"Gewiss! Seguro! Oui!" or as Curly of the Three Stooges would say "Why Soitenly!" You don't need blame to face a problem. You just say "Hey, that's a problem. Let's see now ... how can we fix that?" Let me throw a big word out there that I learned a long time ago ... Tautology This word has a lot to do with repetition and the dictionary will tell you that the nature of the repetition is needless or useless. How does it apply to this discussion? Well on the face of it, I would have you know that once you have encountered a problem, it is indeed useless to go and repeat the same encounter with the problem. In my own mind, I relate it to the more auto-actualization or reactive nature of rational beings like humans. We learn to drive a car and it comes naturally. After we master it, we no longer devote any mental energy to it. If there is a problem with the way we drive an automobile, we no longer think about it or devote any rational mental resources to it. We just go about it by rote. But in fact, there were problems with driving automobiles all through its history. And to get us all to change, we had to be hit in the face with a shovel, changing laws, taxes on fuels and finally, hybrids and alternative fuels. But before we are forced to change, we cling to the tautological repetition of the problem. In immediate terms, it is a less expensive solution in terms of brain power; We refuse to expend any energy on the problem, unless forced to. So, the long term problem escapes solution, if left to ourselves as individuals. Thankfully, there are enough of us that some of us see the train coming, step off the tracks and start yelling at everyone else on that tracks that the train is coming. Some folks have described this tautological nature of mankind as 'The Frog in The Frying Pan'. The frog is at first comfortable sitting in the frying pan. As the heat is turned up ever so slowly, the frog doesn't budge. It doesn't want to make the effort to analyze the problem and eventually, we have a frog that 1) leaps out of the frying pan with a burned underside and feet or 2) a fried frog. Our nature then can be very reactive and much less disciplined, especially if we feel that the change threatens us - greater expenses or some associated cost, having to learn something new, etc.. We react first and learn later ( if at all ). Many people in fact, fear change for reasons such as these. Fewer thrive on it. So, the tautological nature of humanity, based on the way the human brain operates by rote as a means of keeping rational energy expenses low, combined with fear of change ... makes people behave in cyclic or repetitive ways which most of the time is not a problem, even if the repetition is useless. But sometimes, it traps us into a cycle that is self destructive. A person who understands what I have just said then, will realize that the human mind can both, fall into the trap of potentially destructive tautological functioning, but also, that the human mind can be trained. They then set about disciplining themselves, so that when they face a problem, they avoid defensiveness and the tendency to avoid expending rational energy and acceptance of rote repetition. They train themselves instead to react by recognizing that the problem may possibly be real and further, to trigger the expediture in rational energy to analyze it. By doing so, they evolve solutions and either adapt to change by changing their ways or auto-effect change, something most folks are not often capable of. They are the first to step off the tracks in the face of an approaching train and warn the others. 'Thinking outside the box' is therefore a bit different than what you may have always accepted it to mean. Many people don't even conceptualize that the box has an inside and an outside. I prefer not to be a frog in a frying pan. But in reality, sometimes even I do not avoid it. And I have for a long time now, practiced disciplining my mind to react by expending the rational energy, hopefully, not needlessly. BTW: Crisis management is well, tautology in action, after the shovel hits someone in the face. :) Hmmm. I suppose I can be long-winded and wordy at times. People have told me that. Luckily, flapping ones lips doesn't prevent ones feet from letting them step off the railroad tracks.

need more facts ... a 15 gal pot might have a 6 foot tree in it??? a 6 foot tree ... will need up to 3 years to become 'established' .. to be able to take the intense heat of AZ in high summer .. all the growth could have been related to its life the year prior to your transplant ... we dont know ... when did you plant them.. was that the proper planting time for AZ ... how big were they.. what is your native soil .. did you bare root them.. did you plant a big wad of peat based media in native sand?? did you mulch... what was your watering protocol .... can you provide pics?? we need more hard facts ... other than the fact that they have deformed leaves... otherwise we can speculate forever.. and get nowhere .... ken

Hi I'm having issues with my newly planted (around 3 months now) dwarf citrus - mainly the Eureka Lemon but a Valencia Orange & Tahitian Lime to much lesser degrees. Originally I just had deformed leaves, which I think I've identified as Citrus Leaf Miner. I've been spraying every few weeks with Pest Oil, and it seems to be under control. However websites say I should prune off affected areas, but on my tree this is all the new growth. Should I really prune off all the new growth? Photo: Next up is crickets / katydids - they appear to be feasting on the leaves. Websites I've read say to ignore them as they really don't cause significant damage (no mention of any cures). Well, if I did that, I don't think I'd have any leaves left on my trees. I've been removing them by hand but they are small and hard to see, so this isnt very effective. Any ideas on how to permanently get rid of them? Photo: Finally, a new problem. I'm getting light green patches in my leaves. As far as I can understand it, it looks like a deficiency of either water or some chemical (zinc, iron, potassium, they all seem to produce similar results). Can anyone identify the problem from this photo: Photo: The trees are all saplings and have not yet produced any fruit. They are in raised beds with good draining soil in Brisbane, and are in a sunny spot for most of the midday, and afternoon sun. I was watering them twice a week, but have dropped back to once a week now. I put chicken poo around them about a week after planting them, and spray them with Pest Oil about every 2 weeks. If anyone can help with these issues I'd appreciate any advice!

We talked to 4 lawyers today, and they ALL said his lawsuit would be considered frivolous, and that his case would be thrown out. And none of them believe he will actually go through with suing us. One of them called the xmas guy an idiot for even considering suing. One lawyer said our case would be a "simple" matter to handle, only one day of work @ $750. I talked to him at length. Basically, he would say to dismiss the case against us since we made an agreement with the property owner, and if the son had any theoretical agreement it would only be with his parents. But I know this guy, and I have no doubt he will still sue us. We bought security cameras last night. They're expensive! Holy cow! Xmas guy was outside and walked to the property's edge and made a spectacle of himself watching dh put the backyard camera up. If he was trying to intimidate dh it did not work. Xmas guy also came over this morning and measured the tree trunks of only 5 trees, because the other trees are totally on our property. He didn't measure the tree lengths which I found surprising. He did take pictures. We just barely missed him, as we were outside 20 minutes before him measuring the lengths of the trees and taking more pics. We screen-grabbed his facebook page; he sells them for $6 a foot. 2 of the trees we cut were only 3.5ft tall! The others were around 7-8ft. What does he think he's going to get? Even if we pretend he's the property owner, then we would at least be entitled to half the value of the trees since 50% of each of the trunks was on our land. He would get less than $100 total. He'd be a schmuck for suing. One last thing, I talked to the building inspector this morning and he said xmas guy called him late last night (Sunday!) and screamed at him, and that he had to listen to xmas guy even though he was out of town visiting family. He said xmas guy doesn't have a case and not to worry. That's all I can update for now. Thank you for "listening". It means a lot. I was up all night last night worrying about being sued.