Didn't really wont to bring this post back up to the top but i thought I would pass along how things have been going and since the pictures of my pond where already here I brought it back to the top . Well one word would explain a lot, that word would be COLD here in middle TN, at least colder then what we are costume to, but nothing to whatsome of you have been having to deal with. My pond being mostly above ground and in the middle of my yard has faired rather well considing everything eles frozen solid around here. I had no choice but to pertect the pond from the cold in what ever way I could find. See pictures above of my above ground pond. The coldest day was during the night this past Saturday with a morning temp Sunday morning of 4 degress, with windchill of -10 Burrrrrrrrrr.. The cold weather moved in the first of last week, snowed some, but the temps and the windchill was what had me veryyyyyyy worried. I purchased a duct brown canvus type tarp that would fit over the entire pond all the way down to the ground and used stretch cords to secure the tarp down around the rail road ties and had the pond pump about a foot below the water surface for water movement. I had already taken down the stock tank bio filter due to the fish death's I had early in December. Well when Saturday came and the weather forcast was giving out near 0, I went out and put another heavy duty tarp over the pond and stretch cords around it again. I tested the water before I put on the first tarp and everything looked good, but I was worried since the pond has been covered now for about 6 days yesterday, I could here the water moving due to the pump so I knew it wasn't frozen. I went out and undone one corner and tested the water and all the readings looked purfect and I turned off the pump for a few minutes and had to use a flashlight to see if the fishies where alive and doing ok..They where just fine and seem to have survived this cold spell without any problems. The tarps saved my little pond form a total disaster I sure. To my surprise there wasn't any ice that had formed in the pond during the last 6 days. I had night mares dreaming of my pond freezing solid and expanding and busting at the seems pushing out the rail road ties and being nothing but a big block of ice. I counted 13 kio, and goldfish and no one was floating. So maybe I can relax at least until the next round of old winter blowes in. Sandy

Thanks Gill and Mike for the compliments. I got my first DR as a gift and it didn't bloom at first. I then read and took care of it the correct way. Since then, it had plenty of blooms for me. From that point on, I just add few small pots each year and take care of them. This is my second biggest of the ones I have. I now have about 10 big pots and 12 small pots. Plus 120 babies. I had 2 pots finally bloom after all other done with blooming. Because the winter was so brutal and they got the top part rot. I pruned them closer to the caudex and they slowly bloom for me. I don't give them any special feed, just Osmocote twice a year and regular Miracle Gro liquid feed every few weeks. 2-3 weeks at 2/3 strenght. The weather helps, hot and humid. Mike, I don't know the name of the cactus in the first 2 pictures. Infact, I got rid of them, because they became so much. They grew so fast and I can't trim them fast enough so I gave them to friend. I can ask my friend and see if she still have them. I can send you some cutting if you want. Gill, the plant is about 3 feet. I hope to have better pictures next year, because I had 3 meddium pots newly grafted with 3 or more colors. One I can see 4 different set of leaves. They are still healing with their grafts.

