Has anyone come up with an answer to this bark problem? I'm quite sure that it is neither squirrels, birds or large insects. I use D.E. to keep ants off. This has been gradually worsening over the last 4 years and, even though the tree produced some fruit this Spring, it is in obvious decline. Would tree paint help at all (unlikely), but perhaps some sort of trunk wrap? Once the bark separates, it is difficult to imagine the tree repairing itself, so maybe it's time to bite-the-bullet.

I like the battery rundown protection feature also. It will save a lot of batteries and alternators, not to mention the frustration of finding that the car won't start and having to jump start it. Also, any battery that's run down to the point where it won't start the car should ideally be charged with a battery charger at a slow rate. Alternators hit the battery with a strong charge and in many cases the battery won't ever recover unless it's charged more slowly. A car battery that's never deep discharged can last a very long time. I've had them go 10 years before. Leaving the lights on to the point where the battery is stone dead -- not even enough voltage to produce a glimmer of light in the headlights -- will essentially ruin its chance of a long life. I'm not necessarily saying run out and get a new battery if that happens, but at least charge it with a charger and don't just let the alternator do it. And realize that the lifespan of the battery is cut every time that happens. Here's what a good battery can do for you: Last March I had the alternator fail in my Blazer. I was 70 miles from home. It was night, so I had to have the headlights on. I had a Wal-Mart EverStart battery about 1 1/2 years old, never deep discharged. I turned off all accessories except the lights and started heading toward home. I made it 69 3/4 miles -- it finally quit when I was on my road and could almost see my house. I think that's pretty good for headlights on and no alternator. So now that battery has been somewhat deep discharged, but nowhere near as bad as leaving the headlights on, because those will just keep sapping power until it's down to nothing. The Blazer's computer apparently shuts things down when the system voltage hits about 10 or 11, because it was showing 11 on my tester when I got home; probably under load that would be 10 or maybe less. (First it shuts off the overdrive in the transmission, then the ABS, and finally the ignition system.) According to the charger, it was at 41 percent. So I charged it with the charger, replaced the alternator, and that battery is still in there, doing okay. But it may not last as long as it would have if that hadn't happened. (On the instructions that came with the replacement alternator, they said if the alternator has failed and the battery is run down, it is not just recommended but is absolutely necessary to charge it with a charger and not just expect the alternator to bring it up, because doing that will shorten the life of the alternator.)

I am glad you enjoyed the reading. It sure was a wonderful trip. I am now trying to get all the pics offf my cell phone...sigh ...no memory card...and then I will get the whole thing put together. Will keep me busy for weeks ! c

Oak my Christmas tree scratch is about 3' long and right in the center of the room. The floor was about a month old and I was still waiting for my area rug to come in. As I was taking down the tree I VERY gently laid it down on the floor so I could separate the sections. As I picked up and packed each section, I saw the scratch. I could NOT believe such damage could be done by what must have been a branch gently sliding across the floor. It made me absolutely sick. I had planned to keep an area rug down most of the time, but I thought I'd take it up occasionally, because the floor is stunning without it. It's not a deep scratch and since it's under the rug I haven't tried to work on it, but I can say that none of my kids ever did any damage that horrified me the way that scratch did, lol. And there is no doubt that the majority of damage in my house, has been caused by my husband, who simply is not as careful as he should be. I'm glad I was the one that made the tree scratch because it was an early and valuable lesson as to how easily it happens. Because I KNOW how careful I was, I don't blame anyone else for an accident. Madtown, I'm relieved to hear you have reasonable expectations of your babies! I should mention that one reason my kids never damaged anything is that my house was furnished with them in mind. I didn't have any crystal or fragile things out where they could get broken. I didn't have polished wood surfaces anywhere. I frequently watched them play and often took note of the freedom they had because we had wall to wall. They could stack their wooden blocks almost to the ceiling and there was no problem when they fell down. As I think about it now, if I'd had the wood floor back then, I'd have had to restrict an awful lot of healthy, fun activities we enjoyed in the house. Speaking of which, baseball in the living room began when my eldest was two. My husband would blow up a balloon, give him one of those fat bats, and they had a great times playing like that for years. Then he graduated to wiffle ball, using throw pillows for bases. One night when the kids had gotten pretty big, too big to "run" the bases anyway, someone hit the ball really hard straight into my forehead while I was engrossed in a book. It made a very loud noise though it didn't hurt a bit. There was a collective gasp from the four males in the room, followed by all of us laughing our heads off. We all have a vivid memory of it. I hadn't realized how hard the kids had begun hitting the ball, so that night I reluctantly declared an end to indoor baseball out of concern for the windows and the TV screen. There is no question that how you can use your home is directly related to your concern for material things. I wouldn't trade those years of USING our home to the extent we did, for all the money in the world. The years went by so fast, and now sadly, I have the most unwelcome freedom to indulge in delicate furnishings.