Hi Angie, I'm doing something similar. The trick is "how to get the bog to upflow while at the same time using gravity to pull the water from your existing waterfall to the bottom of your bog". So...place a very small pond inside your bog which will collect the water from the falls either directly or via the stream. (I got one from Craigslist) Make sure it reaches the bottom of your bog but will still also remain 1-3" above the level of water in your bog. This will keep it from just overflowing. Because your insert is inside your bog, a little splashing and a little overflow won't hurt anything Fan out and away from your inserted pond several pieces of 4"-6" double walled black drainage pipe (Stronger and has smooth wall on inside; good for flow). At the farthest distance away from your pond insert, they should not be spaced out any further than 4' apart. Now you know how many pipes you need to connect to your small pond insert. Place pipe next to pond insert, close to the bottom and mark to cut. Try to get a nice snug fit. We want the water to travel through the drainage pipes and be dispersed evenly throughout the bog bottom. If you have many pipes to attach you may want to pick up a coupler that looks like a peace sign. This will join 3 pipes into one fitting, which can then be attached. Now that you have everything in place you will need to cap off the end of each pipe opposite the inserted pond. It may be unnecessary, but I am going to put a screen on the end that goes into the insert to keep leaves and other debri out. You will also want the new pipes elevated about 1" for every 2' as they leave the insert towards the outer edges. This will allow you to use the very system you use to feed your bog to be reversed and backflushed. Just turn off your waterfall and stick a pump in your inserted pond. With everything now in place take a skill saw and set blade to 2" depth. Cut slits every 18" apart for water to travel into bog. You may need to add more, but we don't want our water to escape into bog before it reaches the slits in outer edges. When done right, water should shoot out all slits without overflowing the new insert. How many slits are needed will depend on: how many tubes you used, waterfall flow rate, how tight your pipes fit into insert, etc. Now you should be ready turn on your falls and see if you have enough slits. If you have water coming out abundantly, cut more slits, starting at the outer edges and working your way back to the insert pond . Do this until your water is coming out but not spraying out to forcefully

eaglesgarden; Well alright then to tell you the best way is to have chains and blockage of some sort. That's what I do. I grow a lot of greens if it was all,lets say lettuce. Then I would have way more than could be consumed. Picture this, mature Chard taking up 2 foot of a 4 foot shelf. Even well trimmed Chard in the pot is 2 foot tall. The other end is lettuce seedlings taking up the remainder of the shelf space. Fine except for where the lettuce and chard meet. No way Jose can the chains be adjusted for this. Curt:-) P.S. I do not have room for extra shelves/lights.

Thanks for the kind words and great ideas everyone! It was a very exciting game, particularly the 2nd half. It looked like the Jets were really coming back there for a bit. The Jets had a great season, for my husband's sake, I hope they do as well next year. This week is nuts for us, so I think I'm tabling the dinner until next week. But, I believe the menu is going to be: tossed salad with homemade dressing, roast chicken with root vegetables, mashed potatoes, broccoli and fresh (bread machine) bread. Brownies from a mix for dessert. That will be an impressive dinner for my guy! And his buddy who was here skating will be invited also since he was cheering on the Black and Gold with me. I'll take pictures :) AM

Hi Danihoney, Any tips on locating and choosing a proper adviser? Heh... funny you should ask.... I wrote my post a bit earlier, and was actually running around doing my Sunday errands thinking about exactly that. A common refrain you'll see in my posts is "go find a worthy professional advisor, and GET AWAY from the retail clerks & commodity salespeople." The oh-so-obvious response to this is; "OK... and HOW do I go about finding such an Advisor????" Perhaps my not-so-obvious answer to that is also what I used to be so heavily accused of; self-promotion. I really try to give everyone as much of the orienting financial principles as possible (up to the level where people start saying they can't understand a thing I am saying,) and I TRY to show people how to go about finding quality professionals who also understand financial planning including the leverage management pice (which is usually a hidden quarter to half-million dollar piece, or more!) My firm does this... but I'm not really shy of pointing out that we're not the only ones. The trouble is that its not something you can simply flip through the yellow pages to find. I think that first of all I would start from a large list of potential advisors, and then narrow them down by qualifications. A) are they a licensed broker, or banker? Brokers (in most states) have a legal fiduciary duty to you, their client. The brokers (and their licensed loan officers) in such states *MUST* put their clients financial interests ahead of their own. In contrast, licensed bankers (and loan clerks) strictly represent their corporate interests. B) do they offer software-generated leverage/mortgage analysis & plans... either on a fee-only basis, or in conjunction with their financial services? (Some examples of programs used by some; Loan Magic, Equity For Life, Mortgage Coach, Forgotten Equity, and Loan Analyzer.) While actually executing a particular plan doesn't make nor break the quality of a professional... anyone who doesn't even have it as an offer OBVIOUSLY has no way of properly determining what is actually in your financial best interests. Beware the loan salesperson who, when asked about analytical programs, refers to their online application gathering forms, or processing software, or some nebulous secret black-box website only they have access to. The bottom line is if they cannot generate a nice presentable report that gives you a full, graphical explanation of where you are financially, what you are seeking to accomplish, and the future-looking results of several options... they are blowing smoke. C) do they regularly work with real estate investors (and EXTRA points if they are one themselves... "eat their own dog food" so to speak.) D) do they analyze your financials from a holistic perspective? That is to say; do they gather and review *ALL* your financials before making suggestions? Anyone who starts suggesting 6-figure financial debt structures WITHOUT having any clue of your qualified retirement accounts, insurance coverages (life, health & disability as well as property & casualty,) is acting as a dangerous renegade, in my opinion. SO OFTEN the general public randomly takes the "lowest points" 30 FRM (the absolute *MOST* expensive way to borrow money) and throws as much cash into their down payment as possible (the most dangerous cash management moves).... AND THEN they clip coupons, skip latte's, and think they are "conservative & practical." Having someone who truly understands BOTH sides of the financial balance sheet... the assets AND the liabilities... and their interrelationships, is essential to financial success, in my opinion. SO... there ya go (are you sorry you asked?) Cheers, Dave Donhoff Leverage Planner