Raw_Nature "... I have a 5 tier shelf holding 70 seedlings each, right by a south facing window. Each tier gets about 12000 lumens, not including the sunlight..." I'd love to see your setup, any chance of posting a photo? Did you buy the whole thing as a single unit or is it your design? I think I would like to have something like that for next year, or, whenever." Sid: I bought everything separately.. I'm way to cheap to buy a "grow kit" that's probably inferior to what you could make half the price... i wouldnt say I put a patent on it, it's just shelfs with a light hanging from every tier.. The light is your basic four-light T8 shoplight, each t8 bulb produces a little under 3000 lumens each.. Now, I would take credit for this one: instead of using plain old solo cups that fall over and are a pain in the but, I used plain old storage/shoe bins, you know the plastic box that you buy at walmart,etc... I made sure the dimensions were divisible by whatever you plan on spacing your seedlings,(easier, cleaner,etc), wasn't to concerned about the depth, think it was 4-6" or something.. I marked the sides every three inches, so each bin would hold 35 seedlings space 3" centers... Plus you have all the root growth you wouldn't normally have.. With a little cheap seedling trays, they are normally 2" centers, plus there is only a pinch of soil in them.. In my containers you have tons of soil so the plants could get a huge rootmass.. Whenever you have to move it, you jus carry the bins, 35 seedlings at a time, no need to deal with clumsy solo cups that fall over! Real easy, and cheap! The mos expensive part was the light an the shelf... I'll try my luck at posting a picture... Joe

I raised a lot of roosters last year with broody hens and as far as I have been able to learn,there is no way you can just have hen chicks.The best thing I did was go buy 4 pullets to go with the chicks a hen hatched(she was really good to take them,chickens can't count and I put them under her at night)Even so I bought a rooster that was supposed to be a pullet and every one that hatched out but one were roosters.The chicks are really fun to watch with the hen.Even my husband dug them worms to see the chick circus!I separated the hen from my flock.Husband built me a very nice broody hen cage that is also a safe place for the chicks for a few weeks.We lost chicks thru the cage to a rat so you need hardware cloth.Go to one of the chicken websites to learn how to set a broody hen.It is too early yet!Posy_Pet

I don't know if this counts, but the outcome could be similar to Kev's experience although less severe...I was at my friend's house the other day; a house he shares with 2 other guys of which one is the official owner and landlord. Anyway, I noticed a phal on their windowsill that belonged to one of the guys, with 2 spikes that had been cut at various upper nodes over the years ...those spikes looked OLD with a gazillion branches - I bet these guys (who aren't regular orchid growers) were under teh illusion that one shuold never cut the entire spike off a phal lest it never send a new one up. Anyway, upon closer examination, I noticed colonies of scale clustering all over one of the spikes. I pointed out this rather unpleasant infestation to my friend, who gasped and insisted that I do something about it....I told him I could cut the spike off and examine the rest of the plant for scale, but I didn't want to mess up Rob's plant (even though the infested spike only had like 1 dessicated bloom left and had exhausted all it's nodes anyway). My friend however, who I guess is apparently incredibly distasteful of insects, insisted I do what I had to do, so I chopped it off (after we took extensive photographs as evidence of the pests) The other 2 guys are away on vacation and we are now awaiting their return to see how they will react to the defilement of their precious plant. In retrospect, I could/should have probably waited, but I think I'll take the heat for cutting off an old spent spike, knowing in my heart that I saved a phal from impending doom.

Alexa - I will step out on a limb and say I think $20 is a lot. By my math, and I am assuming a two income household, I think I'm being generous in estimating that to pay $20/hr - primarily aftertax money - the wife would have to make around $70k just to break even. How much above that it would take to make it worth her while to work would of course depend on household expenses, husband's income, willingness (desire?) to be free from the kid most of his/her waking hours. I think your baby-sitter stepped in you-know-what when she found her gig. I suspect that the teachers at my daycare would be thrilled to make $20/hr, and each of them deals with a minimum average of 4 kids apiece depending on age. And yes, I said teachers, not babysitters, as at all but the infant stage they have to follow a curriculum, not to mention the constant scrutiny of management, board of health, and (worst of all!) a constant flow of parents in and out. As for your babysitter, yeah diapers suck, for five minutes each a few times a day. Of those only one or two are a real drag. Errands and playdates - my guess is she looks forward to those.