Suzie, It is a sad story about the firefighter. They haven't released a lot of details, but I think he was involved in a fire truck burnover, which is when a wind-driven wildfire overtakes a firetruck and literally burns right over it/through it/around it. My husband and our Asst. Chief survived one of those a couple of years ago and it happened while I was watching. The only "good" thing about it was that the fire moved so fast that by the time it registered in my brain that fire had overtaken his truck, he'd driven out of the fire safely and the fire was running towards the interstate and he turned and 'chased' it from behind. I hope to never see anything like that again. The big fire west of Fort Worth is near Possum Kingdom Lake in very rough and rugged terrain. The last I heard, about 30 homes there had burned and over 200 more were at risk and had been evacuated. Possum Kingdom State Park had been closed, and some roads were closed. There's also a huge complex of fires in the Wichita Falls area that involves at least 3 separate very large, major wildfires. Homes have burned there and evacuations have occurred. Some Love County firefighters are in the county next to Wichita Falls helping fight a different fire complex near Henrietta, TX. Before today's fires, Texas had had about a half-million acres burn just in the last 7 or 8 days. There's no telling what that number will be after they total up all the acreage today. Our VFD only had two brief fire calls today so I consider us very fortuante indeed because it could have been so much worse. Our county's burn ban expires next week and I hope the commissioners renew it (though I don't think they will because burn bans are very unpopular with some of their constituents). Carol, Our mesonet station goes out every time the wind gusts over 20 mph. It is out even when no one else's stations are malfunctioning. It drives me up the wall. Our wind was like a ocean today....choppy and full of big waves interspersed with periods of calm. As sundown approached, it seemed to calm down a lot...then began gusting really hard again. It can't seem to make up its mind what to do. The little wildlife puddle in our driveway had little choppy whitecaps. The birds bathed in it anyway. There was a big wreck on I35 in Gainesville this afternoon caused by the wind blowing tractor-trailer trucks around. Gainesville's highest recorded gust was 53 and ours was 54. Our weather is very similar to theirs, so when the Burneyville mesonet station malfunctions, I just check the station at the Gainesville Airport. I'm watching the 10 p.m. newscast and Steve LaNore just said we'll have near-record lows here tonight. Oh good, just what we needed. Also, he said the wind returns Sunday, so I'll try to get a lot done tomorrow in case Sunday's weather is yucky. Dawn

Denis - I did not know this! Thanks for the info. Seems it has been altered to suit English speakers. I have heard it pronounced ver-new-eee but that may be incorrect. DelawareDonna- Lakeside Frosted Mint looks wonderful. I'll have to keep an eye out for it. josephines161 - the BME is appealing. I planted it with Stained Glass heuchera and painted ferns (both purple) and love it. BME seems to be darned robust and I expect it to do well. That was a gallon size ($7! all their gallons are 7-10$).I already divided it a little because it was too thick. They also had Frosted and Holy Mouse Ears, both seemed to be the same as far as vigor. I don't have the others you do but that gives me more ideas. :) I grow Guacamole and love it. It's completely trouble free and looked great all season long. Stained Glass is the same for me. Zero problems, looks wonderful.

Thank you for your comment. I’m sure it’s probably wise to lean on the side of caution and wait until spring to repot. But I’m wondering if ‘potting up’ would be beneficial for now? The monstera especially seems it’ll be outgrowing it’s small pot at the rate it’s going. If yes on potting up, should I use the gritty mix as the new soil? Not sure how that works going from soil to gritty... if anybody could at least give me advice as to potting up and how, I’d be most grateful. Another thread I read mentioned the monstera may grow best using the 511 mix and ffl using the gritty. Any comments and experience with this is appreciated as well.

Leave it attached. First cut the spike low near the mother plant. Now with the big spike attached put it near the pot it will live in and see how much you can keep. Saving as much as you can fit in the pot with the new plant on top of the pot. Cut off minimum. The new plant will draw moisture and nutrients from the old spike. It will eventually die off a rot. By then the plant should be established.