i know the feeling jenny! this month i finally had to give up my 3 year old stream because i just can't keep the raccoons from breaking down the sides. i have made the sides stronger 2 times already- once a year in spring it seems to get destroyed, and its a big job to crawl around and rebuild it. like you, i'm getting too old for this! keeping leaves cleared out was also a constant chore and every once in a while the pump would get clogged up too. so its gone now and the former stream is a nice little garden path. oh well, it was lovely while it existed. why don't you first try discontinuing all the pumping in your pond and see if it will be ok without it? i have never in about 10 years had all that filtering in my big pond and it seems to do just fine with only a small pump in it to bubble and move the water around a little. my plants and three remaining goldfish (raccoons again!) are thriving and the water is clear. maybe you can enjoy your pond for more years without all the hassle. min

It sounds like you have a lot of work ahead of you, re-potting everyone... I wish we lived closer; I'd pop by to help! 100 adult bulbs plus offspring is a lot of bulbs! I'm very glad that they all "weathered" the elements and insects well... those were my biggest fears, and the main reasons why I decided not to bring my bulb family outdoors this year. I lost a Sprekelia bulb to rain and insects, and their seed pods earlier in the season, and that was enough for me! I think germinating and growing the seeds outdoors worked out really good, though... my little seedlings are doing well. They'll winter under lights, and I may take them outdoors next spring to grow... we'll see what the future brings. The perennial seed harvest is going well, and very soon I'll have seeds to send your way! I've got several varieties and types of seeds drying out a bit right now... once I get them in envelopes, off they go! I'll be sending seed packages to several people... use what you like, and share or discard the rest. Most are from perennials I grew from seed or division, and most are cottage style garden plants in a plethora of colors and sizes and shapes! Good luck with your potting, Lizalily... I sure wish I could lend a hand... but I will be thinking of you, and sending those good thoughts your way! :-)

Hi Everyone, I am closing this now so we can go ahead and get it underway. As usual, I will notify everyone as the packages arrive and again as they are mailed back to you. Please keep in mind that you'll be getting at least 10 extra packages back so please include enough postage. Also, I am hosting a month to month "Getting to know you swap" The details can be found at the Round Robin forum where this thread is located. It will kick off in the beginning of June. Your welcome to join us. Thanks, Kelly

I have been without a kitchen for 5 months already, and we have been lucky because it really has not been bad at all. I live in a very old house, and we had a small sitting room at the top of our stairs on the second floor, where we had built in bookcases. It is not really a separate room, per se. It is almost like a very wide hallway between all the bedrooms, and it has a fireplace and two bright windows, and built in floor to ceiling bookcases. So we moved the loveseat out from that small area, and it was just big enough for a kitchen table. We rearranged the books to clear up a couple of shelves for paper plates, cereal, etc. We also used the fireplace mantel for storage. We cleared an area at the top of the stairs for a small refrigerator, and a small cabinet that had been in the basement. We still have our full size fridge/freezer downstairs, but wanted a small fridge nearby for essentials. We put a microwave and a two burner unit on the top of the cabinet. The toaster is on the bookcase. The only thing we really miss a LOT is the sink. So we mostly use paper everything, and wash what we must in our bathroom sinks, which are too small. It is a pain. I highly recommend finding a place to set up your kitchen table somewhere in the house, even if it is in the basement. I think we would be going crazy if we had to eat on coffee tables, etc. And if you can set up far away from where the work is being done, as we did, that is even better. We stored our kitchen stuff mostly in brown boxes in our dining room and in another small parlour on the first floor. We shoved a lot of stuff into our china cabinet, too. We can access things if we need to. And we can still eat at our dining room table if we have a lot of people over. It has not been that big a deal at all. My house looks like hell, but we can cook almost anything we need to between the burners, microwave and toaster oven. We can still sit at the table in a civilized way. In fact, I'm going to miss having my kitchen on the same floor as my bedroom. It is so much easier getting ready for work in the morning, not running up and down the stairs all the time. Don't forget to keep plastic containers handy, and real knives, and a few large bowls. Aluminum foil and plastic bags also. I never dreamed it would be five months later with no kitchen, and I'm very glad we went through the trouble of moving furniture around to accommodate an almost real kitchen.