I live in St. Paul and would be interested in attending a Midwest hotluck if it was in or near the Madison area. Re: feral dogs/other chile pests: I got this crazy idea about a possible deterrent one night after staring at my indoor hab plant growing next to my crown of thorns... engineering chile plants so they had thorns/spines. I know this isn't currently possible as the gene(s) responsible for thorn development aren't known (I believe), but I thought I'd throw that idea out for the plant biologists on the list to mull over. My specialty is in fish development/growth enhancement so I'm not really qualified to start this work in my spare time. ;> Chris \=// Chris Kaufman, Ph.D. //=\ University of Minnesota \=// Genetics and Cell Biology //=\ kaufman@biosci.cbs.umn.edu \=// Phone #: 612-624-4206 //=\ http://biosci.cbs.umn.edu/~kaufman