Ryan, depending on what breed(s) of dog Lucy is, it's not uncommon for aggression toward other dogs and/or animals to show itself... this can be controlled through strict obedience. At least you know she's not a cur! :-) I have the same issues with my bulldogs, though I'd be worried if they DIDN'T show that aggression! Momma ain't raising no quitters! Mine know, however, that when I say "no", I really mean it... and they settle down. That's a very informative orchid website, and I'm shocked it's not already in my bookmarks! I must have over a thousand! I've marked it for later perusal. It looks to have some really well written information. If you're completely serious about growing orchids, or any plant type, indoors... there are lots of different lighting set-ups you could invest in. The better ones are costly, of course, but much better at emulating the sun. Consummate growers spend quite a bit on lighting, CO2 set-ups, the whole nine yards! But, they get some amazing results for their efforts and expenditures! I'm cheap, so it's warm and cool florescent shop lights for me! I've currently got a few 48" T12 fixtures hung over my alcove area, each containing one cool T12 tube, and one T8 warm tube. Supposedly, that's enough to simulate a decent amount of sunshine... plus, I keep them on a timer at about 16 hours of light per 24 hour period. So far, everything is responding very well. Down in the Seed Dungeon, I'm really pushing the envelope on growth, only giving the plants about 4 hours of darkness a night. That's probably a minimum of rest, giving them just enough time to aspirate, if I'm using the word correctly... exchanging oxygen for CO2. I finally got fans running, circulating the air... it's hopeful that will help keep any mold at bay. The basement is damp and musty from being a very old and unused farmhouse cellar. I'm doubting your hawk will nest on your balcony... it's probably just a very good place to use as a lookout post. It apparently feels safe enough to sit there, and I bet it does like your plants! If I were a large bird in a built up environment, I'd be looking for a nice oasis, too! We have a pair of HUGE owls that live in the woods across the road... I hear them every night, though they don't usually show themselves during the day. A few nights ago, they were making a ton of noise in the trees, and Larry said they were probably breeding. Everything on the mini-farm here is thinking spring, it seems! I really laughed at your captioning on your hawk series! It was perfect!

Thanks for the advice. We had to fix up our previous house, a 1950 brick georgian, so we know these types of issues are par for the course (even if we had secretly hoped that this house was a bit better off than the last one). We used this forum a lot when working on the old place and always received good advice, so this seemed like a logical place to begin our research. You are right that natural gas is not an option- something we overlooked, due to the fact that other houses close by do have gas service (our street may be the one of the few in the area that does not have service). Insulation in attic will definitely occur. I intend to bring it up to R-50, if it is not already there (hard to tell with fiberglass on top of what appears to be cellulose). My estimate above was intended to be conservative, based on not knowing the R-value of the cellulose. There is definitely R-30 on top of that, and so the attic is fairly well insulated except for the area underneath the floor, for which we will need to have insulation blown in. We will sit tight on the windows. It is likely the most expensive option anyway, and the advice has been consistent that we are unlikely to get a high enough ROI to make it worth our while. Electric supply has been updated. Would it just be the basement overhead areas that need insulated? I ask because if walls would also be included, I think we would be precluded from going that route, at least in the traditional sense. Our walls "weep" when the temperature outside is dramatically different than what is inside. We just noticed this interesting phenomenon and apparently this is not uncommon for old stone foundation houses. Consequently, I am reluctant to put any insulation against an exterior wall due to mold concerns. As for the attic, we have vents along the peak of the roof. The fans are mounted to two windows in the attic. It seems as though they were intended to serve both roles (pure ventilation of attic and whole house). Given the recent weather I did not necessarily notice a big difference between having the fans on or off, but they did pull a lot of air. We have already had in two HVAC contractors to look at the ducts as part of an estimate to put in a heat pump to supplement our oil heat. Their take is that the ducts are in fairly good condition and sized correctly. When asked about insulating, their response was that it certainly would help, but that the costs may outweigh the intended benefits. Ballpark, do you have any idea how much it would cost to insulate the ducts(per foot of duct)? Finally, did you have any experience with shooting insulation into plaster walls. I suspect we have limited space to work with behind the wall, but any insulation is better than none. Many thanks again for the advice.

We almost lost our 15 month old Cockapoo and we fear it was due to this drug 'Metacam'. We brought our dog to the vet with a slightly sore paw, nothing we were overly concerned about as he was putting weight on the foot and in good spirits. Reluctantly we agreed to our dog being given an antibiotic and an injection of Metacam (we felt this was a bit unnecessary but we trusted the vets opinion and that we were doing the best for our dog). That same day the dog was groggy and lethargic. By that same night our dog was groaning with pain so we gave him half a painkiller prescribed by the vet. The next morning our poor dog couldn't move, he lay unresponsive and couldn't lift his body weight upright. He wasn't eating or drinking a thing! If we touched any part of his body he was in severe pain. Our dog is very energetic with a great appetite and we were very worried! We returned to the vet and found our dog was running a very high temperature. The vet was adamant that this was as a result of his sore paw and possible bone infection and was very critical of the dog breed. Our dog was kept in over night and medicated with paracetamol and an IV antibiotic. Within 24hours our dog was returning to normal. The vet insisted we do an x-ray and nothing showed up. Thankfully we were able to discharge our pet after two nights but found the vet very reluctant to talk about what and how much medication he had prescribed our dog. We have no way to ever know for sure the reason our dog fell unresponsive within a couple of hours but we can't shake the feeling that it has a strong connection with the Metacam he was administered on first meeting the vet. We have also noticed our dog's weight is not correct on his medication label - it is double his weight! Finally, when leaving the vet practice with the prescribed medications, the vet had to call us back as he has prescribed double painkiller doses. The vet carried out a blood test without our knowledge and still has not disclosed the result of this blood test. When asked to discuss our concerns the vet became extremely defensive and condescending towards us. We would love to put our minds at ease and find out if any other dog owners experienced this reaction to Metacam or if it sounds like a over dosage of Metacam?

Marie.. There was and is help from hundreds of volunteer firefighters,from 40 different agencies, if that is what you mean. Yesterday evening the Nation Guard was called out. That cannot be done till the County Commissioners request it from the Govenor then she has to approve it. But she can declare the situtation a state of emergency then the Adjutant general gives the orders to call out the National Guard. This information is according to my husband, was the protocal when he was Hazmat Chief and the Black Hawks flew him over the areas on fire. They do have areas set up for donations of water, gatorade, snacks, food, clothing, household goods etc for anyone that needs it. This is just in Mannford that I am aware of but I would imagine there are more in other areas, like Moni took Haskell to. Yesterday earlier in the day they were begging people for Gatorade for the firefighters. Fortunately no deaths have been reported and one one firefighters was treated for heat exhaustion, that was the latest I heard anyway.