So more news... I registered for my annual New Year's meditation retreat. Well, actually, I started the registration process. I have to call after the appointed date. (done) They send a registration packet. (still waiting) I return the packet. They confirm my registration...it's complicated. Anyway...I called the info line to hear the introductory message...and discovered that as a part of my registration, I will need to submit my personal Y2K readiness plan. Say what? This is a silent meditation retreat. No computers are involved. It's about sitting & breathing & realizing that you're sitting & breathing. But I need a Y2K readiness plan. The organizers are concerned that the power may go out. If the power goes out, then there's no water and if there's no water, there's no toilets and no way to prepare food. That means everyone has to be ready to leave the retreat early and have someplace to go to that's Y2K-compliant. Hence the necessity of preparing a Y2K readiness plan. So I guess I'll put one of these together...kinda like an earthquake plan, I guess.

btw, we had one of those recently: a 5.0. I felt it pretty strongly. I heard it before I felt it. That's the first time I've heard an earthquake instead of just feeling it.

My last email talked of my battle with the San Francisco Newspaper Agency. Actually, that's one of two battles I am fighting at present. The other is with the ants who are feeding the scale bugs that are eating my lemon tree. I like the lemon tree. I don't particularly mind the ants except that they swarm up the tree and feed the scale bugs which is killing the tree. So the ants have to go. I don't particularly want to put poison in the yard. I've been trying this sticky goop as a barrier against the ants. The instructions say to wrap the tree in paper, place the goop on the paper and then the ants can't crawl the tree to feed the scale bugs. The instructions are right. The ants don't crawl over the goop. They crawl under the paper.

Well, if there's ever a problem that seemingly can't be solved, what's the answer? Duct tape. Duct tape it is. I wrapped the tree in duct tape and put the goop on top of the duct tape. That way the goop (which is a mild poison) isn't in direct contact with the tree but the ants can't crawl underneath it. they just pile bodies onto the goop until there's enough dead ant bodies to create a bridge over the goop. Tonight, I decided enough was enough. When I look at the trunk of the lemon tree, it moves with all the bodies of ants swarming up/down it.

I brought out the boric acid. I put it on cardboard and watched. the ants ignored it. So I picked up a stick (with ants on it) and placed it in my boric acid trap. The ants drowned. Dead ants are my objective however, I think it will take a lot of boric acid to drown all the ants. I picked up a bigger stick with more ants and they at least seemed interested. We shall see if this has any effect on the ant population - and, by extension on the scale bug population and the health of the lemon tree. If boric acid works with the ants, maybe it will work with the San Francisco Newspaper Agency.

Stacey