Y'all are sooo helpful! I will be printing lots of posts and keeping them in a notebook for future reference. For the most part, I'll want lots of natives. But... also lots of hummingbird and butterfly flowers, so I figure the first couple of years will be a trial and error proposition. The good thing is, finding all of you here and knowing that help is just a post away! bpgreen, how do fight that iron chlorosis thingy? jaliranchr, when we were in WP for the closing on the house, we spent quite a bit of time just reveling in "our" house and yard and hot tub... I figured out really fast that the humidity is way lower that what we have here in the hot and sticky mid-atlantic climate! wow! it will take getting used to! skybird, I love hens & chicks! I only have one kind right now, but they are the most prolific little babies I've ever seen. I've given so many away already! I have some in a strawberry pot and it's so full it needs some attention but at this point, I'm just figuring a way to take it with me as is!!! Winter sowing has been one of the most enjoyable things I've found, so I'm hoping to continue when we move! My home here has so much salvia coccinea (Lady in Red) and coral nymph salvia it's almost over whelming (however you spell that) but I've got tons of seeds and I just bought a bunch of seeds (shasta daisy, red flax etc.) from Cheapseeds.com and some from valueseeds.com that I'll be w/s this winter and I'll be saving lots of seeds to experiment with the next year in WP. I can't wait!!! glo

Welcome aboard. I'm newish here, too. Very supportive group. Yes, what talley sue said -- definitely easier to hear things from people who have similar issues and are quite open about it. Now, see, you had to go and mention *the car*. A stab of guilt just went right through me. Took my car to the mechanic the day before yesterday for an inspection and was really embarassed to leave it there. It needs a bath so badly. Tons of pollen, bird poo, and dust and dirt all over the outside. The inside is usually quite tidy (I don't like garbage and stuff on the seats or floor), but the trunk is packed with Salvation Army donations. I was wondering if my dirty exterior was going to give off the vibe that my car is a piece of crap and that I don't care about it. I certainly want the mechanic to treat my car as well as possible. It's 18 years old but still runs good, the body is in great shape, and only has 150,000 miles on it. I love my Celica! I guess keeping the exterior washed is something I need to work on. Tina

Pets- I'm a 3rd year vet student and want to help. Plus there are tons of really great people with excellent advice on training and other non-medical issues with pets. It's a great forum for me to both give and receive advice. Animal debates- I think that as a future vet, it is important for me to know where people get their information on certain topics and how they feel about certain things. So although I don't always participate in the debates, I do read them a lot. Home decorating- that's my favorite forum, hands down. Mostly because of the people on the forum, how they can be so helpful and really give you another perspective on your decorating dilemnas. They are also excellent resources for saving money- the more you can do yourself, the more money you save. They also know where to get good stuff cheap. I've totally transformed my plain tract home on a budget with the help of the people on that forum. They are wonderful! Household Finances- I usually glance at that one, but not so much now that Dave is gone. Stupid moderators- he was a HUGE asset to the forum, a wealth of information. Now the forum is not as helpful to me. Not that others don't have good advice too, but he really explained things in terms I understood. Marriage- I used to look at that one a lot, but lately it's been so depressing with all the cheating and major problems. I don't seem to have anything in common with the most recent posters, being in a happy marriage and all.

Best Wishes to all!