Please allow me to explain some facts about the different types of sand. As a contractor and someone who has worked in a concrete plant you better know what type of snd you need for the job you are doing. With that said lets began. Sand is either dug up in a quarry or dredged from a pond, lake or a sand quarry that they hit a spring in and filled with water. All commercial sand is washed so it can be graded for size and type. You have to go out and dig up your own if you want to get unwashed sand ( which is not recommended for landscaping ) to be used as fill sand or what we call sandbox sand. First thing to fall out of the washer is mason sand. Next is concrete sand followed by fill sand which contains some clay. Next is gravel base and is made-up of lots of clay and small gravel.This is what you typically find on ball diamonds and clay tennis courts or as a base for a gravel driveway or path through your garden. It can be packed down so hard you would think it was concrete with a colored dye in it untill it rains. Dogs, cats, kids and husbands get in quite a bit of trouble when it rains because of this stuff. Next is pea gravel. This can be used to cover the gravel base or partly fill holes like lateral lines where you need good drainage or placed under downspouts to keep the water from making a canyon of you lawn and it gives it a decorative look. Just remember to use something to keep the gravel in place or your mower becomes a machine gun when you mow around It. A lot of people use it in flower beds and around the base of trees too for decorative look. Rock gardens look neat and pea gravel mixed with river rock works well for this. Next comes river rock. Used as I just mentioned in place of the pea gravel ecept not on lateral lines or sewer pipes or any other underground lines and pipes. Although it does work well for drip irrigation or soaker hose. Then the last is river stone. Good for decorative landscaping and filling in wash outs or anywhere you need the water not to erode the ground beneath them.

Hi, I guess you can leave the vanda as is ..as that is the way the person bought it. Vandas in general do not like to be desturbed that means any sudden change can piss them off . They need air flowing in through that basket..Misting 2-3x a day as they can not hold the water long. Never using cold water make sure it is about room temp or warmer not hot. or plant gets shocked. The vanda should be brought inside as temps go near 45 degrees or below. Soaking once a week not getting the bottom of the plant wet as this can lead to root rot...Watch for that if you soak. Peters fertilizer 20-20-20 but schultz 19-31-17...something like that as you soak once a week..I've been reading some over seas threads about soaking them in vases glass vases once a week for 20 mins works great again don't let the water top off to the stem.. Humidity is a must durring cold days the bathroom steam is great hanging on the bar of the shower leave warm water in the tub. Again they don't like to be desturbed so the least change and stress the better. Fillers like packing foam from boxes ..pumous stones coconut husks..charcoal are great but let lots of air get in ..Hang near a sunny window when inside . Depending on what type vanda it is sunlight in morning strong and less in afternoon..If it is a semi terrete or strap leaved...Any sign of stress the leaves will wrinkle up and bend turn yellow and die. After a bloom bottom leaves can fall off this is normal. Good luck

Honestly I've explored the anti-inflamation diet info. out there and if you're really into it, you might as well give up eating all together. Try to find a good list of foods to avoid if you're prone to gout, for example, which my BF is. Whoa! I have terrible menstrual cramps and tried a diet low in the precursors to prostglandins and also anti-inflammatory as well. Did it for months. Made no difference. Exercise helped dramatically with that problem though--sitting at a desk all day is absolutely the bane of life for our bodies! Now I'm on a low acid diet for interstitial cystitis. Only a few of the so called "trigger" foods bother me, which I found out by going the elimination diet route. Sitting isn't good for that problem either! So diet isn't always the magic pill. But some folks have found themselves remarkably healed by diet too, so there you go. As for beans and inflammation, the only one I'm aware of is kidney beans. Supposedly high in purine which causes gout. Honestly though, compared to meats, kidney beans are small potatoes. Oh, sorry you nightshade folks, small turnips, oh wait, those are cruciferous aren't they, small rice grains. I don't know if it is because I have always loved fiber-filled foods or what, but when I eat like my dad does, with the five main food groups being meat, starch, sugar, salt and oil, I start to feel lousy pretty quick! I tried it for a week when they were here one time for Christmas, I tried only making foods I knew my dad likes and not making separate for myself. Ugh. Couldn't sleep and felt sluggish. However, if you're used to a diet high in unhealthy foods, I don't think you realize its effects because that is just "normal" for you. And it takes a long time for the body to adjust to changes, either good or bad. Which is a good thing when you think about it. If your body couldn't adjust humans wouldn't be able to survive very well. But anyway, if you shock your system one way or the other, you're going to feel lousy and hate the foods, either way. That's why the best route is to go gradual. For some, "fake" products are part of the transition process. Eventually you may loose your taste for those kinds of things as your palate develops. I have been going low fat for so long that the full fat versions of most things don't agree with me, which is quite the opposite of how it would seem to someone just starting out on a low fat diet, they would find the low fat foods disappointing. But you can develop sensitivieis to certain foods as you age. I used to pride myself on having an iron constitution. I can no longer get away with those things! Last night I had a fishwich, fries and coffee. Hardly the worst of fast food meals, but I was not able to sleep well due to indigestion and thirst due to the salt and then going to the bathroom! But I'll bet if I was used to it I wouldn't have had as much of a problem.

I personally never tried separated and re-rooting Lithops heads apart. Hopefully never have to do so, since very few people seem to have done it before on the internet. Rehabilitation of etiolated Lithops is quite difficult I hear as well. Tough process that requires a lot of patience and possibly two years. Life as a Lithops grower can be quite difficult and challenging sometimes. Often nobody else will have the 'right' answer for you. I think that's partly why so many people enjoy growing them, because they are not so simple.