Bill, I've been seeing 'Ads by Google' recently embedded here in the New England Gardening thread; in fact, there's one right above your post on Sun, March, 18. Annoying for sure but not that intrusive yet. I treat them in the same way way I treat the marketing phone calls I get at dinner and just ignore them. I sometimes wonder about the mindset of the people who create these ads. I think it's a 'spitting into the wind' kind of mentality. They think they'll get one bite out of the thousands who see the ad. Like those funny ads that claim 'a woman in (your town goes here) has found the secret to eliminating wrinkles.' Molie

also have you tried choosing custom rather than express to see if there is any difference? It sounds like you may have to re register some of your dlls this link provides some info on how to do that Windows Update Not Working or Fails; Reset Windows Update Settings this is basically what seems to work for most people This error may occur if the MSXML3.dll is missing or not properly registered. Applicable operating systems Windows 2000 Windows XP Windows Server 2003 Resolutions 1. Register MSXML3.dll Click Start. Choose Run. In the Run box, type regsvr32 MSXML3.dll. Click OK. 2. Re-register the Windows Update DLL with the commands below Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK. Type the following commands. Press ENTER after each command. regsvr32 wuapi.dll regsvr32 wuaueng.dll regsvr32 wuaueng1.dll regsvr32 wucltui.dll regsvr32 wups.dll regsvr32 wups2.dll regsvr32 wuweb.dll Attempt to run Windows Update

I'm not sure setting up a public facebook account...telling the public you are at home and very sick is the best idea. If you are sure to set up the page as private, I guess it couldnt' hurt. But, I think most of your helpers (elderly people who are retired) may not have facebook pages anyway. Unless you have a very close relative who can take off weeks to be with you, I don't think you are going to be able to coordinate volunteers to always be with you. People just don't have the time. I have a good friend on bedrest for a pregnancy, and to even get people over there everyday for a couple hours is hard. You probably need to come up with a different solution if you have to have someone there with you constantly.. I would think you may have to hire a nurse, or helper of some sort. Good luck.

Here are some pix of Ladew Topiary Garden. The owner formed a foundation before he died. It is open to the public and I will have to give the foundation credit, they do a good job under some difficult circumstances. There is also a large manor house, tenant house, stables (now a restaurant), etc. Property owners with extensive plantings really should give careful thought about what happens to their property when they're gone. What I have seen is when owners die, children have the collection bulldozed and the property subdivided. I have also seen a magnificent conifer collection grow up in weeds and ravaged by deer after the owner died, heirs squabbling. For this reason I decided many years ago that the only important areas are the natural ones. The ones that were here 10,000 years ago and hopefully will be here centuries into the future. I do my best to protect and preserve the natural areas, the rest is little more than a fleeting memory of someone's vision which may not always be relevant.