Hi Hilary, I didn't say less light in any of my posts. I usually try to get my cactus as much light as possible... Direct sunlight if I can. Even when I'm trying to callous a cutting. In the dark or dim light, the cactus cutting will not dry out much and will not be so eager to send out roots to find more water. As for peanut cacti having short round joints... not always... just the new joints. I had one that had joints that were 6-8 inches long... some a bit longer. But look at the difference in the areoles and the placement of them and the lenth of the spines in the following pictures. The Peanut Cactus has shorter, stiffer spines than the Rat-Tail and they're white as opposed to yellow. The first is the Peanut cactus the second the rat tail. Now look at the areols on your larger pieces of cactus? And by the way, the larger size is probably more like how large all the branches should be. :-( And another Peanut Cactus And the Rat-Tail cactus Which looks closer to yours? How about this peanut cactus? Here's links to both cactus on Desert-tropicals.com. Read the description/"Growth Habit" of both. Echinopsis camaecereus Disocactus(Aporocactus) flagelliformis I still think it's a peanut cactus... Which way are you leaning now? :-)

I agree with your questions about the dealer's motive. I am sure they would have to pay a fee to the credit card company, but maybe he thinks that's better than lose he sale due to the customer getting "cold feet" and backing out of the deal before writing a check.

Thanks for the response. Are you talking about the "Timing Belt" - which is the belt that you cannot see. Or are you talking about the Air Conditioner and Alternator Belts, which are the ones you can see. If you are talking about the Timing Belt, do we have to take out all the parts again, to readjust the tension? THANKS

Congratulations, Kathleen. As some have said, you're making good progress. Next thing, as you say, get the debts paid off. May I make a suggestion? When the debts are paid, keep putting that amount away monthly for some time. When car needs repair (and not right away, of course) you can write a cheque. When it comes time for a replacement ... write a cheque. When you pay interest ... you put bread on someone else's table, not yours. My car, with just over 100,000 mi. on it, was 19 years old a year ago now when I bought it for cash. Later, an accident involved having the rear wheel track crooked, but I felt that, with not a lot over 100,000 miles on it, there were many good miles left in it, so instead of following the financially wisest path of scrapping it, I wrote another cheque for more to have it fixed than the price that I'd paid a few months before to buy it. Mainly to avoid the waste of precious energy, plus addition to the pollutant and global warming problems involved with building a new one, when repair involves mainly labour. No debt. But when one nears 80 one is in trouble if s/he needs to use debt to buy stuff. ole joyful