Here's a little tid-bit for all of us wine lovers. Ever wonder how vineyard owners tackle the rodent problem? Imagine what hoards of voracious mice, voles and gophers could do to those lovely grapes. Unfortunately, rodent-icides are not exactly what you want in the soil, so vineyard owners have a lovely solution: BARN OWLS. By placing barn owl houses (big bird boxes) on poles throughout the fields, the resident owls take care of the problem. Simple, natural, elegant. (Now when we visit a vineyard, we'll know what those boxes are all about.)

Today we continue our theme from Monday, responding to Pard's 2♣ opener. We want simple clean solutions, just like vineyard owners.

We saw how we always bid 2♦ UNLESS we hold BOTH 8-plus(ish) points and a solid gold suit of our own.

We are going into the second level of bidding. We have many choices, and all are tempting. We can support his suit showing slam interest with the lowest possible raise (Principle of Slow Arrival). We can name a new suit, which shows a NON-solid gold suit and mild slam interest.

Or we can give a "double negative" by rebidding the lowest minor available at the three-level, showing no fit and no points and NO NO NO anything of interest.

Let's see what awaits us.