I don't remember that story. A good time for new year's resolutions, stay away from sink holes, ahh...and take photos this year!

Hi Larry, Happy new year! Hope it is a great one for your and yours. I NEED TO BUY A camera. I don't own a cell phone/camera thingy, so I need to get a good camera. I have a cheap one but I'm so bad at photos that it really is awful.

Story of the Aborigines: A white man bought a huge tract of land in Australia to make a cattle ranch. In the middle of the land was a huge patch of terrible thorns. he burned them, cut them, dug them, they just kept coming back. For five years he worked to get rid of them, and couldn't. Finally he went to the Aborigine elders and asked "How do I get rid of those thorns??" They told him to come back in a couple months. He was impatient, but finally they gave him the answer: "We think you should toss in some apples." "APPLES? Apples will kill the thorns?" Yes, they said. Because maybe in a few years a few of the apple seeds would sprout and an apple tree would grow. it would shade the thorns and make them weak. Then, when a few more years passed, the animals would come to eat the fruit and lie in the shade and they would trample the thorns. Eventually, the thorns would disappear. The white man was dumbfounded; "You expect me to do this? It will take years!!" "Yes," they said, "you had better go get those apples now. You've already wasted five years."

Take life slow and let Nature show you the way.

Best wishes, Annie

Speaking of cameras, mine is on its death bed. I can take maybe a half dozen pictures and everything is fine. Then the next picture will be all red, then maybe the next one all blue, and then green etc. I have been looking at them and like choosing plants there are a lot of choices. Really I don't have a problem finding the camera I want, it is just the price that keeps getting in the way.
Thanks for the story, do those Aborigines know about killing bamboo and poison Ivy?

Maybe in your search for a new camera you could recommend something for me. I can't afford anything too "salty" as we say in PA, but I would like a good, simple, quality camera. Doesnt need bells and whistles.

I bet the apples would work on poison ivy too! Seriously, best way I've found to get rid of poison ivy (my place was crawling with it...areas completely blanketed...is to just keep cutting it down. I am highly allergic to it too, so I usually wait until winter when I can really cover up. I wear work gloves I can just toss when I'm done. Also...if you have old long socks with holes in the feet, cut the feet off and wear the leg parts as "sleeves" to protect your jacket sleeves/arms. It looks weird but it helps. One thing about PI...it has no staying power. If you keep removing the leaves, it WILL eventually die off. I guess you getting a sheep is out of the question? When we kept sheep they cleared off every shred of PI in the pasture in side of a year. They love it. A man from the power company told me that if you have PI running up a tree, cut a section out of the vine trunk...that will kill the overhead stuff. Then paint full strength roundup on the bottom cut part and it will soak into the roots and kill the whole thing. I never did this but that's what the power company uses.

Oh, and in case you don't know...if you come in contact with PI, you have 45 minutes to get it washed off. USE COLD WATER. never wash it off in warm or hot water. USE DISH DETERGENT, the cheapest strongest you can find. dont use anything with "moisturizer" in it. Wash in running water, not in a tub or sink basin. After you've washed, rinsed, washed rinsed, wipe (don't rub) the area with rubbing alcohol on a paper towel and toss the paper towel. I've been doing this routine for years and I haven't had a bad rash in a while (except when I forget!)

Good gardening, Annie