Thanks so much for the response, kimmsr. I know so little about the make up of droppings that I have no idea how safe or dangerous they may be. I do know that they eat right in to the paint on my deck, so at the very least, I want to contain the damage. It's a wood deck with slots, so hosing things down just washes the mess onto my neighbor's space. I don't think that's a good idea, especially since I don't (yet) know how dangerous the poop is. I'm still thinking the best way to go is to put a bunch of potted plants underneath and let them catch the droppings and break them down as fertilizer. Unfortunately, one of the Ceanothus bushes I planted that's right underneath isn't doing very well. I'm wondering if the acid or something else in the droppings is causing problems. I'm really in need of someone with expert knowledge of the properties of bird droppings. I'm not sure if I've come to the right place or not. I'd be grateful for any help people here can provide. Thanks again!

Eileen, I am hoping I will get avocados from a lone tree - I've done it before in Venice, and so it should not be a problem, although I was told that you need two trees or at least another tree nearby in the neighborhood, which I think I have a couple of doors down. I know there were other avocado trees in Venice. Pam, bromeliads are great for growing indoors because many of them do not like too much sun. A lot of them will bloom twice in one season, once they start to bloom. I have all of mine outside for space reasons, and many of them I have to protect from too much sunlight, or else the leaves will get burned. I have a similar problem with many of the orchids as well, especially the Phalaenopsis, which cannot handle much direct sun, if at all, but the flower spikes bloom for about six months! Since I don't have room to grow them indoors, I built some shelves in a fairly protected area outside the kitchen. I've had a bit of trouble with dendrobiums and oncidiums getting burned also, and so I have them in a semi-protected area, and they only get limited direct sun. All of my orchids that are blooming right now (except the epidendrums) are in the house, and so they will go into a separate photo folder that I will create later. Nancy, I might get some more proteas because they do well here, once protected from snails/slugs. I might try growing some from seeds. I saw a lot of proteas in Hawaii also, but none that I had not already seen here. Have you tried drying the flowers? Lars

no! On 10/31, I purchased an expandable dining room table from Appliances Connection at a price of $2,000. Subsequently, I arranged for professional assembly of the table. A few days after its arrival, on 11/22, the assembly professional and I discovered a defect in the table's extension mechanism, rendering it unusable. Immediately, on 11/22, I notified Appliances Connection of the defect and my desire for prompt return and replacement of the table. Due to the table's significant size and weight, I stored the dismantled units in their original packaging outside my garage, explicitly informing Appliances Connection of this temporary placement on 11/22. Despite repeated communication throughout November and December, including follow-up daily messages through their system, emphasizing the exposed, potentially weather-damaged state of the table, Appliances Connection only initiated contact with the manufacturer after a week. Further delays ensued, with the manufacturer requesting video and photographic evidence on which I promptly provided. This unproductive exchange continued for over a month, culminating in Appliances Connection offering replacement parts instead of a full table replacement. This proposed resolution is demonstrably inadequate for a defective product delivered and rendered unusable due to a pre-existing, undisclosed malfunction. Unable to reach a satisfactory resolution with Appliances Connection, I filed a dispute with my credit card company. Subsequently, Appliances Connection provided a shipping label, requiring me to bear the cost of returning the malfunctioning table out-of-pocket. Their stated policy, communicated only at this late stage, contradicts prior assurances and imposes an unreasonable burden on the customer in the event of a defective product. I have challenged Appliances Connection's return policy, highlighting the impossibility of maintaining the table's original condition due to their delayed response and extended exposure to the elements as well as fixing it without any such skillset. Additionally, I refuse to incur the significant expense of shipping a heavy, damaged item when I am the victim of a defective product and its delayed resolution. As of today, I remain in possession of the malfunctioning table and its packaging, incurring financial loss and significant inconvenience due to Appliances Connection's failure to fulfill their contractual obligations and lack of timely remedial action. This review will be left untouched and shared on other social media channels until I receive a full refund and paid shipping label to ship the broken table back.

I love it when I find a new way to make an old way better. Good for you! For photos, I find it amazing how the digital world has changed everything. My kid will never have this photo dilemma. Ha! I guess I'm not very emotionally attached to my photos (the paper aspect, anyway). Many years ago, I got tired of the bazillion mismatched photo albums. I took them all apart, rubber-banded the groups, and filed them all in 2 photo boxes. That was freedom right there...to rid of the album clutter & space. In recent years, I've been scanning the banded photos to my computer, and...*gasp*...I throw away the paper prints. I've whittled the 2 full photo boxes down to 1 box which is about 3/4 full. When I want to frame & display a photo, I go find it, and am able to print to whatever size I want. Crop, fix, and make a so-so print something worthy of framing. I've scanned obituaries, childhood report cards & certificates, and many other paper keepsakes. Paper is gone and I don't miss them at all. They are now preserved & won't yellow further on the computer. If I want to find something, I know exactly where to find the digital document. No digging, no distractions of other treasures in the middle of my search. No mess. I'm able to print or email & share the obits and documents with family who lost their copies. Liberating.