Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all the good counsel about various ideas of dealing with my situation. Every single reply was helpful.

Some more questions:

Geoff: What is the "thickening agent" you referred to? I'm told that DG is muddy, sticks to your shoes and will track into your house very easily.

Julia: I left an email for your friend....thanks.

Vicki: I contacted Dell Owens...we'll see what he says.

Someone suggested I take a look at the Patagonia parking lot. I did, but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Just looked like an asphalt parking lot. Perhaps it's porous asphalt? Over the asphalt I saw what appeared to be solar arrays/shade cover for the parked cars ---cool! Was I looking at the right place?

Julie in Ojai