I don't often comment but I just had to comment about this subject. I worked in public safety for almost 20 years. For every violent crime you see reported on the news (gun shot, stabbing, carjacking, armed robbery, home invasion, etc.), there are countless others that aren't reported on TV or in the newspaper. And I'm not just talking about in big cities or the 'bad areas of town'. These days, the number of violent crimes are going up at staggering rates and they are affecting EVERY one and at ANY time of the day or night. When I was growing up, my mom used to comfort us when we were scared by telling us that no one would break in while we were at home. She would say, "Those bad men only want to break in when no one's home. They want to get in, steal all the stuff and get out quickly without being noticed. They usually don't want to hurt anyone." Well, that is just not true anymore. These days, people are just flat out cruel and they would just as soon shoot you as to look at you. They WILL come into your home regardless if you are home or not. In fact, they often look for targets who are home so you can lead them to where all your expensive items are and even take them to other locations to get more. With that in mind, here are a few things you can do to avoid being a victim: 1) ALWAYS BE MINDFUL THAT NO ONE IS FOLLOWING YOU...when you leave the bank, ATM, a nice restaurant, the mall, etc. If you EVER even think you are being followed, drive to the closest police station. DO NOT GO HOME!! 2) ALWAYS LOCK YOUR WINDOWS & DOORS...in your home and automobile. 3) LEAVE ON EXTERIOR LIGHTS AT NIGHT. Motion censored and/or timed lights are a great addition to a few that remain on all night. Mix it up to keep from getting in a routine that someone would notice. 4) GET A DOG (or at least have a sign that indicates you own one) 5) INSTALL AN ALARM SYSTEM with a BATTERY BACK-UP and ALWAYS HAVE IT ARMED and MONITORED, NO MATTER WHAT TIME OF THE DAY IT IS!! The sophisticated home invader knows that many people don’t turn alarms on regularly! So if you have it, always use it! By the way, if you don't have a landline and/or you are in a remote location, use a satellite alarm monitoring company. 6) IF YOU ARE A FEMALE LIVING ALONE, BUY SOME MENS BOOTS from a thrift store and set them outside your door to make it look like there is a man living there with you. You can put them beside your imaginary dog's bowl on the porch! :0) 7) ALWAYS FOLLOW YOUR GUT! That first gut instinct is almost always right. Listen to it! Below is an article about a home invasion that happened close to my home very recently. It was in a very affluent area and ended very badly. A 78 y/o grandmother and her disabled granddaughter returned home from running errands and were surprised by burglars as the men were about to leave the home. From the getaway car, one of the suspects fired a single shot from a handgun, striking the disabled woman in the head, killing her. To read more, the article is here: FAYETTE CO GRANDMOTHER PLEADS to FIND SUSPECTS IN FATAL HOME INVASION I hope this info helps at least one person stay safe. Blessings, ~Addy~ P.S. There's some additional safety info in the link below: Here is a link that might be useful: HOME INVASION ROBBERY - Protect Your Family With A Security Plan

Calm down, Sue. I hope you don't feel I was flaming you because I sure didn't mean to. I was saying I hated last minute customers when I was in the restaurant business so I don't go late. Even though I agreed with you, I still had some sympathy for the employees. The bottom line is you are right, and no one can dispute that even if their answers weren't quite as matteroffact as the simplicity of the subject. The sign said 8:30, so the door should not be locked until 8:30. To each their own in the way they do things. I don't arrive so late and others don't either, but many people do. Really not that big a deal. But, please don't let it all rile you like this. Not everyone agrees is all.

Hey Squirrel, thanks for the heads up about zipdee's thread, her porch is gorgeous. And I live in southwest Tennessee by the way.My goal is to keep those ferns alive and not let them know I have a black thumb! bonniee, Thaks for the link to the Christmas picture. I'm planning to decorate my urns somehow for the holidays too. They are much too heavy to move around too much! Your porch is beautiful, the wreaths in windows are one of my favorite looks. I did get the bigger size urns by the way, did you see the picture farther down? kswl - Thank you, I'm glad most everyone thinks the new planters are good. I wish I had researched size/material/pricing a little better before I got in so deep. I'm pleased with my iron ones. I've placed a tile under each to hopefully prevent staining. BUT if I had known what it was going to end up costing for this size I would've kept looking for composite. I just got in deep and kept going but it's done now and I just got off an 80 hr work week (I usually work 25) so the overtime will certainly buy my urns :-)

I registered to join roughly 3 times over the past couple years and my account was never activated. if they couldn't maintain a website, not even something simple by approving new-users, what makes them think people are interested in a subscription based site? sounds like another disaster.. if they were having financial trouble keeping the site running, then they should of just had a donation page where their small group of approved forum users could submit a contribution. they could of also passed down the some of the responsibility to approve new users to someone else, including help maintaining the site. surely they could of picked a few regulars to maintain that and i'm sure some wouldn't mind. it's unfortunate as the site has potential to grow. And again, could of likely been self-sustained with donations. as a former web dev/admin, i can think of a bunch of things. perhaps donators could receive special perks and forum features, etc. there is a lot that can be done. it's also much easier to have a site financially maintain itself when you have a growing website of new members, rather than turning them away by not allowing them to participate..