Chuckie, you are absolutely right about the differences between smaller closed worm systems that most use, and larger open outdoor systems I use. Big difference!. I have hesitated for several years to start a thread on this subject. I was afraid someone with a smaller system, such as a plastic tote, may cook their squirm. Using compost to intentionally heat a small system would likely cause disaster. My worm systems are nearly "bullet-proof" with regards to overheating by overfeeding. " Kind of think along the line of outbreed the predators" Nexev, that may work, but an once of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I have somewhat taken that approach, but have also witnessed the destruction of a damned mole! I can withstand the hit with my stock, but it could set you back pretty good. Your biggest critter challenge may be those mice. The mole ate several pounds fairly quickly. And you had me for a minute with your seaworld cow....... Apples and cows:) Francoise, I NEVER thought that I would ever be called a geek. My phone is as dumb as me and has a rotary dial! I do kinda like the sound of wormin' geek though. Got a ring to it! Sounds a little better than poop-brain Pete, poopologist. You will get MORE heat with the manure mixed with the stall bedding vrs. pure manure. Now that your beds have cooled, pure manure apples may have to be deep to get the bed to warm up. More mass creates more heat. As long as your worm system has an open bottom things should be fine for the herd. Compost/manure heats up slowly allowing the worms to move to where they are most comfortable. If I had not overfed this bed and created some heat, the bed would have cooled to 55-60F. My experience is worms would have gotten lethargic and quit reproducing. I Think that this little overfeeding trick may give me more worms in the spring than I would otherwise have. I will attempt to explain the logic. For sake of argument, lets assume the carpet bed has 100lbs of worms currently. Lets also assume that the 100lbs contain 60,000 adult breeders, and 40,000 juveniles and babies. Also assume there are 20,000 cocoons, which will become 40,000 worms when they hatch. If the bed becomes "dormant" due to temperature, I would have 100,000 breeder and 40,000 babies that hatch-out in the spring..... 140,00 total worms in April. Now assume that the heat I added keeps the bed active for an additional 2 months. In that time the breeders may have left an additional 120,000 cocoons (2ea.) Some of the juveniles have become breeders and left another 10,000 cocoons. The 20,000 cocoons that would have been dormant hatch, adding 40,000 more worms. In the spring, I would have 140,000 breeder worms and 260,000 babies....400,000 worms total! Lots of "wild ass guess" work here. I hope my confusing post sheds some light on what I think is happening. I may be totally wrong, killed many worms and all the cocoons in the hot area, and set the bed back. But I don't think so. Poop-Brain Pete, Poopologist and Wormin; Geek

One dog dies last year and I believe the other did this year. Maybe she just got tired of them and gave them up. It has been quite quiet around here, neighbors have commented on it. As for moving should she replace them, I inherited the house I grew up in. My mother designed it, my father built it. There are over 400 specific plants in the gardens and there is just too much sentimentality involved, not to mention that I am a bit old to be relocating. For now, her hedges have thickened and grown tall enough that all anyone sees is a nice green backdrop for my gardens. You would not even know there was a house in there. It is very unfortunate because the house has an excellent picture window that used to overlook the valley. Last summer, in the only patch of sun filled area in her yard, she had a lawn chair out and was sunning herself. I could only see her through a bathroom window and she looked like the proverbial beached whale. I pulled the curtains to stop from laughing. The dogs are just a memory now....

Grew up on a dairy farm in ohio and learned to dive a team of belgian draft horses (1 ton each)when i was 6yrs old. Served two enlistments in the U.S.A.F. from 1966 till 1973(Viet Nam Era). Stood on a guard detail in front of the Loraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn the morning after MLK was assasinated. Was on a detail that rode an Air Force C-130 for four days, continually flying west around the world twice and every time they stopped for fuel it was breakfast time...LOL..finally returned to where we started and to this day none of us know what that was about. Got spit on by hippie protesters in both Cleveland and Chicago while traveling from one base to another. Did two tours in Viet Nam (during my second tour i was pulled out early because my mother protested through the Red Cross. It seems i was combat exempt because I was the sole surviving son of a combat veteran). Spent four years in Germany and travelled throughout Europe. Was a Scoutmaster for military dependant boys in Germany and lead an 8 day 50 mile hike from Bitburg, Germany to Bastogne, Belium. Took up photography as a hobby while in Germany and later got into it professionally for a couple years with a newspaper. Now I do it as a retirement hobby. Drove an 18 wheeler that had two transmissions, one behind the other with two gear shifts and a total of 24 gears. Hauled a 162ft bridge beam from Elyria, Ohio to lower Manhattan in New York City. After truck driving I worked in construction and attended night school. Got certified to Journeyman level in 5 different building trades. Spent 54 days in pretrial confinement awaiting trial on a misdemeanor offence that has a maximum penalty of 10days, and i was found not guilty at trial. Back in my truck driving days in the mid 70's I was living in Massachusetts and I rented a room from Jan & Ken. Jan was working civil service at the base where I finally discharged and she had just been assigned to work in the area where I had worked. I spent months sitting at the kitchen table helping her with her paperwork and teaching her the job. About a year later I moved away and we were out of touch until three years ago. I found out that she retired with 36yrs service on the base. I was living in Ohio and Jan and I talked on the phone a couple times a week for over a year, until last August when I moved to Mass and she and I are now together and havig a blast.

