Yeah, the scapes on orchids always get clipped to a stick in the pots. I discovered they use the hair clips that look like tiny old fashioned ice tongs. They would work nicely with tall hosta scapes too. They come in all sizes. I'm sure if the description is not clear, I could find a small clip somewhere. I still have two of my orchids. Our problem is the camphor tree with all its berries. And, the squirrels bury my really huge pecans, and when they sprout it is really hard to drag the shoot and intact pecan out of the soil or the pots. A waste of good nuts. Right now, the ligustrum (usually an evergreen hedge) plants all are dropping endless white tiny blossoms all over the plants. For these, they can collect at the point where the petiole begins and block the funnel from cleaning itself. If I remember, I take a long handled round china bristle artists brush with me to sort of dust things off. I wondered if it was okay to rearrange the leaves, some of which I think will be deformed if not better placed. I've learned not to cut off the ragged ripped leaves, especially not at this time of year. So I guess anything goes in the grooming department. One thing I'm doing now, has nothing to do with name tags, it has to do with hosta "jewelry" if you like that description. The fun will be in just gradually adding them only when THE PERFECT ornament shows up, an inspired epiphany if you will. So far, I have about three of them chosen. Just cheap things which remind me of the plant name. I already have the one for Paradise Island--it is a parrot on a kabob, so it sticks up above the layer of golden leaves. To me, parrots = paradise. Then, I found a miniature monkey--Funky Monkey. Then, I found a miniature copper teapot--Teatime. Then, I found a miniature ceramic white elephant--guess which hosta?....... Not every hosta name lends itself to ornament mnemonics, but if I have trouble identifying a plant, I'll look for a symbol to help me. I'm getting a King of Spades from a plastic card deck, and skewering it for the pot. I'm looking for a small toy shark for Jaws. A miniature yellow squash for Squash Casserole. Maybe a pair of leather pants for Lederhosen? Or a monk figurine for my Brother Stefan? Something plaid for the Celtic Uplands. A shamrock for Irish Luck. A miniature Red Dragon. I've ordered a African queen head pot to plant The Razor's Edge--it is sticking out all over like a big old 'Fro. Purple Boots is a no-brainer, right? A moon in phase for Moonstruck. I'll need a tiny sailboat for Captain's Adventure. My way of looking at this is having fun with my hosta, and maybe getting my garden visitors involved in guessing the names of the plants. Hmmm, I have an old Monopoly set with the little car and shoe and such..... ahhhh, the games people play.

