Big red

the skin is kind of pale green, with the purple stripes, and i know thats what they look like when ripe, but how can i tell if they are ripe, aside from harvesting and hope for the best. I have never eaten them before and just got the plant out of curiostity from my local nursery, about 10 months ago.

My infant son passed away 4 weeks ago, in his sleep, at 10 weeks of age. Its being called a SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome). Now, i want to get a tattoo to honour my beautiful baby boy. I am planning on using one of the photos of him to do an outline of his hand, to put over my heart, so he always has a hand on my heart. I dont want the hand to be too detailed, literally just an outline, with some shading, but i would like to add something else, im just not sure what.

However, i dont want angel wings.

He wasnt old enough yet for me to associate much with him, except he loved his baths, had just started smiling the week before, and 2 days before the horrible day, i found his ticklish spot, so he started laughing.

I was thinking of putting a rising sun behind his hand, with his name underneath, because every day that the sun rises, its just not the same without him, but i would like to hear any other suggestions of what you think might also suit.

Would you mums out there feel weird or awkward accepting pre loved and brand new baby clothes if the baby they had been worn by or intended for had died?

Just asking opinions

And, did you eventually succeed?

I had real problems training my doberman to lie down, even now she wont stay down. She will stay, sit and all the others, but she just wont lie down on command. I have been trying for 4 years, but she still wont get the hint.

Do any of you have a similar quirk in your pet, and how did you tackle it?

I have been growing my hair for the last 3 years, and my baby is 6 months old, and grabby, so i decided to go back to super short from mid back length. Well anyway, the hairdresser took a few inches off my super straight hair, and it suddenly sprang up into full blown curls. I have never had curly hair, its been straight since my birth. But we looked at how much of it was curly, and wouldnt you know, it was about 15 months worth, from about when i fell pregnant, Anyone else have something this weird happen because of pregnancy, just curious?

He started having horrible toes about 3 months ago, so to the doctor we went, couldnt do much to treat it because it just went right under his toenails and he was too young for oral medications. After his toenails fell off, topical treatment went much better, and the nails grew back, but the infection has started again. I have started with the topical treatment again, and im hoping to keep it under control, before it needs oral meds. Any suggestions to go along with the antifungal solution (we are using clotrimazole, canesten).

I have a few piercing in the regular spots, lip, ears, navel, nipples and one i wont mention. But i was considering getting another couple of piercings. Im gonna get a dimple piercing, and im fine about that one, but i also want to get 2 matching ones high up on my chest, just below my collar bones, just through and through barbells. I can think of the usual cons of having that sort of piercing such as clothing and the like, but does anyone have any sort of experience they can share with me, things that i may not have thought of, only having the 'standard' areas pierced. Would there be a problem with the tightness of the skin in that area? Healing issues and the like. I just wanna get some idea before i go and see my body mod artist. Thanks, oh and anti body modification people need not reply.

We have been together for 5 years, have 3 children, youngest is 6 months old. He had an intravenous drug habit when we met, but he managed to hide it from me for nearly a year before i caught him out (stupid me). The drug habit has been on and off for years, and as far as i know, he is no longer intravenously using drugs... as far as i know anyway... and he seems to think he needs to hide it from me when he is using. He lies, steals money from me, and generally puts the well being of our family in jeopardy, finacially. I think the lying hurts the most, i could cope with the drugs, if i knew what was going on. He isnt a full blown junky, he can and does quit for months to a year, but he always ends up back on it. I have given him so many chances, but last time i told him that 'that's it, no more', but i caught him out last night, he denied it, even though i was waving the proof in his face. Hes a good dad, loves his kids, and he does mean well, he just doesnt think. Cont...

Short of picking them off my plants one by one, whats a good natural deterrent? They are munching on everything, my broccoli, my eggplant fruits are full of holes, my spinach, lettuce, even my chilli plants. And my tomatoes are looking very sad, the bushes are full of holes. I dont want to use any commercial pesticides, but i might have to resort to them if i want any crop at all. I am desperate and willing to try just about anything.

I have always had luck growing my own eggplant, but this time, the plants just went nuts, they are the long tom variety, (long, thin fruit). I usually grow the more unusual asian eggplant varieties, which have usually got smaller, variegated fruit, on smaller bushes, so i have no problem keeping up with the production. But these ones are just producing far more than we can eat, so im giving a lot away, but even friends and family can only eat so much.

Any suggestions for dishes that can be pre-prepared and frozen would be wonderful, thank-you. Or preserving eggplant.

Btw, i just counted, one bush has 20 developing fruit on it that should be ready in a week, and it still has more flowers, plus thats only one bush out of 7, help.

I have 2 variegated shell gingers in my garden, in a shady spot with good draining soil, in a very mild climate, but they arent doing so well. Theres only a couple of leaves, close to the ground, and they seem to be dying off. They have been in place for about a year, but havent grown or spread much. I have actually just recently moved into the house but the house belongs to a family member, so i know the history of the plants. I have another that was in a pot, and have transplanted it into the garden close to the other 2, but its doing fine (about 2 months). I know they need to be fertilized regularly, but what else can i do to improve the growth, move them to pots?

Ok, my son is 4 years old, the dogs the same age, they grew up together, but i cant seem to get through to him about the proper way to treat the dog. She has always been super tolerant of him, far more tolerant than i am to tell the truth. He is suspected of being ADD, but i am just watching him for now, see what happens when he gets to school. I always try to keep an eye on him with her, but with 2 other kids, it can be hard to watch him all the time. I just caught him, pulling her tail, while she was on tiles, so she couldnt get a grip to get away. She has snapped at him before, once drawing blood, but it wasnt bad, and i dont really blame her, i would have snapped too, and probably done more damage. Anyway, i have tried explaining to him that it hurts her when he does these things to her, tried explaining that if he causes her to bite him again, she will have to go away, tried puninshing him for the behaviour but he keeps doing it. Im at my wits end to try to teach him, help.

