Many (((hugs))) to all of you. Have missed everyone. Thanks for sharing your lives, flowers, family, and pets. Love it! I sure would have enjoyed that plant exchange, Cindee. Our garden club has one each May. It's such fun. I, too, was not with you for the whole summer. This has been the worst ever summer time-wise. Each time I turned around, something HAD to be done. Art class ran into June (which is no good for me). Then it started again in Sept., but I told her there's just no way, so I got a two-month reprieve. Start again this coming Thursday and am taking my 15-year-old granddaughter Katie with me as a visitor. She has awesome talent and is as bad with art as we are with Hippis. I purchased another garden tractor this summer - I now have three and use them all -- there is just so much to take care of. Have also been picking up kids from school - into June this year, and come Sept. that started again. It's 1-1/2 hours r/t which really cuts into my days. Next year they will at least both be in the same school. Now I'm dog-visiting. My friend went to FL for many weeks and her husband pays me to come and be with them for an hour each day while he works. Oh, and I decided a truck would be in order, so purchased my son's 2000 black Dodge Dakota V-8 Sport. The price was right, and this will be better to carry mulch. It was hard to get with the Explorer (plus it's fun to drive). This way I can just drive up to the mulch heap and have them dump a bucket into the truck. Then I can drive it right to the garden that needs it. My days are all just cut up and I get nothing done. Lots of my plants got frosted, and the hippis were under blankets for several 30 degree days. Had some construction going on until beginning of Oct. and could barely squeeze through the furniture stacked around for probably two months. It was not a bad summer, actually a pretty good one, but it was stressful. For the most part I was healthy, and pretty much kept up with things like the 25-year-old I think I am -- not the 74-year-old that I just turned today. I neglected my orchids and many of the gardens, but the hippis grew and grew. I repotted most of them for the sake of better growing medium. I could probably exchange some orchids in the spring if I get a chance to repot. Right now they should be throwing spikes, so not a good time. Also, some Hippi bulbs. I have to say, this has been like sitting down at a nice table under some palm trees with warm breezes relaxing with a bunch of dear friends that enjoy the same things and understand eachother's obsessions. Soon we'll all be sharing tons of gorgeous pictures. I also have a bunch of bulbs coming from RC and want to order some of those on my wish list. But gotta run now and try to dig the rest of my dahlias.

I'm trying to think of a place but nothing is coming to mind... There used to be a place just on the north end of Ruskin but I'm thinking they're closed so it must be some place else. Tell us if you find it ok? Suzanne

Thank you so much for letting us know here on this forum. I was already aware because I like the veg forum. He is/was a dear man with much to say about gardening as well as about life. He will be missed by many, including myself. Onward and Upward, Mr. P.

So... today I trespassed a bit. I was just too curious, I had to go peek in the windows for myself. Unfortunately my phone was dead so I couldn't take pictures, but here are my updates! The curb appeal is much better in real life than in the picture. The roof was much steeper than I was expecting - it reminded me a lot of Allison Ramsey's Holiday House (but a derelict version, of course!). I was right - it was absolutely a dogtrot. The center hall is beautifully proportioned, better than I had hoped. Wide, with a lovely view straight out the back. The baseboards and trim were plain and wide, very nice. Re the siding: the paint was peeling everywhere and a number of clapboards were damaged, but I tried to push my nail in on a few spots and they weren't soft. There were a few spots where the eaves board (?) was broken/dangling, and the metal roof was faded in a few places. Structurally, I don't have enough knowledge to even venture a guess, but other than some sloped porch steps everything seemed plumb. EXCEPT: the old stone chimney was missing some stones, and there was a crack running through a portion of it. Honestly, the chimney did not look safe whatsoever, and I think it would have to go. I was also right re. dating the additions, etc., because I caught a glimpse of a pink bathroom through a back window :) The oddest thing about the house that I saw were the floors. Except the one room I posted previously with the wood paneling (which was in an addition), it seemed as if the floors have been covered in concrete. Of course, I couldn't go inside, but the front porch definitely was concrete and it looked like the same material was continued inside. It was almost as if the house had been built on a slab - but it is definitely on piers. The view off the front porch was lovely (though overgrown) - I saw at least two very old live oaks in the front yard. Attached is my rough floor plan. The outline/dimensions are from the property appraiser's site, the porches are in blue, and the greyed areas are the ones I couldn't see through windows b/c I was too short. The back screen porch was inaccessible b/c the door was locked. Yes, that front room is really really big.