Yes, the majority of us can find another job. BUT, and this is a BIG BUT!, we can NOT find jobs on the island. Moving is not a viable option for the majority of us right now. After all we have just been hit by a major hurricane. Noone seems to realize how bad this storm was. It is the largest storm ever recorded in the Atlantic basin. It has already become the THIRD most expensive storm to hit the US, after Katrina and Andrew and the costs are going up daily. Money is even tighter on the island, we had to evacute and stay away from our homes for two weeks. The cost of gasoline was almost $4 per gallon when we evacuated. We spent over $500 just on gas to evacuate everyone, then we had to drive back and forth, trying to get on the island, trying to find FEMA.... A lot of people, most of my family, didn't get paid while we were gone, and there is no money coming in to anyone on the island. The majority of stores, restaurants and other business' are closed. Blockbuster, Hollywood video, HEB, Arlans, The Yacht Club, Bath Junkie, Nates... these are a few of the business' that won't reopen. We spent the money that would have been used to pay utilities, house notes, car notes on evacuation. FEMA approved EMERGENCY housing for me 4 weeks after the storm. My mom got approved last week!! My brother was told he could live at his house and was denied housing-he had 9' of water in his house!! Most neighborhoods are devastated. Over 1/2 of the island still has no power, or gas. Debris lines the streets. Mold is everywhere. The hospital is closed. That means that the indigent of Texas have NO place to obtain medical care. Yes, people have died from lack of medical care. Several after the storm because they couldn't get dialysis, cancer and heart patients have died because they couldn't get care. Even a small injury means you are lifeflighted to Houston because UTMB is basically a clinic right now instead of an ER. There is no level 1 trauma center near us, the closest is over an hour away in downtown Houston. Add to that the fact that a lot of people that were laid off have been at UTMB their entire careers. One of the busiest internal med physicians was laid off, she was a nurse here, went to medical school here and then into practice-all at UTMB. Dr. Ivey has devoted his entire career to making UTMB the facility it was. It's not possible to find another position at another facility where you will be a tenured faculty at the same standing. A researcher/faculty/nurse/whatever is really going to have to start their career all over again. The people of UTMB worked very hard for years to make this institution what it was, it was hard work and dedication by an enormous number of people to make us one of the highest ranked ER's in the country. To become a magnet hospital. That is gone. Years and years of work, millions of dollars spent, for what? It's all moot now, the programs are closed, the facilities sit empty and rotting. It was a huge slap in the face too that the University had a big splashy grand opening ceremony to open the bio-hazard lab. The same day they announced that they would be laying off almost 4,000 people and cutting out healthcare for the indigent, and everyone else for that matter. What does this say about us as a society? We can take care of superbugs that can be used for warfare but your grandma with cancer just has to die. People that have devoted their lives to UTMB, people that stayed during the storm, that worked like demons before, during and after the storm, didn't think about their own safety, these are the people that UTMB fired. The nurses at the access to care were back to work less than a week after the storm, they worked in a hallway of a clinic, with NO guidance, they handled every single patient call, they refilled prescriptions for transplant patients, for cancer patients, diabetics, pain patients, etc. with no physicians available, they didn't know where anyone was, what was going on, their homes were destroyed, some lost their vehicles, yet, they went to work everyday and they took care of patients, they managed to save lives, to fill needs and worked under terrible stressful conditions. And their reward? They were all laid off, have to reapply for their jobs and only 9 of 15 will be "rehired". AND to make it even worse they will have to work through the holidays, they will be working Christmas day, Christmas ever, etc. and then will be unemployed! Employees were called at home and told to come in for a meeting, they were pulled away from their desks where they were working, and then, in a room full of people were told they were being laid off, then sent BACK to work! Can you imagine? You've lost everything, you are struggling to keep it together, you're family is scattered, your car flooded, your dog lost and then to be told you are being laid off but you have to work through the holidays! UTMB systematically shut down the other health care facilies n the island, they drove off private physicians. There was a plan to do this. It was not accidental. And now they have abandoned the citizens of not only Galveston but of Texas. We should all be outraged at what has and is happening here. There are still people missing, the cadaver dogs located multiple locations but they still have NOT been searched, it's too remote, there is no money. How much do we spend daily on the war in Iraq? Yet, there are people living in tents and cars, people are dead and their bodies rotting in the marshes, there is no medical care for the indigent, the city is fighting over where to put the FEMA trailers-some morons are worried about the "image" of trailers on Broadway, there are boats on 61st, the beachfront and bay are full of debris. Hitchcock, Freddiesville, San Leon, LaPorte, Bolivar and multiple other small communities are devasted and forgotten. The fishing industry is in ruins, oyster beds/reefs destroyed. The decision by the UT board of regents was not economically based, please don't make that mistake, it was a cold and calculated move that they have been trying to accomplish for years. Ike was just the excuse. I used to be proud to work at UTMB, I am now embarrassed. I used to love living in Galveston, now I am disgusted and heartbroken. I will stay. I will continue working at UTMB but I will never be happy working here and I will never trust them. I will never trust the city management. I'm almost afraid to drive over the causeway, what if they decide again not to let us in? This is our home. This is our community. Our roots run deep. We survived hurricanes before but we have never had to survive the powers that be. We might not survive them. What Ike didn't destroy the city management, the UT board of regents, FEMA and the state governments may just destroy. Forever. Tally

jewel- Insulation of any kind weighs very little relative to the load bearing capability of the sheetrock and the joists supporting them, whether the joists are on 16" or 24" centers. I have a new-ish house that has 6" thick walls everywhere and the 2X6 wall studs are on 24" centers, as are the ceiling joists in the living space and the garage. My garage is not insulated (neither the walls nor the ceiling). But the building envelope of my house is fully insulated. Cars coming onto the garage do not add significant heat, at least in the sense that they significantly alter the thermodynamics of the garage space. Garages are not typically insulated, at least in temperate climates, but if they are used for purposes other than housing cars (like being used for shops), it isn't a bad idea to insulate them. You can tell your husband that, whatever the reason your MIL's garage attic is not insulated, it has nothing to do with the spacing of the joists.

Stax, you wanna try that again, politely?