Hello, I stumbled across this forum while looking for some gardening information. I have lived in Playas de Rosarito (Rosarito Beach) in Baja California since 1986. From what I am reading, there are a lot of misconceptions regarding Mexico. Yes, there are currently problems with the "Narco Wars" and the border cities are experiencing more crime due to so many Mexican nationals being deported from the US. The "Narco Wars" are not something that Mexicans worry about in their daily life. Most of the persons getting knocked off are other bad guys. The average person is not being shot in the street. On the other hand, the US deported Mexicans, many who are criminals, are having an effect on life here along the border. We are experiencing more home burglaries; car thefts (which there were very few here until the late 90Âs); and, the occasional assault. Our police chiefs have a hard life as they are out to clean up the Narcos and the newly arrived criminals. Some of the chiefs get killed! Still, our crime rate here is well below that of San Diego, Los Angeles or any other medium to large size US city. We, who live here full-time, adjust our life to fact that this is the third world. What does that mean? We stay away from "crazy" tourist joints; make the communities where we live "hard targets" so that the petty thieves and burglars stay away from us; and, we heed the State Department advice of not driving around in the wee hours of the morning. The majority of visitors that have problems in Mexico make their own problems. They give the cops bribes instead of paying tickets at the station; they get drunk, disorderly and set themselves up for robbery or shakedowns; they do things that people living in third world countries would never do and because of their actions, these visitors experience problems. Before traveling from the first world to the third world, people need to know the difference between these worlds. ThatÂs how one stays safe. You are familiar with the rules in the US. A lot of them work the same here. People in the US that go to bars in rowdy areas and get drunk and disorderly get into fights and are sometimes rolled! People in the US experience burglaries; narco shootouts; gang drive-bys; dead people turning up in trunks of cars and bodies buried along the highway. They have school shootouts; postal employees going berserk and lots of other things. I donÂt know about you, but I donÂt frequent rowdy areas or bars in them; I donÂt get drunk; donÂt pay bribes to corrupt cops; stay out of narco or gang areas and try not to do things that might cause me to wind up dead in a car trunk or buried in a shallow grave off the road. The justice system here leaves a lot to be desired. Yes, the police can be corrupt. The district attorneys are mostly inept. On the other hand, if you get into difficulty on the street, people will respond to your cry for help. They donÂt just look out the window, they turn out in force! There are trade-offs. You make them every day in the states. We make them here in Mexico. Drive-by narco shootings affect us just about as much as drive-by shootings affect you in your cities. Burglaries and assaults bother us more than they bother most medium and big city dwellers in the states. We haven't been used to them. Prior to the past 7 years, most burglaries in my community were those that happened to unoccupied "weekender" houses that tend to be grouped together by the beach. Oddly, these folks never seem to put alarms into their houses. The pluses to living and/or retiring in Mexico are: 1. The tight knit communities; Mexican, American or mixed, you get to choose. 2. The slower pace of life in the majority of the country. Compared to most areas of Mexico, cities in the states are like clocks with their spring wound too tight. 3. Lower cost of living, although, the border cities are experiencing an upward push in prices. 4. Magnificent places to visit throughout the whole country. 5. If you live in the northern border region of Mexico, you can drive over the border and you have access to everything American.. 6. Most areas in Mexico are a gardenerÂs dream! 7. The Mexicans are friendly, gracious and have big hearts so long as you arenÂt an "ugly American" type of person. My point is that Mexico is by far a safer place for most people coming from any medium or large US city. Look at the Los Angeles newspapers; then look at the Tijuana newspapers; you will find that you are by far safer in Tijuana than L.A. DonÂt get caught up in the hype about Mexico that is printed in the US newspapers. I read US newspapers; watch US satellite TV; and, if I were to believe all the hype in the news about the US, I would be scared to death to set foot there. Read your newspapers and look at what you see from the viewpoint of a foreigner that might want to retire in the US. It would be scary, wouldnÂt it? I would be afraid to put my grandkid in school as he could be blown away by another student with an AK-47, a scenario that you wouldnÂt see here. If you are looking to retire down here, be discerning! DonÂt leave your brain at the border as many do. DonÂt flash your money; be overbearing; or, put people down because they donÂt have your financial wherewithal or education. Take the time to see how things are done down here. DonÂt believe what other "retirees" tell you about visas, bank trusts, rules, law and customs or confiscation of property. Most of them donÂt know much about any of that. If you rely on them and donÂt do your homework, you wonÂt find out that they donÂt know what they are talking about until it is too late to keep you out of problems you shouldnÂt be in to begin with. One case in point is Punta Banda in Ensenada, Baja California. The Americans blame everything regarding this problem on corrupt Mexicans. The problem was with the Americans. If they had done a little investigation, they would have easily found out that the land was in litigation. I donÂt know about you, but I wouldnÂt buy land in any country that was in litigation. See what I mean about some people leaving their brains at the border. I have lived outside the US for most of my 56 years. During that time I have lived in several countries. You can live well and be happy in most any country. Some are more difficult than others. Mexico is one of the easiest places in the world for Americans and Canadians to live in. Come down; check it out and enjoy. Now, back to gardening!