yeah, it's in my favorites, too. I e-mailed the same person who is responsible for the study of the tires used in the gardens. To his knowledge, there hadn't been any danger and if there was a possibility of snakes wanting to make a home, there would be a few things to counteract it. If you choose to pile the tires for planting, then the inside could be lined to discourage any snakes trying to get inside. Check any and all tires before even beginning to use them. See, I wouldn't have had that concern because we only have little garden snakes around here. In eastern Washington, there are rattlesnakes but I'm on the west side of the state. It isn't the dry flat lands of the desert type of land. Anyway, check tires. Then choose how you plan to use them. The way I want to do is to use only the actual part of the rubber that touches the road. Everything else is cut away. It leaves strips of rubber to work with. The same idea used to make sandles. When the rubber is in these strips and laid out, they're stapled to pieces of wood at intervals, to make a continuous runner, to be set in place. The length, width and height are all a personal choice. Basically, instead of 2x4's running the length of the planting bed, it's flat rubber. One tire width or more high, to make the border around the planting area. That's how I have intentions of using them. I can't imaging a snake wanting to cozy up to that. I think if I had any snakes around like you do, I'd be gardening inside a warm sunny vault of some kind. No way would I be outside any where near that kind of critter. Hope you still try the tire frame beds.

Well Minerva, you made me educate myself this evening! I always thought that if the plastic had a triangle, it could go in that blue bag, but that's not the case. In our municipality, only plastics with the number one or two in the triangle can go in the blue bag. Numbers 3, 4, and 5 are not allowed and I've been throwing them in there. In any case, I won't put pots in the garbage unless they are really broken. I do a lot of winter sowing and since my gardens are hitting the five year mark, I've started giving away divisions so I need pots all the time. Neighbours bring them to me all the time and I give them plants in return. So, in essence, I guess I'm the recycler. We also have a local chain of garden centers which if you bring their pots back, they will give you five cents off for every pot. Their name is clearly marked on the pots. They've proven that it is a possible concept for nurseries/chain stores. As an example, the chain which carries the President's Choice brand name could very well impliment such a program with their Gigantico brand name pots. All it takes is initiative...

Hostagrams, is there anyway you can find another tri can spinner for your new home? I think I'd be tempted to take the old one with me. If you're home hasn't been sold yet take it out before you show it again and it's legally yours unless already stipulated in the sales contract. Thanks for the link too! Plow, sounds like you have a great system going for you. Along with your recycling service. I do say I miss it coming to our home like it did in the city, but it's nice to know here it helps support 4H. It's worth the drive into town. Cyn, now that you mention numbers one and two I should ask if they do more. I was only going by what the city took. Hubby just went up this past Saturday so it will be a few weeks before we go up there again, but maybe they have a website I should check. I'm glad you mentioned that. Thanks! Seasyde, thanks for the link. I'll check that out. I'm so tired of having to cruch them by stepping on them. Hubby has been doing it lately since I wear my Bass thongs all summer long and they and crushing just don't go together. I'd either twist my ankle or hurt the shoes, though they are sturdy (I replace them about once every decade) I don't want to take the chance. Mommabird, you don't mean Columbus, Nebraska, by any chance, do you? Jak 1 sounds like you have a great system too. We have bins just out side the door to the garage, but we were lucky and found a drawer type unit that works great. Never thought of adding shelves right out side the door for purchased bins. At the time we bought ours we were having trouble finding anything aimed at recycling. I'm guessing it's easier now. We found the bin storage at Home Depot for only $19.99 about five years ago. As you can see it's double that now at Wal Mart. Here is a link that might be useful: Sterilite stacking bins

In Korea, almost 50 years ago, nearly everyone lived in single-family homes, usually each in a walled compound. Every home, including city ones, had a latrine in a small shed out back, a hole in the ground, over which one squatted to do one's business. Without contacting the facility: orientals think our habit of having multiple persons' rear ends (serially) touching the facility quite distasteful - as well as unhygienic in the extreme. Only a very few newspapers came into the average village, were passed from hand to hand for reading (reused), and then again for final use after the news had staled (recycled). No problem with surplus used newspapers. Entrepreneurs trundled ox-carts into town and charged householders a fee to empty their latrines, dipping the product with dried half-gourds on a stick, then pouring it into wooden tanks (which were much more durable than steel), which all the foreign community called "honey buckets". They hauled the loads out to the nearby farms, sold the product to the farmers to enrich their fields and scattered it immediately on the land - without composting. We were cautioned not to eat raw vegetables without thorough cleansing, with green ones to be used uncooked washed in water to which we'd added a chemical, as roundworm infestation was almost universal. Something like a third of the population were farmers in those days - with each farmer's holding being something like 3 acres. Many local farmers had been displaced to build military barracks for both Korean and a number of international brigades, airfields, etc. (including Prisoner of War camps which held many thousands of detainees). Refugees mostly had to scrounge a location wherever they could find it - a shack built of scraps over an open drain, high on mountainsides on unclaimed land, etc. So refugees who'd been farmers found it impossible to obtain land to work. In wartime, many businesses, industry and commerce were closed down, so it was very difficult also for non-farmers to find employment. Huge changes have taken place in Korea since those days. By the way - it's important for us to help the Afghans get back on their feet: they've known nothing but destructive war for a couple of generations - and (unlike the Iraqis) have few resources to pay for the rebuilding. By the way, we Canadians have a major lesson to learn from the Koreans - how to live next door to big neighbour(s) for centuries, without getting eaten. I hope that you're all enjoying a summer which adds some new polished facets to the diamond of your being. joyful guy