The cats who shared out house in Wisconsin thought it was great fun to bring mice and other small critters into the house to provide entertainment at odd hours. Occasionaly this would get out of hand because the mice were too smart to fall into a trap and the cats would get bored and let them go for the next time. It so happened they had several running around the day I had the garden club meeting. As the first ladies approached the door, a mouse scurried under my feet followed by a cat. Either in a panic or from habit I slammed the bristle end of a broom down on the mouse which stopped it in it's tracks, leaving the tail exposed. I grabbed the mouse by the tail, ran to the door of the greenhouse and tossed it in forgetting the screen was closed. So the mouse was trapped between the door and the screen. As more ladies came in, the cat came in with another mouse and I reacted exactly the same way. I still don't know why I tossed them out that door. The back door was only 15 feet away. I still get teased. Sandy

Well, you're still starting with less total plant than you had before. It is true that there might be a suckerlike behavior to the regrowth for the first years after it sprouts from the roots. After two years you are probably seeing about as much of this effect as you are going to, unless you do something like topdress with compost, fertilize (sample and test soil first) or increase irrigation that gives the plant a boost.

Hi colorcrazy, I'm in Richmond. I just found the Post series by google. I spent all day Thursday putting together a binder with organization plans and checklists. I even found the old Woman's Day Room of the Month Plan in a Household Hints folder from 2001! I actually divided my house up into 15 areas and I'm going to do 2 a month so I've got time off for Christmas, vacation and gardening. The areas that are often too hot to work in are being done this month and next month like the attic and garage. But first, I'm starting with some Fly Lady Crisis Cleaning for a few hours today. Then, I go to the attic! When I say I am 10 years behind, I am NOT exaggerating. I've got about 2 years worth of papers to sort through, 6 years worth of gardening and 10 years worth of decluttering. I do keep the visble areas of the house clean and somewhat presentable. But only I know what lurks below the surface and it's been haunting me for too long. I realize that I've been so good at crisis management that I made it my lifestyle! It seemed I went from one crisis to another and spent the time in between recovering and waiting for the next crisis! By letting the house and garden go I created crises since I can never find things and alway went into panic mode if people were coming to my home. The REAL crises are over and it's time to stop this madness and get organized again!

I too, like SnidelyWhiplash, appreciate the low cost and speed of a keyboard with internet. I was raised in a different time long before the internet when writing ability was important. I believe that good penmanship yet has merit in today.s world, albeit slow compared to the typed word with other modern conveniences. I am saddened to learn that cursive writing is no longer taught in some schools. Its no wonder that today;s students can't write. Printing is slow compared to cursive. Cursive characters are designed to flow smoothly into each other and this speeds writing. It leaves some latitude for individuals to develop their own distinctive styles. although that was frowned upon by teachers of the art some 70 years ago because they were striving to mold the output from everyone to standard form. Lets not forget that this country was built with cursive writing. Case in point: The Declaration of Independence is hand written in ink with a nib pen. The original Constitution was hand written. In fact, all court records such as land descriptions and marriages were hand written until the introduction of the typewriter in the 1880s.