Kathy, 104 degrees? Oh, I feel terrible for you. You really can't do anything in that kind of heat and the plants must really suffer for it. At least I can still work in 65 degree rainy weather. Hang in there and hopefully you'll get some relief soon. In reference to the questions on the pavers they are a thick blue slate from either western VT or eastern NY. We saw 2 pallets of them and bought them immediately. I've never seen them anywhere around here again (we bought them about 7 years ago). The slates are laid right on top of the virgin soil (which had been severely compacted by a bulldozer during building). The paths probably look pretty neat because my DH just finished the project (yes, after 7 years!) this spring. We started years ago and got halfway done and I just didn't like it. I think it was because we had used a whitish stonedust. We just stopped the project and thought about it...ummmm.....for 6 years! LOL! We were just about to rip it all out this spring and put in a more formal pathway when my DH found a bagged product called leveling sand. We bought it at our local Ace Hardware. It was a blue-grey color and that really worked for me. I think it looks much better because there is not as much contrast with the stones. Heavy rains do kick the sand up onto the pavers, but it can be swept off if necessary. The texture is a lot like stonedust as opposed to something like play sand. I think the only way to have a truly neat and tidy pathway is either brick or formed pavers fitted together. However, I do like the seedlings that come up in the path, and I think in a cottage-style area you can get away with being a little less tidy. We did look into a product called Gator Dust which is basically a stone dust that actually hardens in the cracks. I've attached a link in case anyone is interested. It did sound like a great product for certain projects. With the frost heaving we get up here I didn't want a cement-like product in the cracks. Here is a link that might be useful: Stone dust

Do you think the oil comp.'s are producing this cold and damp? insted of oil? The wood stove got cleaned so dont wish to dirty. so keep putn on the heat.I'm usin more oil in the last two months than in Jan. My timing on putting things outside have not been good. My nesturshums two hangin, put one outside and it almost died from sun and heat but recovered. the next went out in the clouds but now(and it wes lookin good and strong) stems are dying- root what ever. so bummed. I harvested the seads last year and was so happy when the second batch of seads grew. First batch did noting. I had never had them befor and fell in love with them. so did the hummers. Perhaps I should think of a water garden? If ya cant beet them, join in and swim with the ducks? Please stop dancin... some one has got to be sleep dancing..LOL

Neighboring friend loaned us a 2 bottom plow, it hadn't been used for YEARS. Rust, rust and more rust. Tried it out tonight on son's tractor and it worked just fine. Of course, after it shines up soon, it will work even better. So far, we've picked up 4 grain wagons of horse poo from another neighbor, only about 1/4-1/3 of the pile. I counted the JD's bucket to fill the wagons, each wagon held between 7-8 full buckets. Everytime we go to get some, we blow out another tire. Well, I guess, we're finishing off those tires. Who knows how old they were. Marla

Melissa, We went to Tulsa today and it was raining when we left and raining when we returned. My husband said he is now suffering from hydrophobia. The worst part was from Afton toll gate to almost Big Cabin. Cars and truck were pulled over on the shoulder because the visability was so poor. South of there it was OK. My husbands sister lives in an assisted living home in Colorado and she normally comes once a year for a visit. She likes to take the bus because she can go to the first relatives in Arkansas, then they take her to the next, then we pick her up. She was scheduled to leave Joplin today. Of course, I couldn't get any info from Joplin but finally did get a recording that said there was no service from there. So we took her to Tulsa and she is on her way home. Craig county is getting it worse than we are and mesonet has recorded 9.63 inches since midnight. Our mesonet reading is 4.58 since midnight but we have been in the donut hole a few times with the heavy stuff not coming right across us. We are getting heavy rain right now but it looks much worse down in Cherokee and Adair county, so I think they will get a lot of rain tonight. The Cheapo Depo area was OK when we passed, but we didn't go down the street by the park. You can probably fish the park from the McDonalds parking lot soon. LOL I checked the lake level this morning and again tonight and it has come up a little over a foot with 9 gates open. The flood control pool is only at 26.68 percent so that looks OK. There is not much coverage of the tornados that touched down in Delaware county because all the reporters seem to be covering Joplin. I have seen several different reports of damage in Cleora, West Silome, Zena, and some more structure damage on 412. At first they were saying Flintridge, but I never heard that confirmed. You guys be very careful because I think we have another night and day of this. There are flash flood warnings everywhere in NE Oklahoma and NW Arkansas. My plan is to be at home until it is over.