By 'red berry tree' do you mean the crabapple? Here's what an article at the Arnold Arboreteum says about that one: ----- When the topic of fruit size and persistence comes up, crabapple detractors frequently trot out the poster child for obnoxious fruiting behavior, Malus 'Dolgo' (ignoring the fact that its large crimson fruits are great for making tasty preserves). But it would be disingenuous to paint all crabapples with the same brush. For example, crabapple selections like 'Jewelcole' ('Red Jewel') and 'Donald Wyman'produce bright red, extremely persistent fruit that eventually fall from the tree, but only after they've dried and shriveled to one-half their original size. Others like 'Snowdrift' and 'Bob White' drop very little fruit thanks to the work of opportunistic and grateful birds. And on those sites where fruit production of any kind is forbidden, fruitless selections 'Spring Snow' and newcomer 'Jarmin' ('Marilee') are viable options. ----- At this point the tree in the park isn't big enough to produce a lot of fruit. The link to the article the quote is from is below in case you're interested in crabapples..... The vine in the church pictures is a trumpet vine - I suspect it was planted by someone other than the original architect. The arbour is planted with a rather random collection of vines.... Trumpet vine is very vigorous and troublesome by throwing up lots of root suckers and being very hard to get rid of! While the color of that one works well with the color of the brick of the church, it is likely to be a maintenance problem in the future. Here is a link that might be useful: article on crabapples

I planted a bell pepper in "the thing" and more bell peppers in my raised bed. I planted one eggplant in "the thing" and one in the raised bed. The bell pepper and the eggplant in TT have made one little vegetable each and the ones in the raised bed are still just flowering. TT does not seem to be drying out at all. At the end of the experiment I will post pictures. The pepper plant has grown up tall and is shading the strawberries that are planted in the very top. Outlook may not be good for the berries. TT was hard to fill. I shoveled it full with mostly leaf litter and black dirt from the yard that probably has chicken poop composted into it.

This is already a large house with lots of square footage. DO you use all of it or is there wasted space in the shape of formal rooms you rarely use? To me it makes sense to reconfigure the space you have and make it all work for the way you live. So I'd vote for plan 1. I've seen people remodel by adding on a kitchen and family room and then their dining and living rooms become museums. Why spend the extra money to add on living space when you can repurpose the living space you already have? And ask yourself how large does your master suite really have to be for a room that you sleep in and stores clothes? if larger means a seating area do you really need that in a house with a den and a living room? On the issue of fewer bedrooms hurting resale I can offer the advice my realtor gave when I asked her about converting a small bedroom into a master bath, which would take our house from a four- to a three-bedroom. She said buyers would always prefer a house with a master suite to a house with four bedrooms but only one hall bathroom and there would not be a drop in the value of our house. But that may depend on your location.

I do not need to see 157 different photos of your family if I am merely calling on you to talk to you about the neighborhood association meeting to be held that weekend. I'm NOT your friend. I am a social acquaintance, a term which it seems is not understood in these informal times . There is a different level of interaction expected between someone you barely know and a member of your own family. I feel sad having to explain that fact. It should be self evident that you do not treat strangers as you would your family. The distance from A to D is much further than from A to B. As an acquaintance, I do not expect to be invited into the family areas of your home. Nor do I want to be. It would make me extremely uncomfortable to be in the middle of rambunctious kids playing baseball indoors while your husband reads the newspaper in his underwear. Those displays of poor manners are for those who can stomach them---supposedly your family. Although I could not stomach them in my own family, I suppose someone somewhere doesn't mind, as all formality has been excised from all social interactions and hourly play by play commentary of one's own self importance has become expected, ala Facebook and Twitter. I do not need to know that a work acquaintance is experiencing a bad bout of stomach flu, especially the number of times the affliction has gripped him. That experience was the last time I logged in to Facebook. I prefer not to want to know any intimate details of my acquaintance's lives. That is too closely akin to pornography in my book. TMI. If I were interested in more personal details, the acquaintanceship perhaps would progress to friendship status if the other person agreed with the change. This would leave a still further layer of family status to be pierced. It appears to some to be a quaint and "ridiculous" notion that I can know you and not be your friend or not want any more forced intimacy with you than I have to endure. Braggadocio photographs of your dreadful family fall into the forced intimacy category if they are in the foyer or formal living area of your home where you invite guests that are not family. You are forcing an intimacy that does not exist, and I prefer not to exist. Your living room is certainly "your" home, but it shows a lack of sensitivity to fill it full of objects that would make casual acquaintances feel uncomfortable. I have zero interest in viewing your KKK memorbilia, your daughter's shadowboxed placenta, and your cheesy fake canvas "oil painting" photographs of your children's graduation. Was it so surprising that they were graduated that you need a daily reminder that they actually passed that milestone? These displays are private and are offensive to me because I do not know you well enough to see these items. Frankly, after seeing them, I'm certain that keeping my distance from any further deepening of the acquaintanceship is probably the wisest course.