OMG! No phone! That's my connection to the rest of the world! I can stay in touch while I weed,clean or doing laundry. I can't imagine, what happens if there's an emergency? I would be terrified! I have the option to answer or not so it doesn't bother me that it rings too much! Annie, your killing me! I love those pics. I keep going back and looking at them. I thought I posted a good box, I guess not.LOL Tracy, where did you go???? Fran, it's getting close for your turn:]

I think while it initially helped them, the spring rains maybe played a role in the demise of my Daisies. When I pulled them up, I was surprised at how small the root systems were. While I did mix in some compost in the planting holes, my soil is builder issue "red death". As I understand this is basically the clayey scrapings from the bottom of gravel pits. Sounds like for Blackfoots to thrive, they really need to be on rock or very well drained soil. I noticed a neighbor that had some a few doors down had the same problem, Oh well, I'll cross that off my list... My wife's happy they're gone anyway. Even at their best she thought they looked like ditch weeds. :^P I'll just keep on trying until I find things that stick. While it's nice to try new and different things, there's a reason why plants like lantana and cherry sage are so darned popular. As time goes by, I've found the safest bet, while not exciting, are the plants you see growing everywhere. While I thought it was so rough gardening in a cold winter climate, I now realize how spoiled I was up there. We had great soil and normally adequate rainfall throughout the growing season. That's the part that caught me with my pants down. I knew it was hot here in the summer. I just had no idea how droughty the summers are and how poor the soils are around here. Oh well, at least you don't have to shovel sunshine!

The portion of the house that my plants are in is half underground. We run central heat at about 70F, but it stays cooler downstairs usually and that room in particular has all the vents closed. I'd say with big circulation fan blowing on them it's probably in the mid to high-60F range, probably closest to 67-68F during the warmer weather we've been laughingly calling 'winter'. I don't have a thermometer in that room but the living room registers a solid 68F most of the time. Might be a bit warmer considering the lights -- they are LEDs though and do not give off a lot. Probably just got lucky. The rest of the pieces are doing nothing except a few that are possibly molding. Do not quite have the sterilization washes down. I'm a clumsy gal and while my brain understood the concept, my hands were not always as quick to obey, haha.

I can't believe where we were with this just one year ago. In case anyone is interested in a followup, the Coretec floor is holding up just fine. I have a large and rambunctious dog who often slides all the way across the floor and I don't see any scratches. The cabinets are Sophie's old favorite(ha ha ha) Fabuwood. They have been absolutely great. They're deep, the crown molding looks great, nothing binds or sticks and the finish is very washable. So there you have it. Yes, you can have an entire kitchen, including taking down a wall and a peninsula, moving a door and a refrigerator, done for $20,000. In a week! Is it a Houzz worthy $100,00 kitchen? No. That would be ridiculous in my modest over 55 neighborhood. But if you have a modest budget, don't be discouraged into believing you can't remodel your kitchen for less than $50,000. You can. Here's the proof.