KIM SAID: "But inland here, our sun, heat and aridity are just too extreme for oils to be safely used. If the product can be phytotoxic, our conditions will encourage it. Filter the sun enough through fog and other humidity, reduce the temperature extremes sufficiently and they can be quite effective, but definitely not here." *** Even here, closer to the coast, I've found most of the oils to be a very dicey thing to use. We've seen oiled foliage burn in temps in the high 70's. Recently, our weather has featured wild temperature fluctuations -- up or down 20 deg in a 24-hour period, making the use of oils really tricky. For me, in most cases, it's just easier to get rid of a rose that is so troubled. Jeri

Lettuce is something I've always wanted to try in the garden. I like your idea Tiffy....using the styro cups. Now I know what I can use those clementine boxes I've been holding on to! I've started saving 2L pop bottles and plan on asking some co-workers to help me out if I don't get enough. I almost stopped today and pulled a big plastic lettuce container out of someone's recycle...but I didn't quite have the nerve. :-) Tiffy, you mentioned you live on the NS coast. I'm headed to Truro this Sunday to visit my parents for a week. I've got my Dad interested in WSing too....so I'll be passing on some adice....from this forum of couse, since this will be my first year. We'll be able to compare notes next year. My Dad has a nice big garden....fenced off against the deer and rabbits. He is excited to save a few dollars by sowing from seed...more variety to choose from too.

You guys demonstrate my theory that cottonmouths are "passive-aggressive." Dangerous in that they don't move out of the path, often, and people who are not alert can step on them. Tales of them chasing people are usually highly exaggerated. This isn't to say it can't happen. Just that it's not a common behavior. My best cottonmouth story involved canoeing by myself on Rock Springs Run. I was in an area we call the Flats. Very shallow water, with a lot of grassy vegetation. Makes for slow canoeing as you try to glide through without digging up the bottom. I spotted a cottonmouth in the water, about 2 1/2 feet long, and close to the shore. It had a dead fish in its mouth. I don't think it killed the fish, but I can't be sure of that. But the fish looked REAL dead. It was a panfish of some type (bluegill, shellcracker, one of those) and quite wide, and this snake was trying its best to figure out how to swallow it. The snake worked its mouth slowly around the body of the fish, which was way, WAY too wide for it to swallow, and even tried to force it down sideways. The fish was probably ten inches long and no way was that snake going to get it down sideways. I let the canoe drift over fairly close, as I was enjoying the show. The snake finally began working its way towards the head of the fish, where it would have had the best chance to get it down, but suddenly noticed me or my canoe slowly nearing. If snakes could change expression, this one's eyes would have bugged out and his mouth would have dropped open. If they could talk, he would have been yelling "Holy Sheepdip! Where'd THAT come from??" He did a backflip away from the fish and took off for the weeds like a streak! It was so funny looking, I almost fell out of my canoe laughing at him. I always wondered if he came back later to finish working on the fish. But I didn't wonder about who was more scared by our encounter. He definitely was! Still...I am very careful on the river or in places where cottonmouths might lurk. They normally don't care if you approach them. I admire them, but I don't want to step on one or come face to face with one at any closer range than what I just described. I'm not NEARLY as brave as Wayne! Marcia

I think you will enjoy the Biltmore estate. The workings of a very large house are always interesting, and in particular the Bilmore's kitchens, laundries and food storage were far ahead of their time. The Biltmore wines are really coming along! The winery is a stable newer source of revenue / upkeep for the estate, so I try to support them by keeping their Riesling on hand for DD, who loves it. Their wines are average but inexpensive. The arts community in Asheville is more of an arts and crafts community, IMO---nothing wrong with that but not a mature art scene by any stretch of the imaginiation. Asheville's real identity is that of a small to middling size college town. It's charming and there are some very lovely residential areas and fine hotels (Biltmore Forest, Grove Oark Inn, etc) but probably nothing you have not seen elsewhere. Check out what is happening at the Civic Center or the US cellular center, now that it has been sponsored and branded. They host events as diverse as college basketball and the Asheville Symphony. Also in that general area is the Flat Rock Playhouse (state theater of NC) and the home of poet Carl Sandburg, both of which are fun and interesting. We also have family in that area, my nephew is a boarder at Asheville School, and I grew up spending summers in Arden (back in the day when we could ride on the Biltmore property!), and so we're still up there a fair bit, and our favorite breakfast place is still Tupelo Honey :-)