Will ...thanks for the welcome, and kaitain, you are correct to recommend Will's yard as inspiration. Sluice, the needles on my mystery pine (in the back drive) come out in twos. Also, thanks for your encouragement on my choices being likely to survive here in Englewood Colorado... Ken, I love your 'Glauca Pendula'. Now I have to get a second so that I can have one laying down and one standing up! I think your suggestion to consider that I can tear out trees when I want to ...well, it is really the only way I can approach my current madness. Dave and Kaitain's advice to stay small is much appreciated. Not only do I respect it, but I believe it is the smart thing to do. BUT I CAN'T. Jaro, thanks for the first hand info on your own Brewer's ...you're enabling me. I love all the diverse opinions, and you won't hurt my feelings, so please continue to help if you can stand it. Maybe if I get warned enough, I will slow down with the big trees. Anyway, I have uploaded three photos, which are now the first three in the linked album, and these photos have some indication of my first draft crazy plan for where to put the trees. The photos have some measurements for spacing. What will I see as my very worst problems if I go with this (I welcome comments on tree health, aesthetics, house foundation health, my neighbors' health, etc...I'm sure I must be trying to replicate some more forest-like places of my youth, but I do still appreciate all opinions...) oh, and Ken, I don't/won't have a car (I prefer bicycles, which the garage is full of)...so as long as I leave enough space in the drive for some future owner to squeeze into the garage, I'm not too worried about that mystery pine in the back. Thanks for the logical/wise advice nonetheless. Dave, you are right to say that the power lines are too low. ..thanks for putting my thoughts toward burying them... Here is a link that might be useful: First 3 photos show crazy 1st draft plan - I'm starting to think that I would be alright if I lost the Ponderosa?

A-Hem. Well...since you asked.... *grin*.... A VERY long time ago- about, oh, 18 years or so - I was at a slumber party with a couple of friends. We were roasting marshmallows on a bonfire, out in the front yard. And, since this was out in the sticks (and I mean...WAY out in the sticks, the closest neighbor was 5 miles away, and the closest neighbor to THEM was 5 miles away......ANYHOO....pardon, too many brownies, My mind tends to wander....) SOOOO....this was out in the sticks, and there were chickens running around in the yard. Poor, helpless, defenseless chickens. Lots and lots of chickens. So there we were, using old wire coat hangers (unfolded, of course) to roast marshmallows. Then, the unthinkable, un-avoidable, and totally a waste of good marshmallow happens. My marshmallow caught fire. And I don't mean *fire*. I mean....FLAMING, INCINERATING, little-ball-of-DEATH type fire. Yay. Naturally, I'm calm and collected....while the other girls are screaming their fool heads off. "YOUR MARSHMALLOW'S ON FIRE! YOUR MARSHMALLOW'S ON FIRE!!!!" Yeah, duh..... So, I react in an appropriate manner, of course. I start waving the coat hanger/marshmallow fire ball in the air, hoping to fan out the fire. Next thing I know, the marshmallow goes flying off the end of the wire, whizzing through the air.....ZOOOOMMMM!!!!...... And smacks a poor chicken RIGHT ON THE NOGGIN. Still flaming, with marshmallow-ey goo going everywhere, the poor chicken runs around bock-bocking all over the place. We all run for the water hose, and put the chicken out... But she didn't make it. :O( Guess what we had for supper the next night? Yep, roasted chicken!

No, it is not just you! I had this happen to me last night in the Mojo thread. I had cross posted with 2 messages and wanted to respond to them. I wrote this big long note, only to be rejected! When I hit back I was able to get my message. I proceeded to change the header and it still rejected it! It was late...I was tired...so I signed off without making my comments...it really is aggravating :(

I did a Literature and the Bible course at university and thought it was very interesting. I'm not a religious person and therefore could look at the Bible as a story, which is what the course was aiming to do. The problem for most people who took the course is that they were so religious they wanted to argue the validity of the Bible, more than discuss the way it's written, the characters, etc. I think that would be a problem with high school-aged children, and probably their parents - trying to teach something they believe to be absolutely true as a story. I am a firm believer in the separation of Church and State, so a required Bible as Literature course would make me angry, simply because it is so difficult to separate the story from the faith. As an elective it would be fine - though I think at university age is best. As for literary quotes enriching the language ... that's what I love about the English language. People make references constantly without realizing that the phrase is only around because of Shakespeare for example. Similarly, I love it when authors use intertextuality and I actually know where the reference is from!