The dowel or other object has to go up through the BOTTOM of the pot into the perched water there - a dowel in the top of the pot won't affect drainage, even if it's stuck way down into the soil. Think of it as making a bridge for the water at the bottom of the pot to cross. We're talking about drawing the water DOWN and out, from the bottom. Here is a picture of someone who was using yarn to wick perched water out of her pots: I looked and looked for a picture of someone using the stick-through-a-drainhole-to-drain-more-water-out trick, but couldn't find one. I'll try to stage one in the next week. It's amazing when you're not expecting it, LOL! Cotton is a good wicking material, the problem with it is that it will rot pretty quickly. As long as you don't mind replacing those wicks regularly, it will work. I would replace a cotton wick every year, because though you MIGHT get 2 years out of it before it starts to rot, you also might not, and end up with nonfunctional wicks halfway through the 2nd year. However, you might be able to get cotton t-shirts for free or cheap from local thrift stores - they often toss damaged or stained items, or sometimes even stuff they just get too much of. T-shirts these days are usually a 50/50 cotton-poly blend - so wicks made from this will probably be a little bit longer lasting than 100% cotton. I'd still replace them every spring, especially if you're getting them free or for super cheap. Just be sure you don't end up with t-shirts somebody was working on their car in, soaking up oil with, or using while painting and/or cleaning their paintbrushes! Some people use strands from Rayon mop heads. These also tend to break down (they're made from wood fibers, cellulose) but they are cheap and effective. Al, of Al's gritty mix fame, uses them. Go to the following post and search on "Tue, Jan 1, 13 at 13:24" to go down to the post where he talks about wicking to remove perched water. Container Soils - Water Movement and Retention XVI Here is a picture showing the kind of wicking you need to do to drain off that perched water, from the thread above: Now, if we're talking about drawing water UP from the bottom (wicking UP rather than down and out) here are some pictures illustrating that. You can use almost anything that will absorb water for the wicking - I bet even cut up strips of "super towel" might work, though I don't know how long they might last. But nylon clothesline is a good choice that is cheap and easy to find. You could also buy capillary matting (which comes by the yard in widths up to 72") and cut that into strips. I think that is mostly polyester felt (THICK polyester felt, you won't find it at JoAnn's). Anyway here are some pictures: Here's one who used cut up capillary mat: Here are her directions for how she made her pots: DIY self watering pots A lot of folks swear by using soil wicking systems. There is a reservoir (or several sometimes in commercially built self watering containers that use this) into which you firmly tamp soil, which will be partly below the water line of the water reservoir in the bottom of the container. Here is a picture showing the system: The air space between the water reservoir and the soil is important to this design, and its what makes it different from sitting your pot in water and doing what we think of as conventional "bottom watering". As for the video links you posted - there are problems with that guy's system. First is the soil medium. Straight MG garden soil is a TERRIBLE medium for a container. That needs to be mixed 1:1 with peat, or even 1:2. Even so, in our conditions here that isn't an ideal potting medium by a long shot. I've used it for years and so far I am getting away with it here- but I'm not sure I would be getting away with it in a tall container like that, wicking or no wicking. Second is the way he planted that tomato. Firstly, a 5 gallon bucket is really too small for most tomato plants. Still you can manage with that more or less, if you take a little extra care. When I plant tomatoes in the ground (or in a raised bed), I snip off all but the top two or three leaves/stems and plant it in a trench with the root ball at least 8" to 10" deep, angled up from there so the top two leaves come out just an inch or two above the soil. I also plant in water catchments (a depression so water is guided to the plant. Because a tomato will root all the way along the stem, and this is one of the best ways to drought-proof your tomato plants. When planting in a container, I do something similar - I will snip off all but the top 2 or 3 leaves/stems and plant it with just a couple of inches of soil below the root ball, then fill just to where those top few stems are poking up. This will likely be way below the level of the top of the container. Then as the plant grows, I remove lower stems and add planting medium. This way the tomato roots all the way along that stem and you aren't waiting for the roots to grow down into the bottom of the container - they are already there, and strong and healthy to boot! when I get to within about 3" of the top of the container, I mulch (about 2" of bark). Then there is your selection of plants. For a 5 gallon bucket, a determinate variety is a must. Also, look for varieties specifically bred as "patio tomatoes" or for containers, such as Celebrity, Bush Champion, Bushsteak, Bush Early Girl, etc. Burpee's has a bunch of varieties specifically for container growth - probably other seed sellers do as well. I grow determinate paste varieties in small spaces in raised beds when possible, though this year I ended up with Early Girl because that was all that was left by that time (mid-July, we moved at the end of June so my garden went in VERY late). When I was growing tomatoes in containers, I grew them in cut-off garbage cans instead of the 5 gallon buckets. I just don't feel those are really big enough for tomatoes. Garbage cans were a lot cheaper back then ... but if they go on sale, you might grab some for your tomatoes next year. I use the garbage cans because they are UV stabilized, intended for outdoor use. Other plastic containers usually break down pretty quickly in the sun. I HAVE grown them in 5 gallon buckets but they were hard to stake, hard to keep from falling over in a wind, and didn't yield as well as when they're in larger containers. I put the garbage cans up on spaced pavers or concrete brick to improve drainage - but that might not be as much of an issue in LV, with the right potting medium. Just make sure the drainage holes are good sized - like 1/4". Cover with soil fabric or coffee filters to keep the soil from washing out. You can also build mini-raised beds out of concrete blocks - a raised bed doesn't HAVE to be 4' wide and 10' long. Bonus - for me anyway - is having that thicker edge to sit on when I get tired, LOL! A concrete block "container" 24" square (internally) would need 2 courses (16 total) of standard 8x8x16" concrete blocks, and you'd then have a 16" tall raised bed to work with which will NEVER wear out (well not in OUR lifetimes). The soil dynamics in a raised bed are MUCH more forgiving than in container growing. The bricks run about $1.50 here when they're not on sale - if you keep your eyes peeled, watch craigslist and your local freelist, etc, you might catch them for less. A concrete block raised bed takes no real skill to build - just lay them out so the corners alternate. With no frost heave you'll be good to go to just lay them out on a level piece of ground. Hope there are some ideas that might be of use to you.

