Larry, you may be behind last year, but you are ahead of me. My tomatoes are only about 4 inches high, but they look nice. I actually had to start over once. I started with a poor starting mix the first time and it dried out so quickly that I gave up and started over. Even after that, I planted too many seeds and probably have 60-70 plants, but I don't have a lot of variety. Outside I have planted onions, potatoes and a few peas. I threw some corn salad seeds in the onion bed, but I think the birds cleaned most of it up before it sprouted. When we had a hail threat, I covered one onion bed with row cover just to make sure I didn't lose them all, but the hail didn't come. I think the robins are having a family reunion in my garden this year. When we get past the next 10 days, then I will worry about getting everything in.

Sydney, Any news? Did you get a new camera? September 26 is day to mark. Why? Photokina will start that day. Photokina is a large convention in where all the camera companies show off the new lines, makes, and models. Some companies are already making announcements of what they will be showing. I see your price range and there are a lot of good cameras in that range. It seems that to meet your expectations you might look into getting a camera that allows you have manual controls over the camera. Do you want to stay with Point and Shoot or would you like to move to the DSLR range? Some things to think about: a P&S camera is compact and it easier to part from if you move on to another camera. If you go the DSLR route, you are just not buying a camera, you are buying into a system. Unless you have money to throw around you will most likely keep that camera a lot longer. You will have to buy lenses for the camera body. In most cases the lens can cost as much, or near, as the camera body. Therefore you find yourself dedicated to that company. There are some very nice entry level DSLRs out there. Nikon had the D50, I played with it for a while, but I decided to pass. I had the Canon XT Rebel, but I fell in love with the Olympus E500 so I gave the Canon to my wife. I can expand later if you want on these cameras if you want more info. Check dpreview.com you can find just about any camera there and it has customer ratings as well. Unfortunately, the best advice I can give you right now is when it comes to cameras, most salesman at retail stores donÂt have a clue, honestly, they donÂt. So donÂt listen to them. I get angered at times when I hear them make recommendations based solely on the amount of megapixels a camera has. This is just FYI but my current cameras are: P&S - Canon PowerShot 620, Olympus SP 500 UZ DSLR - Canon 300D XT/ Rebel, Olympus E500, Olympus E1 Zitro

Please tell me what facts exactly are in question? Maybe I can clear it all up for you or would like the X's number to check it all out yourself? W/ her 'holier-than-thou' attitude these days, I'm confident she'd be honest with you. Years ago, maybe you'd have been buddies. What I see is that most kids spend far more time w/ their mothers than their fathers, in a normal nuclear family. Moms do the running, dads are working. Therefore, the mother is the most influential on their young minds. The mother is the parent with whom the children are more sympathetic. When mom paints the 'poor me' picture, the kids are emotionally taxed. Perhaps if my DH's ex's bf had NOT dumped her after DH moved out she'd have never needed a scapegoat. Perhaps if she watched my DH wallow in self-pity, become a hermit, and be run out of business by all of her antics, she would have some sick sense of satisfaction. She was jealous that the practice didn't fold, jealous that DH moved on. There she was, alone by her own doing, and not about to let her kids know the truth. She knew about my then-fiance - saw me all the time w/ him on weekends. I ran into her and the children on many occasions at the movie theatre. She wasn't even cordial to me THEN, let alone the following year when DH and I started dating. She was angered, or so I heard, that I didn't leave the practice when we were in a delicate position financially. I'm not a job-hopper, esp. at this level, and patients were still coming in despite her harrassment of the staff and attempts to have a number of 'mutual friend' patients stop being treated by DH. I wasn't sure what her aim was there - just hated him as she admitted to the kids (when she told them she had had an affair.) She resented the fact that we began dating and were happy and successful. PERIOD. Anger, bitterness, and the like are just ugly emotions. My Skids did not realize the tennis coach was the man w/ whom their mom was intimate. Sadly, she had always included this man in their outings to the movies, bowling, etc. throughout the marriage to DH. So, when he continued to be a fixture in their lives, until he dumped her and then moved away, it was par for the course. DH worked long hours, tennis coach was over for dinner after tennis lessons, etc. In the summer, she, the coach, and the three kids were a 'family' while DH worked, I guess. I did see them when out w/ my DNs on my day off, but never dreamed she'd be interested in the coach - he was OK from a distance, but up close, rather sloppy in appearance. DH is immaculate. I have one final thing to add about your 'theories.' My best friend from dental school and I once had a discussion when one of our classmates parent's cheated on the other and the marriage ended. She said, "I don't know about you, but I think if my dad ever cheated, I'd never be able to forgive him. But, if my mom did, I think I'd want to hear her reasons and would probably justify what she did!" I agreed. The logic makes no sense, but we BOTH felt that way - we are both very close to our mothers but had/have (her dad passed away since then) wonderful, hard-working fathers. So, I imagine if she and I both felt that way, others do, too. It's just a shame that some women use their closeness to their children to turn those children against people they, themselves, do not like. I have a very difficult g-mother and my skids w/ whom I've had issues, to say the least. My kids LOVE all of them. I can rest at night. I've done my job. None of these are dangerous in any way, just people I do not particularly care for, but I won't let my ill feelings sour my boys' loving and generous nature. I can look myself in the mirror at the end of the day and not be embarrassed. And, it would be VERY easy to sway them into thinking the way I feel deep down inside. Of that, I'm certain. D

Really, any way of using this forum that produces useful feedback and information seems okay to me -- isn't that the whole point of the forum, to get and give ideas and help? Multiple posts, many questions, few answers, whatever. I don't get being critical of how someone else uses the forum, how often they post, or reply to other's posts. Not everyone who needs help will be able to provide it to others equally; often the OP responds to responses and never gets another response; continuing in a thread with a slight change of focus ( ie what about *this* color?) often also gets no further answers. And, as we all have experienced, the search function is often not helpful. I am *extremely* grateful for those who do respond frequently and helpfully! and, especially, for those with a talent for recalling other threads, reveals, and sites that can be helpful!