I'm having trouble w/photos today, the macro lens is hard and I don't want to change lenses. Are these a little better? I put the cam on a monopod, bumped the ISO, used external flash, and dialed in an aperture of f14 to get better DOF, and still they're not too good. Tear off the brown? That's easy enough. But it hadn't rained that much before, and Hettie, my new rose in a pot had it, ruined a photo I submitted to HMF actually. Seems ok with her now. I finally planted the two of her, same general area, and no sign of anything wrong yet, no browning on blooms. I am SURE I have powdery mildew on Gruss and Thomas Affleck on the east side just don't want to take any more photos and am fighting for room on both my hd's until I clear tons of stuff off, which will take forever to sort through. Can I spray those with Lysol before it gets any worse? The humidity since that rain is terrible, more rain expected, so high humidity will be an issue off and on, mostly on, throughout the rest of the summer until fall when it eases up. This rose, and I'm not sure which pink one it is, bloomed beautifully, now this. Although it faces south, this rose got enough sun to bloom its first flush, nice blooms, but it does get more shade than the ones closer to the street.

How firm is the beeswax that the rest of you are using? The only Bee's Oil I could find locally was at Williams Sonoma. It is very soft, so there is no need to heat it up (tho I tried--just out of curiosity. It didn't really melt at all--just got warm). It has the texture somewhat of a shea butter cream. As soon as my hands rub it, it melts into the counter. If it were more solid, I think I might get frustrated with it, and switch to regular mineral oil. I use it as hand cream in between the SoapstoneSpaTreatment (trademarked--tho I didn't coin this term--someone else here did. Who?) My feet could really use a spa treatment. Thinking...thinking...Can't figure out how to do that without slipping and falling. We need to get some t-shirts/bumperstickers made: "Real stoners use their hands" "Have you rubbed your soapstone today?" "My parents went to Punta Gorda and all they brought me was this soapstone" "My other counter is made of soapstone too" "My soapstone is silkier than your Chipman Middle School Honor student" etc Can't wait to see more pictures! I can imagine how stressful the waiting and wondering has been (will it fit? did we template right?). Thank goodness it turned out so well! Hooray!! Francy

Groundhogs are known to eat only a few inches of the stem and not touch the upper part and leaves. I haven't tested or had experience with hydrangia and groundhogs so I don't know if that is on thier diet. I do know that groundhogs love sweet pea vines and will decimate an entire row by eating only a small part of the vine that lies between 2 and 5 inches above ground level. To protect new plantings from groundhogs and rabbits, surround the plant with a guard made of sheep or very heavy chicken wire. The grids should be no larger than 2 inch square and the wire heavy enough to push into the ground. Form the wire into a circular shape and tie with wire or bend over the ends of the cut ends. Trim the bottom to leave long open spikes that will be pushed into the ground. If you find the guard pushed over and the plants nibbled even though it took some force to do so, suspect a deer. A "two legged" animal (vandal) can also do damage, but their damage is usually non-specific and spread among a variety of unrelated plants, unless it is spite.

What a pretty girl Wallis is...I couldn't turn that face away either. I can't imagine tossing an animal out like that...how awful. I love the name Wallis too....I need to remember that name for the next pet I get too! Deb