Please don't take this the wrong way, but: Have you thought about taking a class in photography? This is not so much a comment on the above pictures but more a simple suggestion. One of the things my mother did when her husband passed away was to invest in a really nice Nikon as well as macro lens and tripod (she never spent that kind of money on me!). A few months later she took a photography class or two in the Villages and her pictures went from nice pictures, much like the ones above, to framable art. And I'm not kidding, she actually has a few pictures that she had stretched onto canvas and is now hanging on her walls. Everyone who has seen them has wondered where she bought them, never guessing that she took them herself. Here are are just two of the macro shots she took after her classes:

Nice start heather ! I use wood chips for seeding in egg boxes, which I keep wet with a spray can. Never thought about the lights on or off, so can't say. I think the foam floating on water may do well, but is it porous enough to suck up the water? Otherwise keep a spray can ready. Try it out . . see what happens. There's nothing like failures to teach you. LOL

Congratulations! I found mine at a sale for a dance group who were offering it for $10 but I wasn't a generous as you but did up it to $20. It also has the case and accesseries, even a buttonhole attachment but I had to find a manual. Yours is 2 yrs. older then mine and appears to have been used less. Enjoy........I don't use mine much but fun to have.

wantonamara, Looks like a very nice saw with that hi-tech silky blade. Can you tell yet of that bottom sickle is effective at cutting the bark on the underside? Tearing a strip of bark down the remaining branch/trunk as the cut falls away is a problem that is hard to prevent with the standard saws. A noid ~22 ft pole saw/lopper came with our house.... and its two mature fruitless mulberry trees. The 30-something year old blade is rusty and never been sharpened, but still cuts reasonably well after one or two major pruning sessions every year. I have occasionally rubbed (candle) wax on the blade to reduce drag/binding rather than protect, but has rarely been a problem. The mulberrys could put out new branches faster that any other tree I've ever dealt with.... which quickly taught me to catch them while still small enough for the lopper to avoid the additional time and energy needed to saw them later. I have probably made 10 to 15 lops for every sawn cut on "buggy whip" producing trees like mulberry or Chinese pistache; though it's much closer to even with the fewer cuts needed on oaks. This is the mostly lopped pistache pile from last Monday: Most of these branches will be run through the shredder/chipper this week and placed somewhere back in the yard.