix fertilizer (I noticed once that some home made fertilizers attract mold and bugs  J. BakerÂs for example). I hope you will keep us posted about the results in your experiment. Denise, Thanks for the tip with a gelatin (my mom complains a lot about the arthritis pain). Love your picks  and the web. What did you do to h. pubicalyx to get that magnificent bloom? I have one  big, old, root bounded monster that does not bloom at all (growing indoors). This winter my cats knocked it down twice  it was in 6" self watering pot for couple of years. Too tall and too light. So now I had to repot it to 8" pot where everything is sturdier and roots and not drying that fast. IÂm afraid more vines will follow with no blooms- as usual.

I'm so sorry to hear about you losing your koi. Yes, they certainly can become pets. Here's a few of mine. I also see a bass and of course blue gills. It's impossible to count fish, but I think I have about 30 of them. They are now 22 yrs old. I don't know how long they live, but I'm sure going to miss them after they're gone. I know there's no way I'll beable to replace them because there's large mouth bass in the pond that will eat young koi. I've tried several times with feeder goldfish and they all became lunch. There's no way we could afford to buy mature koi to restock the pond. We really enjoy watching the koi. When we walk out onto the top porch (out my living room) the koi can see us and they come running (so to speak) from the other side of the pond. We throw dog food to them. That's what they've been eating for the past 22 yrs, along with whatever else they eat. Since the pond is 14' deep we haven't had a problem with cranes, although occasionally we see them standing on the little dock. The last pic is of the house after we first built it and the pond was 2 yrs old. We stocked the pond with koi, bass, blue gill, perch and catfish and white amere (sp?) If I had to do over again I would only have koi. Again, so sorry for the lose of your koi.

Cowboy, I don't know what the "slug bells" cost, but I could make up a whole bunch of them for less than $30---the price of a couple of really nice hostas. This is a sink drain, selling at Home Depot for $1.98. There is a screw on the bottom of the rubber stopper that you can remove, to give you a central hole. If the holes are too big, lay a scrap of nylon screening over them to keep the Sluggo from falling through. This is an 18" plant support from Home Depot. It costs $1.17. It would be easy to slide the sink drain basket halfway up the length of this and then slide a holed rubber stopper or cork (if you're a wine drinker, save those corks!) up underneath that to support the drain basket. Finally, get some cheap but pretty large coffee mugs at a yard sale or a clearance at a drug store or grocery store. You can often find some for like 50 cents apiece, certainly no more than a dollar. Hang that open side down over the wire spiral at the top of the plant support. Voila, your own cheapie version of a "Slug Bell". If you like the earthy look, substitute a 4" diameter clay plant pot from Home Depot (78 cents) for the coffee mug. Total cost = a shade over $5 vs. $18 for those Slug Bells.