1) The Royalty planted Sp-09 fruited little last year but grew some 4-5' primocanes. This June, those canes produced a handsome harvest of very large, yummy berries, As the harvest season progressed, the size grew smaller. this year's primocanes are up to 5-7' long, guess I'll have to re-think the trellis. Oh BT, our lowest temp. last winter was 0 but there were several nights in that range, the tips were never even pinned down and there was extremely little tip die back. 2) Planted 28' of Caroline Sp-09 and got little fruit that year. Currently, the entire bed is FULL of 4-6' tall canes chuck full of blooms and newly formed fruits, I am looking forward to a bountiful harvest picking standing upright (got the trellis up high enough). Planning to mow the spent canes to the ground and mulch them heavily with mowed leaves late this Fall. 3) Reliance has done very well, didn't make the mistakes of years previous and have about 140 fruit to show for it. Too bad the hail and wind (welcome to life in Tornado Alley) thinned the crop and damaged it. Next year I'll try leaving more fruit on to try reducing the pit splitting, maybe we won't get any fruit thinning wind and hail, that would be a treat. 4) Haven't had to consider irrigation till now as it was rather wet up till about 3 weeks ago, since then it has been low to high 90s and no rain. It is a real treat to not have to irrigate here and a rare summer to have to start this late. The chipped wood mulch under the trees is doing a good job of retaining moisture, areas outside the mulch are already bone dry down to at least a foot. 5) the best news, with the dry, hot weather, a lot of the stink'n skeeters have died and are no longer making life outdoors a miserable chore.

I have Comcast and HGTV is part of the Expanded Basic package. It is channel 32 in my area--of course, that could be different everywhere. It's good these shows are on but I'm sorry they are repeats. Gardens change so much over time. And many gardens I visited some years ago are very different now--better, because of the greater interest in gardening and the money that can come with that.

Good morning everybody. Lucy, your family is wonderful. Andrea is so beautiful and happy holding the two angels. Lucy, you must be very happy to have your family around you. I miss mine. Karyn, glad the party was successful and you had help with the kids. Last night I dreamed of my mother who died 7 years ago. I do not remember the whole dream but I remember only a portion of it. We were flying (why ?) and she was holding me close, hugging me. I could see that we were about to land on a water . The wind was pushing us towards some big rocks. The water was clear, I could see the rocks in the water. I was telling myself that we will smash and hit our heads into them when we land. We could hurt ourself or die. My mom was guiding me in a way that we landed on a rock and had only our feet in the water. I felt so protected. In a couple of hours I'll go for my surgery but before it I came here to say Good Morning. Hope everything go smoothly and my mom will protect me like in my dream. I have to go now. Have a great day all. I'll be back soon. Pat

Both of my grandparent's homes remained the same from way before I was born until they passed away (I was an adult with children for all)⦠even though my paternal grandfather owned a furniture factory (burned down before I was born) and furniture store. They could have had the newest, etc but kept the same furniture for decades. I think part of it was that generation did not feel the need to keep up with the Jones' and/or they were more easily content - not influenced by what was new each year. They were savers, not spenders, but had the money to do both. Their homes were cleaned and maintained. My father owned furniture stores for several decades, yet never replaced their original furnishings purchased after they married and restored a condemned home (late 1950s). Furniture there went to the next house (1970) and more was added (much larger home). Yet when they built their current home (1985) the original upholstered pieces bought in the 1950s came with them, and were recovered. Some things were sold that did not fit the house (DR and MBR) and replaced with then new that they still own 29 years later. Both just turned 80yo and things will stay as is until their deaths. Their house is far from dated, unkept or not taken care of (couldn't find this referenced in the other thread). DH and I started going to antique stores when we first married (33yrs last week) and were in our first house just over 20yrs. We still have (and use) everything purchased then and since. I tend to buy pieces that can be used in various rooms/in various ways. That said, I also tend to not move things around once I get them where I want/like, but this came in handy when we built 8yr ago. As far as empty rooms, we have only ever had one of those. When we purchased our first home we had two very small children, then added a third baby. When she was 1yo, we furnished the LR, so for the two years prior they got to ride toys and play in there when it was raining. But we stayed completely debt free, so it was worth the short wait. I don't know what changed in our world to make so many of the newest generations watch trends, change their homes more often, etc other than more access to the ever changing decor (trends) via TV, magazines and the internet. While I don't have any of our original upholstered pieces and my taste has changed from being a newly married early 20s yo to mid 50s, I would never want to or even think about getting rid of everything to start over. I believe my final taste/style was acquired 15 years ago and isn't going anywhere.