They really are the only place in the whole region. You'd think there are enough pets in a six-county area to support two emergency vet facilities, but apparently not.

The emergency vet saved a cat for me about 5 years ago. She was hit by a car just after 6pm and I rushed her there, thinking it was the only place that could euthanize her, because I really didn't think she would survive her injury. They actually stabilized her and I was able to take her to my regular vet the next day. She recovered from her head injury and recovered her sight, my vet called her the miracle cat. It cost about $600 for the emergency vet, which was a big lump for me but relatively cheap compared to the gofundmes I see these days.

For instance, if you're working with bags that hold 2 cubic feet, you'd need about 14 bags.

Topsoil, garden soil or compost are sold in bags that usually run 1 cubic foot, .75 cubic feet, 2 cubic feet, etc. Go to the pages of your local garden supply or whatever store you're buying from, look over what they offer, and calculate what you need from the sizes of packaging they offer.

I have raspberries in a raised bed, also two black currant bushes in another raised bed. Raspberries are wonderfully productive but they go feral quickly -- the advantage of a raised bed is that you can mow around them to keep them confined. The disadvantage is that they'll crowd the bed pretty fast, I wish I'd allowed for more space. The black currants seem to be comparatively low maintenance. I second the notion of planting early and late bearing berries to spread out the harvest, I didn't and sometimes it's a little overwhelming.

IME older siblings who were forced into parentification rarely end up being enthusiastic parents themselves. Alice would be really unusual if that were true.

I'm in SW MO, these are very common. I'm so old that I used to pick them off my childhood home's shrubs for my mother, who'd give me a quarter for a hundred of them.

Current WH resident here, for 18 years, single female. I walk my dog after dark nearly every evening and feel safe doing so, although sometimes drivers and bikers speed through the neighborhood. I do carry pepper spray to protect my dog from stray pitbulls but I've only used it once. I've had unsecured items stolen from my yard but not since I started locking things up. My car (2008 4dor) hasn't been burglarized, but I lost a license plate last year and I believe it was stolen, possibly to replace a paper plate -- there are many on this side of town. Violent crime seems to mostly occur within families. I love that I can afford my house.

I was thinking this population has established itself by reseeding, and OP is lucky, I've tried to get a stand of breadseeds like this but I've never suceeded.

Scraped one to shreds that was stuck to a utility box at Lafayette Park.

It'll take some effort (I speak from experience) and it will be something you'll have to watch all season. Bermuda spreads both overground and underground with stolons and rhizomes, that's why lawn aficionados love it.

I've heard that squirrels will kill and eat baby birds, but I don't think they'd pick on a larger animal.

That looks like a lot of Bermuda grass around the tomatoes. They might be stressed from the competition which will make them more susceptible to disease. Bermuda is pretty aggressive.

I've used Ozark Refuse for years. Their price increases have been modest and justified, they let me use my own container. I can pay by phone or online from a link in my emailed invoice. If they overlooked a pickup they either come by later in the week or credit my account. I've seen other people on Nextdoor complaining about drama from other companies and I'm really happy to give that a miss.

It was a good many years ago (in the 80s), but I had my tubes tied in an outpatient laparoscopic procedure under local anesthesia. I drove myself to and from the procedure, no hospitalization or heavy sedation needed. Planned Parenthood found me an out-of-town provider because the city guys (all guys in those days) wanted their patients to do hospital overnights after general anesthesia. I saved myself that and my insurance co. a lot of money. ETA: I think there's a group on Reddit that lists friendly providers around the US that cooperate with people who want sterilizations. If OP wants to get her tubes tied without informing her arguably unreasonable spouse, she should be able to find a doctor who believes she has a right to control her own body.

I have a single eastern redbud in my front yard, and I wish it was a bit more vigorous. It does produce a lot of seeds but I just weed out the younguns. Even if it was much more annoying, I'd keep it for the sake of the early pollinators.

I'm an atheist but I've attended a Christmas midnight mass and enjoyed it. The beauty of the music, and the meditative state induced by ritual and art is available to anyone without the underlying belief. If only religions were concentrated on giving people that sort of peace, instead of being tools for petty tyrants to control others.

They seem delusional and sometimes way too entitled, but sometimes I think there's desperation. The great value of posting their pleas may be in educating people who contemplate parenthood to think out their strategies ahead of time. As an intentionally childless elder, I'm amazed that anyone (middle class or less,) who has a choice, is brave and optimistic enough to have children in the US now.

I wouldn't. I know rubber tile mulch is starting to be phased out of playgrounds because of its contents, and I wouldn't trust that whole tires wouldn't contaminate soil the same way: "The material can contain heavy metals like lead and manganese, volatile organic compounds like toluene, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The chemicals are associated with cancer and other illnesses at certain levels of exposure." Tires shed a lot of microplastics, too. If you want smallish garden enclosures, you might look into grow bags. I've used them to transition from lawn to beds and been very happy with the results, and they lasted me more than one season even when I left them out over winter.

Women should avoid Mercy for anything involving reproductive care. Absolutely, their ideology will override your wishes and well-being.

There's such a thing as "heeling in:" https://www.starkbros.com/growing-guide/article/how-to-delay-planting

Ask the homeowners if they want you to do this, and where they would want the trees temporarily set. This would be cheaper than getting pots and potting soil.

I'm an older person who wasn't involved in planning friends' weddings when I was younger. I'm astonished to read how much some brides depend on their friends to produce money and programming for their weddings. I may be in the minority but ISTM that if you want to get married, the onus for making it happen the way you imagine rests on you, for both design and financing.

I was just visualizing mowing a mint lawn, and how the whole neightborhood would be minty fresh. You go! ETA: Since you're going wild anyway, you could naturalize a lot of spring bulbs in the mint to give you something to look at in early spring before the mint really gets going.

If you're gardening in a place where you'll be settled for at least a few years, I'd recommend raspberries. I'm in 6B and they're incredibly productive here, if not a little aggressive -- I dig up and give away plants every year. One or two plants can quickly become a thicket, but I'm often still picking a few berries well into October.

I have a book called "Homegrown Tea: An Illustrated Guide to Planting, Harvesting, and Blending Teas and Tisanes," by Cassie Liversidge, published in 2014. There are probably other books on the same subject available, you might check with your public library to find them.