Right now, I need a sump pump...and I live on a hill. More rain in the forecast, too. The weather pattern has changed here - normally an El Nino year means severe drought in Oklahoma. Not this season anyway. With our normally semi-dry to dry summers, I use the garden hose to water EVERY day in most areas and every other day in other areas that prefer dryer conditions. We have our own well, so I can also use the sprinkler without ill affects on my plants. It is just like rain water. The birds, butterflies, bees and amphibians love it too. When I hand water, the birds follow me from tree to tree, so I spray up into the trees and they chirp and sing for me. The occasional tortoise will come out of hiding for a long, cool drink, too. I set the mister on the tropicals and water-loving ferns etc. to keep them happy. This takes all day. I use soaker hoses under my veggies when it is very hot and very dry to prevent scorching and so the water will get down deep where the nutrients are and encourage deep roots. For under my Phlox and roses, &etc., I screw on a fan sprayer and let it run slowly, gently and deeply under them to prevent leaf-scorch, and do this as often as needed. I even water in the winter if it is a dry winter. Soil heave (freeze, thaw, freeze, thaw) is terrible here in Okie, and in dry winters this will kill plants and even small trees and shrubs. And of course, potted plants need a drink just about every day in the summer. That is how I have to do it here to keep mine alive year round. ~Annie

I collect tropicals and I like rare plants. I don't really keep track. I will go 3 mos without buying any then splurge a little when I find something 'good' lol. I know what I do and do not have...sometimes finding it is a different story lol. Chickens like to pull tags off of plants and out of the pots, so some of my older stuff like dragonfruits, I don't know which variety is which, but I know I have 8 different ones and I know the names of which varieties I bought haha. I have started using paint pens on all the pots and UV resistant marker and tree tags or metal tags on the taller plants so they can't get removed so easily. I spent way too much on water plants this spring but I hardly bought anything all winter so.... The seedlings that I have kept careful track of (ones I used paint pens on the pots) are my brugmansia seedlings and other hybridizing projects. I also use a spreadsheet so I know who begat whom on those. I usually give myself 3 times to kill something before I give up. If I kill it twice I will wait to buy it again until whatever conditions I couldn't provide the plant are fixed. Of course, if I get it again for free=that philosophy goes out the window. ~SJN

You could actually do a couple different things. You could have one rod and use hangers. You would have to fold them a bit to fit on the hanger and not drag on the floor, but that's usually how they come from the cleaners. For heavy cloths, use two hangers together for added strength. You could also hang multiple rods at slightly different heights and depths. If you have a walk in closet this works great, but will still work with a reach in. Hang the highest rod the farthest back, then one a bit lower and closer and even a third lower and closer than the second. Then you can hang the cloths right on the rod instead of on a hanger. I like the rod because of it's larger diameter it doesn't leave creases in the cloths. You can also overlap them on these rods. For optimum use of space, you'd need to use multiple rods and overlap. Is that totally confusing?!

I'm in New England -- in wooded hillside with nearby streams and ponds. After dusk, the mosquitoes get wild. I don't have a screened in porch but wish I did. I would sleep there and listen to whippoorwills and frogs and later in the summer I'd enjoy the crickets. I'd breath in the fragrance of the grass and woodlands a d pond. At dawn and dusk, I'd swoon over theusical flute like call of the wood thrush. For old time sake, I'd light a kerosene or Coleman lantern and playing cards or an attic fragrant board game. No screen porch, but large windows with screen in a woodland home. If you are lucky enough to have a screened in porch (floor too), count yourself lucky and enjoy every second on it. Breath deeply. Totally relax.