Oh wow! Mike, look at those blooms and Andrew, if you can hook me up with a Basjoo, please do:-)!! I took tarps of my Figs trees and they made it this winter! I can only imagine how well the bananas will do! Mike, those blooms are beautiful. I can smell them from here, oh wait, that is the fragrance from mines coming from outside into the house.lol Mike, if I got three days of rain, my citrus would thrive in that! I see you are having an issue with your gritty mix. What do you use to water your mix with all winter? Please let me know, ok? That would explain the leaf drop too. Nice Mike! Hello Andrew! It's so good to hear your plumie made it. Yahoo...PICS PLEASE.lool Thank you Andrew for your mail:-) Josh, great suggestion, the luke warm water. Very nice suggestion:-) Has it stopped raining, well, snowing there yet? Wow, and I thought we were suppose to get more snow than you, not heat! Strange weather, right? How are your trees faring? Houston! I LOVE all your trees. I see a Mango and a few Figs:-) They are all looking pretty good there. I was wondering if you used protection for them this year or at least was prepared? I remember last year was brutal on your trees. Looking very nice and thank you fro sharing your pics. Do you like containers better than in-ground? You have lots of them and very nice. Mike, by the way, very good idea to bring those plants inside. They are vulnerable to root rot for sure with that much rain and cool temps. Mike:-)

Althea, I never said either of you were extremists. The only thing I said was that you had different often polar views on the issue. I may be wrong as I don't know each of you in person, but your view on the topic was that the chemicals should not have been there in the first place and Monte's was more of a "wait and let's get more evidence and see how much is bad first". To me, they appeared to be opposites. My point was that no matter which view you took (which again, appeared to be polar opposites to me), the parties responsible should clean it up to the condition that they inherited it, no more. My beliefs are more imbedded in personal and corporate responsibility rather than taking sides. If someone pollutes groundwater or the soil, they should be responsible for cleaning it up, no matter the cost or who the work was done for. Nothing more. Does that clarify it enough?

Tricia, What a wonderful opportunity to have the "BEST" look after you! I'm very happy that you have been given this gift. I look at it as a gift because so few have this opportunity. I know your health issues have been giving you many problems and am praying that your quality of life will get better with the help of JHU. You will be astounded at the amount of Dr.'s that will be surrounding you and poking and proding your being. You may get a little tired of this but it is so worth it in the end! I'm looking forward to further updates. Keep on keeping on girl! Cathy said, "Dr. Julius Birnbaum graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University This reminds me of my visit to DH's doctor. He said he wouldn't treat my DH if I continued to come to the appointments. Reason--I wasn't happy with the Dr's treatment and question his knowledge of this illness; he pointed to his diplomas. I said "yeah but 50% of all doctors graduate at the bottom half of their class; how do I know you aren't one of them?" I know a Dr. that tells me "You really don't want the Dr. that graduated in the top 10 of their class. They are too smart and can't see past what the patient is telling them." Don't know if it's true or not but shame on the Dr. that pointed to his diplomas! He could have/should have said something that was more positive. Spousal support, in a time of crisis, is so important!

Julius was a big strapping guy, a former Pa State Trooper 66 yrs old. He was just diagnosed with NHL in March. My DDIL's father, died of it in1996 at 50 yrs old, 2 yrs after diagnosis. I had a brother in Law who died of Hodgekin's Disease in 1966 at age 36. Nasty diseases.