You folks rock!
I'm blown away by your responses. I kept waiting for an email to arrive, telling me that somebody had posted to this thread, but since none arrived I assumed my situation was too complex or bizarre to garner an answer. (It didn't occur to me that i'd forgotten to toggle that email setting.) Stopped by tonight, and lo and behold, Christmas! Please forgive me my delayed response. I very much appreciate your thoughts and will have to go through them, one by one, so I can actually reach comprehension.
My spine thanks you heartily.