Vegas was great! Considering we don't drink (much) or gamble (much) we had a fine old time. The airport bars in Nevada are better than in Utah. Of course, the weather was better in Vegas than at home too. One Homeland Security woman at McCarren in Vegas was having a bad day and yelled at Custer for being so slow. She said if he didn't hurry up she'd search his bag and make him miss his flight. The rest of the HLS crew were very nice and more than made up for her behavior. We did a lot of shopping at the trade shows. Custer got a new and much needed saddle. I found two pairs of beautiful silver earrings and a very handsome purse. The kids, of course, fare well too. I love to shop at the cowboy trade shows and get new western Christmas ornaments. We had some very good meals at the Flamingo Hilton and Mandalay Bay. We gave ourselves fifty dollars each to gamble one afternoon. Custer hit the twenty one tables and I cruised through the poker machines until I found one that liked me. We both played for a couple of hours. Custer lost all his money and I cashed out my fifty plus a profit of a $1.25. A well spent two hours I say. The seats we got to the rodeo were perfect and we enjoyed it so much! The trip was short (two nights and not quite three days) but we saw all we wanted and did all wanted. Not bad for a trip we didn't know we were going to take until five days before we left! LOL Thanks for asking. Lori

I've been to Vegas many times and despite it's negative qualities like the smoking and the heat (it was 116 degrees when we got married there) I can completely understand why most people want to experience it at least once. But we're not smokers, gamblers or drinkers and especially now as older adults we'd certainly get board fairly quick. What I would do if it were me is I'd experience the strip at night and go do other things during the day. At night you can visit the different hotels, go to dinner and/or a couple of the shows as you mentioned, but during the day, I'd prefer to go to some of the parks and enjoy the natural scenery. Because I hate crowds, I'd skip the Grand Canyon and head out for a day drive and maybe a picnic in neighboring Utah. Zion is very pretty and Bryce, well, it is absolutely breathtaking, much better (IMO) than the Grand Canyon. It's not nearly as populated and the drive there is also quite interesting to see. Closer to the strip is Hoover Damn, which I found to be interesting and also a pretty drive.

Scott, the Chicago gangland image pre-dates America's gun violence epidemic by decades. I am not American and I can tell you that when my civil engineer grandfather was hired to work on the Deep Tunnel in the late 1970s, my grandmother's first reaction was to clutch her pearls and trot out the old Hollywood images of the Chicago typewriter, Al Capone and such. Even she knew this was a tinsle town fabrication, though. Today, sadly America is known for its promiscuous gun culture throughout the world, but it's not fair to compare that vice to the post card images of other countries who have their own serious vices (Brazil's murder rate is staggering for example.) Fortunately this country is known for its many excellent qualities too. America is known as the country of innovators and doers, a country of compassion, first to respond to catastrophes around the world with aid and volunteers. If we want to move forward as a country and find a way out of the political gridlock that has bound up our ability to respond to the epidemic of gun violence, we would do well to focus on what makes America strong and united, not what weakens the country and divides it. Many Americans feel strongly about their right to have guns. No Americans want to see their fellow citizens gunned down by madmen. We can solve this problem if we acknowledge that we all want the same end result: a country where we are safe from madness powered by high powered weapons. It does us no good to constantly repeat how right we are to ourselves and among ourselves. That is how Trump became president.