They literally have covered my lupines flower stems, last year and this, appearing right after the lupines are done blooming. The stems are wall to wall aphids. Portions of the leaves are covered with a sticky liquid from the aphid activity. I guess we must not have had many lady bugs :-) Last year I sprayed them with a little insecticidal soap. This year, I just cut off the stems (which are ugly at this point anyway) and left about a foot's worth of leaves. Most of the aphids were removed with the stems, so I'll just wait to see if they come back.

Jeepers. I WISH it was only going to reach 90 today. We apparently aren't going to see temps that cool again until the first week of September. And at that, I was commenting to my husband this morning that we've had an unusually mild Summer here in the CA Central Valley. I haven't had but a few days all told when I had to water my potted patio plants more than once a day to keep them alive! Well, HOT truly depends on what you're used to. Plus, humidity makes a difference. I think our dry heat is easier to tolerate (as long as one keeps guzzling water) than the heat+humidity they get some places. It's easier to get heat exhaustion/stroke, mind, if you DON'T drink enough, but it surely is less sticky and uncomfortable.

thejimbar, that is too funny. We are 100s here in Vegas and pool is 90 using a solar cover at night. We can usually start swimming in May but this year was late June.......... sigh ....... life is just getting back to normal. My son was attacked in broad daylight for the $10 bill in his hand and his jaw was broken on both sides in April. HIs jaw was wired shut for 7 weeks and I spent most of my time pureeing and straining food so he could "eat" thru a straw. He was unwired June 4 and it took a few more weeks before he could eat solid food. On a good note the pool was so warm from being covered so much, a few weeks ago he had a late night pool party for all his friends who got him thru all those weeks of pain. He's 23 and missed his birthday while wired shut, so DH and I rearranged the yard to they could swim and play beer pong ! It was new to me. 2 of his friends brought actual beer pong tables. We got away to San Diego for a few days last week for a late BD celebration and one of the bars on the beach had a whole beer pong room of tables. Anyway sorry for the long read. Finally getting to use the pool again, life is good. Barb

remodelfla, gr8day - thanks!! msrose, chiefy76 - Here you go, not final but making progress. I am not happy with the outlets in the pantry, think I will decouppage these so that they are much less apparent. michoumonster - No special finish on the fireclay tiles, this was just the way they came. Hi a2 - thanks! Did you say you were finished? Wahoo! IowaCommute - thanks for the kind compliment, of course I was worried about not being happy with these, it took forever to select our final choices. I think I can accessorize and decorate around these, when I want a change, so no, at this point, I am not worried about growing tired of these. Decouppaged outlet I should have used plugmold - curses!!!! Also, don't like the grouted vertical corner line, stands out too much. Need to lighten...