>Ed,
>I apologize for being so amateurish, but if the Date Environment means that my freestanding tables are listed in the data section of the project manager (builder), then they are there. I guess that my question should be different: of all the tables listed in the data section, how does a report know which one (or ones) I want to use?
>

The data environment is (in this case) the part of the report that indicates what tables, views, etc are needed, in what order, and how they should be interrelated. Right-click on an empty part of the report, and select Data Environment from the popup menu to get to it.