Steve in Mass

Oh Geez..... I know the place and once bought some fireworks there on my way back from Hatteras as a favor to a certain member here from Delaware Back in the 60's and 70's, my mother's father's brother (yeah, that would be my great uncle Eddy) owned a farm just up the road from there and raised hogs. Talk about awesome bacon! The stuff in that place......you been taken.....

Cool....perfect spot for it and as long as you stay on top of it, well, you know the results. Unfortunately, I have tried extending or over wintering various stuff like peppers and herbs like rosemary, and with the space I have and the drafty windows and the temps we keep the house in winter, inevitably they dry out and croak usually sometime around Ground Hog day. The rosemary I can get pretty far, but it only thakes that one time to forget to water it and What does it get for light?

That was my most recent experience, although in and of itself it was not congenital, but resulted from the correction of a congenital defect. In 2000 I had a bi-cuspid aortal valve with a stenosis (the original defect) replaced via the Ross Procedure. As expected, the replacement donor tissue pulmonary valve finally started to wear out after 17 years, and developed a leak and stenosis. The replaced the donor tissue valve with a Edwards "valve in valve" trans catheter valve, and everything is fine. While Tufts had been doing TAVRs for quite a few years, I was the very first pulmonary valve they had performed using that method. Those septal defects you mentioned are pretty much what is sometimes referred to as a "whole in the heart", correct? As to the sound, with Tufts being a teaching hospital, over the years I have been "listened to" by a multitude of interns and fellows for them to learn what a bicuspid valve, and then the various different noises of one with the Ross procedure sounds like.

Hardest part is keeping it humid enough indoors over winter.

Hey, I am just interested in what Scott is gonna be lecturing about. I think it is cool he has that knowledge, and am hoping I can learn something from him, and perhaps he can learn something from my patient perspective, having lived with a CHD all my life. And I know his qualifications as he and I have spoken in private in the past. Please don't turn this into a bash SiM thread, again.

GPs, pretty much.......... If they weren't, they wouldn't still be "practicing".....

Best of luck Scott. You have a particular topic you will be addressing?

Kinda figured that is what most meant.

Glad somebody finally said it. I read at least 3-4 times in this thread about them being "cute and cuddly". I hope all realize these are NOT the cute little harbor seals that everyone thinks of when the word "seal" is mentioned. These are huge, dirty, disgusting, disease carrying mammals that, as was said, crap all over the place and further spreading germs and disease. So Bob G saying they are not a threat to humans is not quite accurate. In fact, I am surprised some beaches have not been closed due to bacteria levels from them testing too high.

Looks awesome, Mike. And you subsequent comments are great as well. As I get older, I really don;t want to have to turn beds much anymore, so your comments on that are good to hear. Just so the others know, when I talked about mulching with straw, I used to do it a good two feet deep, so it HAD to be removed in the spring. Time and experience taught me that that was not a good idea.

I used to use what was supposed to be inert straw. More than once in the spring when I took it up I found millions of hay seedlings, and that was a nightmare. Also, if the garlic should sprout before going dormant, taking off the straw in the spring can cause some of the sprouts to break off, especially if there is still some ice in the straw when you remove it. The mulch also lengthens the time in the fall/early winter that the bulbs stay warm enough to sprout instead of going dormant, and the sprouts under the straw are yellow and weak, being devoid of sunlight. Any sprouts in un-mulched or lightly mulched beds are usually dark green, short, and strong and stay that way even thru very cold winter temps. Of course, as much as I can do without snow, a fair snow pack also helps the over-wintering process.

I plant in late October or early November, just as you would tulips, daffs, or crocus. Idea is to get the cloves to set out roots and then go dormant until spring. Years ago I used to mulch heavily with straw, but that caused more problems than it solved. Now I just put a thin layer of shredded leaves over it. Sometimes they will actually sprout before they go dormant, which I would prefer they didn't, but it has never seemed to cause any detrimental affects. And just as you would with spring flowering bulbs, I plant with some bone meal to promote root growth.

Down to a 2 today, but even though the winds have slacked off a bit, the surge and the rain is still going to be an issue and dangerous. They are predicting 30+" in some areas if it stalls like expected.

Sometimes, if I run across one that is marked down cause it is a day or two before the code runs out. Same with "parts" packages. But it is very much to your advantage to learn how to butcher/breakdown/debone your own poultry. Whole chickens are much cheaper than buying the parts, except for maybe thighs and legs. and it really only takes a few minutes to break down a chicken or turkey, and the product you get is much better than what has been butchered by the store (or worse yet, some processing plant.)