Deebs, I have 5 trees planted, 2 in the back, but it'll be awhile before they get large enough for the birds to nest in them. They used to use my large climbers too. With all the cats they'd have to make them up really high. One is a redwood though hitting close to 20 feet tall now, not as easily climbed so maybe. I can't distinguish really between all the worms on the roses, most eat holes through the buds and eat the roses, others the foliage too. I'd like to think the ones I miss are eatting aphids:) Duchesse, they tried to petition the subdivision owner on the claim they didn't know the ponding basin was going to be there. That's a lie, I went through the same process they did to pick the house I wanted. It was right there on the site plan and the layout. In fact we paid extra to get a larger lot to be sort of behind it, about 20ft. They bought their houses knowing that was behind them, they were all sold at a premium price for that much yard. They wanted the basin filled in. Won't happen, by city law there has to be a basin at each new subdivison for the water to go when it rains to help on flooding. The only activity I ever see at the basin area is a couple times a year they come through with a tractor and take out all the weeds. The basin is home to mud ducks and others and geese off and on all year. I like to hear the honks and bullfrogs over dogs barking anytime. I think some of them walk around and squish them on purpose. I saw one of the neighbors vacuuming them up with one of those shop vacs one year. These are all relatively young people that have never owned a home before. They have no idea what they're suppressing and the price they'll pay. They just want to complain about nature. This was a walnut orchard and home to all the birds in the past. I imagine there are so many toads because nature is responding to the masses of white flies. I imagine over time the number will diminish especially with all the poisons/chemicals they'll put out on their yards and bushes. Sorry, pet rant:) I've admired your roses and gardens Patricia, I'm only resistant because they've already ruined those roses, I can't reclaim that now. It's too late. That one rose in the pics above is Irresistible, a mini. There isn't a bud that doesn't look like that. I found 14 ladybugs on it yesterday. The white looking bush behind it is a floribunda hitting over 5' tall for size on this rose. You can barely see the canes behind the redwood even taller. This was last night and these bushes just don't photo well for me in the sun and not enough light, but it gives you an idea of how large. I did try the flour on some of them yesterday skipping where the ladybugs were. That was almost as much fun as blasting with water, some were startled into flight. Some washed off easier, but others are crammed into every nook and cranny of the buds and leaves and new growth. It irritated the bees, lucky they don't like me:) As far as Murphy's Law goes, I was too pleased with early spring and all the healthy looking bushes. I was last year too and spider mites devastated them about this time. So, yeah you better knock on wood, LOL* I know what you're talking over on the Hover Bees but I think they're called something else, Deebs, still I have all different colored ones. Dark green, light green, stripped not stripped. This one had stripes too, from last year's infestation:) I have a terrible memory so if I find one of these, I kill them. Thanks for all the help, I do appreciate all the advice and thoughts on this. Patricia I may yet resort to that spray.

Besides ensuring I use a cold water setting, I always pull my jeans inside out before washing to preserve the color from fading. Then I hang to dry and iron them when they are just barely damp, for a crisp polished look. Alternately, if I have a load of dark clothes ready to go into the dryer, I throw my 'non-dryer' clothes that dried by hanging into the dryer with the wet clothes. This takes out any wrinkles they got from hanging and fluffs them while they are tossed around in the dryer. I have never had them shrink by putting them in with the wet clothes, as long as they were completely dried by hanging before adding them to my wet load in the dryer.

I have washed Brahms Mount cotton blankets using the pillow cycle on my Miele 3037 and a Brahms Mount wool blanket using the handwash cycle. I put the cotton blankets in the dryer on medium and removed them while still damp to finish drying neatly folded. The dryer was not used for the wool blanket. Washing them this way was successful. I have not been brave enough to try washing an alpaca/cotton throw. My concern is that the two fibers may react differently to the same agitation/water temperature/detergent/etc. Perhaps you should talk to someone at Brahms Mount to find out why dry cleaning is recommended. Also, they may have positive or negative feedback from customers who have tried washing the blended products.

RN, the sequins and beads were sewn on to lace. They lost none of their luster in the wash. I was afraid if i soaked just the bottoms of the gowns the soaked fabrics would behave differently from the unsoaked fabrics and trims, so I pushed the entire gown into the machine for the soak and wash. Every bit of the black dirt on the hems and trains is gone. One girl was married in a garden so you can imagine what that was like, the other was married in a children's museum and the wine drips on the front are absolutely gone! I only air dried the gowns in the dryer for several minutes to get the layers fluffed, then hung them on doors to dry. That took days! I fluffed and readjusted repeatedly, but in the end both gowns are perfect and we saved hundreds of dollars. Re The cleaning and preserving: My own gown was preserved in 1968. When we opened it before my eldest dtrs wedding in 1996, all the silver baguettes my mother had sewn on my lace had turned black, and the little seed pearls had lost their luster. It was awful, completely studded with black spots, so useless for any purpose at all. For some reason, I saved it anyway! We Good luck with the project!