So I tried a no-name (read: cheapest on the shelf) auto buffing/polishing compound, and it certainly seemed to help . . . a lot. I may do another couple of rounds, though, to see how shiny I can get it. I'm trying not to spend too much on this b/c they're turning into Stone Soup projects. My frog isn't so bad b/c I already had the craft paints/brushes on had. But I spent $5 on pennies and waaaay too much on glue for the penny ball. Then there's the spray polyurethane I purchased to coat the penny ball & the froggy ball. And all that is on top of the cost of the bowls themselves. I'll post an after photo when I'm done.

Wow, I saw the finished ones 1st! They came out fantastic! Wondered how cheap plastic was holding up BB's that is great recycling!! You mentioned doing a couple more! That will be nice also could be used to keep people off area you don't want them on. If you get extreme winds there you might drill holes deeper into balls & stick rebar in that will go into ground a little but would keep balls on their pedestals assuming pipes are hollow! Jan

are you hoping for different answers in different forums ... i either dreamed i answered this.. or i did in fact do so elsewhere.. but i cant find it in the conifer forum ... try linking up all your posts.. and give us some answers to the questions i asked elsewhere .. ken

wow... thanks for sharing that info. i am very alarmed about it all too.. but it seems most people are either still in denial or don't care about the issue. it appears to be human nature that no one wants to do anything about a problem until it's right on their doorstep... i guess it's just a hard-wired defense mechanism that has allowed us to survive. katrina was a very good example, ALL the scientific evidence pointed to what was very likely going to happen.. but most people just said. "well whatever, can't worry about it now".. but then when it DID happen it was disastrous and there was much wailing & gnashing of teeth,, people crying "why didn't they TELL US??" and mad at the govt for not warning them or taking care of them. but that's a whole 'nother story,, but just an example of how people in general don't like to plan ahead or think of the future. (then there is the extreme opposite where you have survivalists stockpiling canned gods in a bunker waiting for armageddon! lol) but here is the #1 biggest problem that is SO taboo that NO one can talk about: OVERPOPULATION. it seems obvious to me that every single problem we are talking about in the world-- drought, global warming, pollution, stress, wars, species extinction, illegal immigration, famine, etc. etc. ec. etc. is caused by that one thing, that no one wants to talk about (not that these things can't exist without overpopulation-- obviously they do and they have in the past. but it definitely is exacerbating everything on a huge scale). because NO ONE wants to be told they shouldn't have as many offspring as they want, it's their natural-born right, after all! and if you bring up the issue with a 'third-world' nation, then you're just called a racist. the chinese govt has been the main one cracking down on it, and now it's been turned into a human rights issue there. and it would be unthinkable to even MENTION it in our good old USA, land of the free, where we can do whatever we want no matter what the cost, even if we have to pay the price. so, you just can't win. the only solution i see is if WE can't control our numbers,, then nature is gonna have to do it for us-- and it seems that it will, and in a BIG way. but, it's not gonna be pretty. btw, here in texas folks in cities are pretty oblivious to what's going on around us. out in the country people are freaking out because many of their wells have gone dry for the first time (or in a very long time). we love our beloved aquifers (even though we can't stop paving over them and building stupid walmarts and strip malls and such-- but hey! there's profits to be made!!).. and we can't bear the thought that they actually may be in the process of going dry. actually, most people probably don't care, thinking 'well, you can't see them, so how does it affect me? who cares? i've got my i-pod, let's go shopping!' but you better believe you would care if you can't eat or get any water-- you will care REAL quick, and nothing else will matter. that is, unless you can find your own water source that no one else knows about, and grow your own food! and how many people know how to do that nowadays, or have the land and means to do it? not many! and as all the ultra-rich in their uber-mansions-- not being able to water their perfect fertilized lawns as much as they want (which they do anyway, even when there's water restrictions for the rest of us peons)-- will be the LEAST of their worries. anyway... the next generation will have to deal with this in a big way. those of us from an older generation *might* just get off the hook (depending on your age). i hope i'll be gone before things get really bad.. i can't bear to watch the beautiful lush green earth turn into a desert. it's heartbreaking to think that the same world won't be here for future generations.. but i think if we get thrown back to the stone age it would be a good thing. maybe the earth can get a chance to recover a little bit then.