Marks explanation make perfect sense.

If my scene only had the Ground Plane and Particles falling onto it, I could simply do the trick he suggested in earlier posts, where I create another plane but make it invisible.  The Particles will fall through the invisible plane partially and will look as if they are ontop of the solid plane.

Since I have other objects in the scene the particles will not interact with I need to utilize the method of converted objects.

I just got back from a concert and its late at night I will try this method and report later :)