Have only one Sweet Gum tree, 40+ years old and very large, located near and on North side of my house. The terrain has a gentle slope on one side of the tree, away from house, where I constructed a raised bed out to the drip line to level the planting area. Evergreen Azaleas and Mahonias(bealei & aquifolium) are planted near the trunk. Understory trees are Dogwood, one each of Cornus florida & kousa, a Magnolia stellata and 4 Japanese Maple cultivars. Other shrubs include Camellia japonica & sasanqua, several Hydrangea macrophylla & serrata cultivars and a Native Azalea, R. prunifolium. Perennials growing there are Helleborus, Epimedium, Tricyrtis, Hosta, several Fern species, 3 species of Selaginella, Cyclamen, Ardisia, Bletilla striata, Begonia grandis, Dicentra, Heuchera americana, Blue Columbine, 2 species of Native Asarum, Rock Garden Iris, Daffodils, Tradescantia 'Sweet Kate' and an attractive member of the Ginseng Family, Acanthopanax sieboldianus 'Variegatus' Leaves and seed pods are only removed from the shrubs and plants to prevent damage to them, the ones on the ground are left to decompose. Seedlings have not been a problem during the 20 years that the plantings have been there. I'm told that the trees are very tough and can withstand fairly strong straightline winds, but I had an unusual thing happen on a clear, calm day; a large limb, about 8" in dia. at the base and located near the top of the tree, came crashing down and lodged in the lower branches, There was no disease or previous damage evident on the branch. Still a mystery, unless the weight of the foliage and fruit was too great. Rb

I BEG you not to leave your space heater on all night!! I'm also uncomfortable with placing a blanket over the heater, even when you're awake (which in my case doesn't last long in a recliner). What if it shorts or catches the blankets on fire? Last time I looked, electric blankets tend to have warnings about leaving them on for too long or when asleep. Saving money and resources is commendable. IMO, however, it's not worth losing your life or home. If you want to keep a space heater on when you're up and about, fine. But do yourself a favor and do the central heating thing at night. One more thing--do you have power outages often? What would happen if your house was at 51 degrees, and then there was a power outage preventing you from using your space heaters? Starting off that cold, you'd be down to freezing conditions a lot quicker than if you started off warmer. It's really easy to install a programmable thermostat. This allows you to have the house chilly when you're not home or asleep, and then warmer when you're up and about. It saves money and hassle--no more remembering to lower the temp.

Work and structure are part of rehabilitation for drugs BUT the person has to get clean first, and have the support to stay clean. As I mentioned, I know quite a few people who work professionally in work programs for FORMER addicts, these types of programs do exist. But getting the addict OFF of the drug and having it stick, that's a whole other ball game . . . I don't know the solution, but the revolving door of treatment does stop for some people after enough tries. I think we need to do more and be innovative. An addict who can't stop using and a person who is mentally ill and doesn't respond well to treatment are some of the worst ongoing problems anyone can face, its relentless. As a side note, I think that prevention is a big part of this, and in my experience, I think the reason we are seeing more and more drug and mental illness problems is the fraying of our social connections and social structures. Many of the folks I know who have drug and alcohol problems also seem to me to be somewhere on the autism or ADHD spectrum. In other words, they have trouble processing relationship and stimuli, and use drugs as a coping mechanism. They are much more susceptible to stress and disruption than average, and modern life these days is increasingly stressful and disrupted. The margins fray more and more under this stress. It's actually a biological phenomenon, happens in any ecosystem under stress. As I mentioned in my previous post, that's one of the reasons I live the show MOM. One of the main characters discovers she has ADHD through therapy and develops strategies to manage it. BUT, it's a step by step process. She had to get clean and stay clean first, before she could benefit from the therapy. Also, as more and more people fall into the marginal lifecycle, they have kids who grow up into this problem and the cycle doesn't stop, it multiplies. That's also what I have seen, in my generation, parents struggling with an addict child and then eventually raising grandchildren and then struggling as they sometimes fall through the cracks as well. A good friend's parents have three generations of messed up kid, grandkids and great grandkids, all of whom are involved in the revolving door of law enforcement, foster care, drug abuse, etc. They cut off all contact with the daughter other than just making sure she is housed for her lifetime. They don't even know her offspring. It's so ironic, because they have a great relationship with my friend and her kids, so it's not that they aren't caring grandparents. They just don't have the financial and emotional resources to fix the whole broken entourage. Their daughter is a lost cause, but still her brother and sister in law are both dedicated to medical and social service professionally, they keep trying to find something that works! Having no illusions on what is and is not possible though. My friend who is the social worker say that most of her drug addict clients are using just to numb themselves and help them cope with the discomfort of modern life. Obviously the solution is not remove discomfort, not going to happen, but to develop resiliency for coping with it as it comes along. There is a research base as to what that entails, so folks trying to help usually involve themselves in the components of that. Keeping people fed, housed and supported with medical and psychological treatment options. Also, my friend says a huge reason these problems continue and fester is we don't acknowledge them. There is way too much social stigma attached to them so folks just let them go untreated rather than admit to having any type of weakness that tjhey need help with. And then when they do need help, will it be available? Another interesting tv show that deals with the role of community in supporting resiliency is "The OG." It's an exploration of what does and does not work as far as keeping marginalized folks on the straight and narrow path . . . and the ongoing struggle to make it stick.

Tax Status of Employer-Provided Lodging Like other fringe benefits, free or discounted employer-provided lodging is usually subject to income and other taxes. To determine the fair market value of the housing provided to an employee, an employer may check local newspaper listings for comparable rental properties or ask a local realtor for an estimate of the property’s rental value. The employer reports the net value of the employee’s lodging fringe benefit in Box 1 of the employee’s W-2 form, and the employee declares this value as income on Line 7 of IRS Form 1040. For example, if the employee pays the employer $300 a month for the housing and the property's fair market rental rate is $600 a month, the employer must add $300 a month to the taxable income it reports on the employee's W-2. Lodging Not Subject to Taxation An employer can exclude the value of housing provided to an employee from an employee’s taxable income if the lodging meets three conditions. The employer must furnish the lodging on its business premises. The lodging must be furnished for the convenience of the employee, which means that the employer must have a valid business purpose for providing housing beyond giving the employee additional compensation. For example, if the employer’s work site is located a substantial distance from other housing options, the IRS would likely conclude that the employer is providing the lodging for the convenience of the employee. The employee must also accept the lodging as a condition of employment, which means that the employee cannot have the option of accepting or declining the lodging. If any of these conditions are not met, the employer must include the net value of the lodging on the employee’s W-2 form, and the employee must report that amount as income on his tax return. So Jasdip's friend could very well qualify under the 'Lodging Not Subject to Taxation'...under US tax law. Given that the lodging is the sole compensation for labor rendered, would that make a difference? In Canada? I don't know. US tax law is complicated enough w/o trying to delve into Canadian tax law.