What did the dogs ancestors eat? Raw meat.Heat causes bones to lose moisture, boil them or bake them. Less moisture in bones makes for more brittle bones, just like wood, dry out a twig, and it snaps easier than a green twig, with sharp bits. If you store meat for a dog the same as you do your own meat, in the refridgerator or freezer, then there will be no problems. If you buy raw meat for your dog from the same place you buy your own meat, it should be perfectly fine, if you wouldnt give it to your dog, why would you eat it. Cooking food has been proven to destroy vitamins and minerals in food, so its less nutritious. Eggs come in their own little sealed capsules, so why would they be a risk. If pork from a butcher could give your dogs worms, why the hell would you eat it. The modern domestic dogs ancestors were hunters and scavengers, they ate what they could and didnt get food poisoning. The exterior may look different, but the internal physiology is the same. Whats the problem?

Ok, i had my third baby 7 weeks ago, am 5ft 9in, weigh approx 125lbs and am 27 years old. My belly is quite saggy still, i know, give it time, and im working on it. But i have pockets of fat above my hips at the back, and being fairly slim, it looks terrible. I know that after 3 kids i shouldnt expect my body to go straight back to shape, but i want to get a head start on it. Its my body shape to have these pockets, my mother has them and she has never been able to get rid of them. Any body have any suggestions on the best way to at least minimise these spots as best i can, my diets good, and i walk daily, have just started doing crunches again and cardio, but how to tone lower back?

He is constantly climbing up on the tall furniture. Just yesterday he pulled a chest of drawers over onto himself, scaring the daylights out of me, but luckily only a black eye came of it. When i catch him at it, he gets told no and is moved away from the furniture he is trying to climb, but the instant i take my eyes off him, hes climbing something else. He just seems to be really curious as to what might be on top of it. I have taken everything off the tops of furniture. Im just not sure how else to discourage him from climbing.

She is a doberman, 4 years old and has been bought up with my son who is the same age as her. The problem is, she has been ill, on and off, for the last few years, and is finally showing some improvements, but she has never shown any aggression towards my son at all, if anything i was worried she was too tolerant. Well, that changed last week, she bit him on the back, not badly, but she did break skin. He was leaning across her back and trying to get her to take his full weight, so it was kind of his fault. Well, both him and her got punished. But this morning, he had kind of been giving her a hard time for about an hour, just being a boisterous boy, but she hasnt been well the last couple of days, off her food and just mopey, so i separated them. Then he went to sit next to her, and she snapped at his face, no broken skin, but she did connect, scared the hell out of all 3 of us. She was just as shocked as i was. I am thinking about doing some more training with her, but dare i risk it

My doberman found a kitten about 4 weeks ago, it was young, so i assume she startled the mom as she was moving it. She cried and carried on so much, i had to let her keep it (silly dog). Well anyway, i had been bottle feeding it and she has been playing mom to it. 2 nights ago, i let her and the kitten out for last potty break, heard an enormous racket and went flying out the door to see what was going on, and all i can assume was a half wild tom cat was in the yard, and attacked the kitten. My dog defended her kitten, killed the tom,(surprised the crap out of me), got a nasty scratch on her face in the process, and the kitten was beat up pretty bad. By the time i called the emergency vet, got dog, kitten and cat body to the vet (20 mins away), its was too late, kitten was in shock and died not long after we got there. It may have also had a bad heart, according to the vet. Now i cant get my dog off the bed, except to go to the toilet, and she wont eat, she looks so sad, what can i do?

The doctors that she had at the time just dicked around, until i had enough and started demanding, she had gone into premature labour 3 times, they stopped it, did an ultra sound, then tried to tell her she was 5 weeks less pregnant, not possible, she found out at 5 weeks. Just as well i spoke up, or the baby would have died in utero, they wanted to put the birth off another week, she was 36 weeks, there was a huge knot in the umbilical cord. This time, her waters broke, she went into labour, but it stopped, so they kept an eye on her, she was 36 weeks, 2 days later they told her to go home. They did another ultrasound, again tried to tell her she was less pregnant than originally thought, but only 2 weeks less. She went into labour again, but it stopped, so they told her to go home again, keep in mind, her waters had already broken week before, then they decided to give her a cesarean, which she didnt want. How p*ssed off would you be in this case?

You know, the thing done with a hot iron in a design, like a cattle brand, designed to leave a burn scar on your skin. I was just wondering how painful it is, its very painful i imagine, worse than tattooing(?). And i was also wondering, how expensive, and how to find someone who does it in the Perth, Western Australia area.

My baby girl (fawn doberman), has suffered for the last 3 years with skin conditions, at times looking like the dobermans from the game and movie, Resident Evil, no fur, open sores, scabs and scars. I have found a vet who shared my concern that it was more than the mange she was originally diagnosed with, we tested her and it was found that she had an antibiotic resistant, stapphylococuss intermedius infection in her skin, with mange, hypothyroidism and hormone imbalances as well. She is now being treated, effectively, and is looking, and feeling better. She has always been a happy dog, but now, anyone would think she was 5 months old again, i have just watched my 4 year old son playing with her, it put me in tears to see her like this. I have been thru 6 different vets, seen specialists, and 3 years later, she is finally getting better. Never give up on a sick dog, and if the vet you have cant give you a satisfactory answer, find another.