Hey Goldgirl, I'm not much of a decorator (mostly lurk here to learn as much as I possibly can) but I also went to law school at age 46 so thought I'd mention a few things you might want to think about in planning your office space: First, in my experience, the most successful law students always had at least one or two "study partners" that they studied with regularly, especially right before exams. (Ever see the movie "Paper Chase"?) I know you may be thinking "I'll be so much older than the other students and I'm really used to working by myself so I probably won't bother with study partners." I thought the same thing but then almost immediately teamed up with a young man fresh out of undergrad and a woman who was a couple of years older than myself. Both happened to sit near me in my first-year Torts class and the study partner thing just sort of happened. To this day though, I remain eternally grateful that I teamed up with them because their different learning styles and viewpoints made a major difference in how well I did. During first-year especially the three of us practically lived together and I'm not sure I'd have made it through that year without them. So, if at all possible, plan your office space with the idea that a couple of other people will likely be there studying with you fairly regularly... oftentimes late into the night or even all night. If your office happens to be next to the room where your DH will be sleeping, take pity on him and put something soft and sound-absorbing on both sides of the common wall - and move the master bed as far away from that wall as possible! You might also make sure there is some sort of white-noise generator in the bedroom with him... or else buy him a big box of those really soft ear plugs and get him in the habit of sleeping with them in place! I took over our formal dining room as my study space and, although it was clear across our house and on a different floor from our MBR, my study partners and I still managed to wake DH on more than one occasion when our arguments got just a little too passionate. (Arguing passionately without getting personal/angry was one of the many things I had to learn in law school. LOL!) Instead of a fancy desk, I'd recommend a nice large dining room table with one of its short sides pushed up against a wall that has plenty of electrical outlets and computer connections. You can stack a 3 foot tall bookcase against the wall on top of the table to hold a semester's worth of textbooks plus dictionaries, writing supplies, extra paper, etc. Other than that, you won't need much bookcase space. because now-a-days no one purchases "law books" [a.k.a. case law or statute books] the way students used to have to do. All that stuff is now available online via Westlaw and Lexis Nexis and both companies provide law students with free accounts because they want you to be very comfortable (dependent upon) using their services by the time you join a firm or hang out your own shingle. Then the accounts cease to be free. A small filing cabinet for filing away class handouts, etc., is probably a good idea though. I'd probably tuck that under the table so it was out of the way. Then, around the three open sides of the table, I'd put three or four very comfortable padded upright chairs so that you and your study partners all have somewhere to sit. Regular dining room chairs are okay for short study sessions but, trust me, they start to wear on the coccyx after about 4 or 5 hours. Spend money on comfortable chairs - you're going to log a lot of hours in whatever you select. Also, put a comfy couch or lazyboy chair in the room. Or at least put some big cushy floor pillows and a nice blanket in one corner. Trust me, there'll be times when you or one of your study partners will be desperate to grab 40 winks while the others are looking something up on Westlaw. Plus, when you study till 4:00 a.m., you may not want to risk waking DH by crawling into bed at that hour. Next, make sure that you have PLENTY of light that can be appropriately angled to shine onto whatever you're reading and not up into your eyes. Your eyes will take enough punishment without dealing with inadequate lighting. And don't be at all surprised if you very suddenly find yourself needing bifocals. Don't know if it was mid-life hormones or all the reading but I had to have my vision prescription changed about three times my first year. Also make sure your computer monitor has a non-glare screen. For the sake of your eyes, I'd heartily recommend a very high-quality flat-panel monitor in the largest size you can afford. In addition to your computer, make sure you have a good, relatively high-speed printer. You won't need color - go instead for speedier B&W model. And, if possible, have a second backup printer somewhere in the house because, invariably, at some point you will have a time-limited take-home exam and your printer will decide to give up the ghost an hour before the deadline to turn the d--- thing in! It's like printers (and copiers and fax machines) KNOW when you're under a time crunch. LOL! Speaking of printers, think about where you're going to toss all the excess paper you'll be generating. (Big trash can or recycling box?) Unless your kitchen is right around the corner from your office, see if you can't convert one of those closets into a little "kitchen nook" with room for a coffee pot, a dorm-sized fridge for sodas, and a snack cupboard. If you can't put in plumbing for the nook, get a water cooler so you don't have to traipse to the kitchen to make coffee and then go back again to get it when it is finally ready. Put a big white-board on one wall. I know they're not at all decorative but they are so terribly useful. I still can't live without mine and most of the associates in my law firm have one up in their offices. Oh, and if you're at all interested in becoming a litigator - as opposed to a transactional attorney - during your second and third year you'll want to get active in moot court and mock trial. If so, you should put a full-sized mirror up on one wall of your so you can see yourself as you practice your presentations. Hope some of this proves helpful. I know it is not "decorating advice" as such but... Good luck with law school! It's quite an adventure and one that many women our ages would be terrified to undertake. Proud of you and, if I can ever offer any advice/help specific to being one of the OWLS (older, wiser, law-students), feel free to email me. bevangel_72 at yahoo.com

I was in Utah 8 or 9 years ago, assisting at a yoga retreat in the mountains. For 100 miles+ around, the mountains were dead. Like Mt. St. Helen's. Seems some infestation of something got into the trees, pines, I think, and they were going to cut it out. A very small, containable area. Environmentalists got involved and stopped them, and the bugs razed miles and miles and miles of trees. They had to bury the trees, because evidently they couldn't be burned on such a mass scale. I guess they couldn't even use the wood! I'm an environmentalist where growing, live things are concerned, both plant and animal, but that was a very short-sighted group and that devastation can be laid directly at their feet. In the meanwhile, where do I get those blue-woodmaking bugs? Or are they a bad bug? Should I just settle for the gorgeous lumber? :)