Pictures: GardenWeb does not host pictures. If you have pictures hosted somewhere else on the Internet, GW can link to them. An Internet photo hosting site might be tumblr, photobucket, picasa, or some others. Then you need to use the correct HTML code so it shows up here. Here is that code. <img src="YOUR PHOTO URL GOES HERE"> You get your photo URL by bringing up the photo (in your browser at the host's site) and right clicking on it. Select Copy Link Location. Then paste that location between the quotes in the code above. The quotes are necessary for this to work. Don't leave them out. The photo URL should look like this http://www.photobucket.com/yourphotos/photoname.jpg Putting it all together it will look something like this... <img src="http://www.photobucket.com/yourphotos/photoname.jpg"> Then post your message like normal. Basics of Lawn Care After reading numerous books and magazines on lawn care, caring for lawns at seven houses in my life, and reading numerous forums where real people write in to discuss their successes and failures, I have decided to side with the real people and dispense with the book and magazine authors. I don't know what star their planet rotates around but it's not mine. With that in mind, here is the collected wisdom of the Internet savvy homeowners and lawn care professionals summarized in a few words. If you follow the advice here you will have conquered at least 50% of all lawn problems. Once you have these three elements mastered, then you can worry about weeds (if you have any), dog spots, and striping your lawn. But if you are not doing these three things, they will be the first three things suggested for you to correct. Watering Water deeply and infrequently. Deeply means at least an hour in every zone, all at once. Infrequently means monthly during the cool months and no more than weekly during the hottest part of summer. Do not spread this out and water for 10 minutes every day. If your grass looks dry before the month/week is up, water longer next time. If that does not work, then you might have to water more than once per week during the summer's hottest period. Deep watering grows deep, drought resistant roots. Infrequent watering allows the top layer of soil to dry completely which kills off many shallow rooted weeds. You will have to learn to judge when to water your own lawn. If you live in Las Vegas your watering will be different than if you live in Vermont. Adjust your watering to your type of grass, humidity, wind, and soil type. It is worth noting that this technique is used successfully by professionals in Phoenix, so...just sayin.' The other factors make a difference. If you normally water 1 inch per week and you get 1/2 inch of rain, then adjust and water only 1/2 inch that week. Mowing Every week mulch mow at the highest setting on your mower. Most grasses are the most dense when mowed tall. However, bermuda, centipede, and bent grasses will become the most dense when they are mowed at the lowest setting on your mower. In fact there are special mowers that can mow these grasses down to 1/16 inch. Dense grass shades out weeds, keeps the soil cooler, and uses less water than thin grass. Tall grass can feed the deep roots you developed in #1 above. Tall grass does not grow faster than short grass nor does it look shaggy sooner. Once all your grass is at the same height, tall grass just looks plush. Fertilizing Fertilize regularly. I fertilize 5 times per year using organic fertilizer. Which fertilizer you use is much less important than numbers 1 and 2 above. Follow the directions on the bag and do not overdo it. Too little is better than too much. At this point you do not have to worry about weed and feed products - remember at this point you are just trying to grow grass, not perfect it. Besides once you are doing these three things correctly, your weed problems should go away without herbicide.

Where is everyone? Did your garden gates get locked, LoL. I wanted to apologize for sounding so harsh in my earlier post. I usually just let things like this go, but for some reason, this time, I just didn't. I know things happen. This month has been an extremely stressful one, and I let it get to me and didn't handle this situation right. Do we know if this swap will continue for July, or will it be on hold, or canceled? I know Kelly is having a pretty rough time of it right now. Maybe we could all pull together and keep this going so she has it to come back to when things calm down. We could all post if we would like to swap this month, and then we could pick our own partners. Maybe we should post a simple wish list. That way, it would make it easier to choose as we might have some of the plants in our gardens that another is looking for. Am I making any sense here? LoL. Well anyway, post your thoughts on this. Have a wonderful night, Tina

I know what you mean about knowing they are harmless but still worrying, after all, it's our HEARTS. I freaked out a lot in the first few years. Probably went to the E/R 3 or 4 times to be turned away and told to stop being neurotic. But like I said, when it's your heart, I think you have a right to freak out a little. Yes, the big THUD after the ectopic can literally take your breath away. If I'm active and get them, they feel more like a flutter. But if I'm at rest and they start, I think because my heart is beating slower as I'm not being active, they feel more thump-y and I get the big thuds. A few times I got a tingly sensation after an especially large thump. I thought that was the end of me. Hormones definitely play a part too. Sometimes before or after my cycle they'll act up. The thing is with these ectopics they are mostly unpredictable - they come any time, any place, any situation. There are times we can expect them (bending over for example like we discussed) but other times they are so out of the blue it's frustrating. I think my worst experience is getting them while I am driving. I REALLY hate that. Take care.

If you are handy... ONLY, THIS IS RISKY. IT IS ELECTRICITY! You can splice in a regular type alarm clock (with the hands NOT digital) to a leg of the electric after the thermostat or when it leaves the heater. Start the hands at midnight. As the HW turns on and off the hand will progress. This will give you a running TIME that the HW is on > AND USING ELECTRICITY! Multiply out by your KWH. NOTE: use only one leg of power NOT BOTH or you will fry the clock (assuming 220/240 not 110/120 volts). If you look at the label OR how many circuit breakers you have, this will tell you how much vlotage and "legs"(power wires - 1 or 2) tapalmer99b1@aol.com