Shane

I had nine pansy plants of varying colors in a large planter. They were flowering fine and I was picking off the dying blooms regularly. The plants themselves look fine. However, instead of pansies I'm now getting VERY tiny little white flowers. Imagine a daisy about half an inch in diameter.

I have pansies in two other pots and they aren't doing this.

What's wrong with my pansies and is there a way to get normal flowers again?

I've discovered two things.

1. That I really enjoy trap shooting. I'd always been a rifle girl in the past.

2. That it's hard to tell how I'm shooting "off". High, low, what???

Are the tracer rounds made for trap/skeet any good as a training aid? If so, do you have any recommendations on good brands?

The house that we rent out had a fire. I've already informed the insurance company, there's an adjuster coming out, and the tenants are staying somewhere else. If anyone else has been in this situation, I'm wondering if there's any helpful advice for us. Should we drive 10 hours to check things out? If so, when? How many repair/restoration estimates should I try to get aside from the one my insurance uses?

I'd planned on doing other work to the home. Can I have a contractor do that work at the same time and split the billing appropriately, or will that screw up the insurance and tax stuff?

Please provide any additional ideas. We've never had a big insurance claim and I don't want to overlook stuff. We had previously planned on having the tenants out by April, doing some renovations, and putting it up for sale. I don't know how much this will change things. One bedroom is destroyed and there's a lot of smoke damage throughout the upstairs.

I'm reading a column in Abby where the writer claims that her fiancé doesn't know that she was born a man.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ucda/20070107/lf_ucda/tran...

Are the surgeries really that good? I've always been extremely suspicious of this sort of story, but thought that this would be the place to get the real truth.

Do you think the writer is making up the story, the fiancé doesn't want to know, or the gender transformation was that flawless?

I'm hoping that someone on here has some gift ideas for my parents. They've been boating recreationally for their entire lives, but next summer they're taking the big plunge and buying a boat to live on with their two dogs. They'll mostly be living on the coasts and waterways in country for the first year or two. They're set for a lot of stuff (lifejackets, etc), but I'd appreciate any ideas on something to get them that they wouldn't have on the small boat. Or any feedback on a book that someone has personally read and would prepare them for the new lifestyle.

I'm debating whether to surprise my husband with a shotgun for Christmas. We're moving to hunting country next summer, so I'd like to get him a versatile bird gun to start with. He does shoot left-handed, so I'd greatly appreciate any recommendations from other southpaws. The one I'm currently considering is the Remington 870, since it comes in a left-handed model.

Even if it turns out to not be exactly what he wants, I figure that it's a start and we can always get more. :) I'm a rifle girl myself and fairly clueless about shotguns.

I will be buying my parents' home. We'd like to ask the local realtor to handle all of the details. Should we offer a percentage of the sales price or a flat fee for this service? She won't need to list the house or negotiate anything and the financing won't be an issue, so three percent seems to be a bit much.