Ahhh, glad you like it. I have the electrician here today, he is roughing in as he calls it, for the new electrical box, setting the masthead for the power line which comes in from the street. Our old power supply line barely clears the corner of the sun porch roof, which is against code. This time it will be much higher, with a fairly tall masthead. All the (four) old electrical panels inside the house will disappear into one 40 slot breaker box mounted outdoors on the side of the house. Eventually, when we do some work on the driveway, we'll put the service underground from the power pole at the street. We have no need for a wired phone line, although we do have a wired cable service and wifi for internet. The stucco guy is almost done except he'll be back after the electrician does his work to touch up, and to repair the stucco on the fireplace chimney. The flashing on that and the cap is in the hands of our roofer....who is not here today, since we are awaiting the arrival of the new shingles. DH wanted the high quality UHD architectural shingles, so for those we wait for 25 squares to be delivered by truck from GAF somewhere. We have a GAF factory here in Mobile, but it makes another type of roofing....when I was a kid, it had huge bales of old comic books to process for roofing (Ruberoid was the factory name then), and my brother and his friends would jump their fence and pilfer for comic books. We always had plenty to read! :) Also, I made contact with the A/C people, the ones I've done business with for a long long time and I trust them, so they will give the contractor their estimate to do the new ductwork for this job. As quickly as they responded I have a feeling the job is not too small to interest them. They did the whole shebang for my MoccasinLanding house in 1990, including total ductwork and heatpump. and the electrical work for 200 amp service. I know they do good work. Well, my best friend is coming to get the old cabinet handles and knobs, she can use them in her rental house. I will also ask her if she wants the old back door, which is glass with blinds in the middle. It was sized to fit the small doorframe of the old backporch which had been enclosed, and we need 36 inch doors now.

Joanie, what brand of solid surface are you looking at? I have been looking at countertops for 4 months, and have definately found that at least in our area (northeast) granite and solid surface are priced very close. The budget solid surface colors are very limited as well. We actually had plan to go with an LG clor that was on special. I was really drawn to the seamless aspect of solid surface. When the price came in after templeting I was shocked. They charge an arm and a leg for integrated sink and backsplash. By the time it was all said and done it would have been more than a basic granite by about 25%, even more if I wanted everything completely seamless. So I'm back to the drawing board myself.

Temperature during pollination is important if this has already been stated I am sorry. I've read some fruit trees can set fruit with own pollen if the temp is warm out. I've had 3 terrible cool rainy springs in a row and I got nothing but a single plum few years ago. This year was the first real warm hot spring and had a lot of different pollen around also so I think this will most likely be the year. I have some on my tree now that are bigger than big peas and even look like mini plums but I don't expect those all to survive. If the tree doesn't leaf out enough it may not support the fruit and abort like konrad says I think that's what he means,the if it's not ready to support fruit. I have seen trees thin as a twig loaded with fruit and some thicker than 1 litre pop bottles that still won't fruit.

Really?! How awful. No, not in my area that I know of. Once, where I managed a restaurant, there was a mystery spitter. HAwking spitter. In the elevator on the ceiling. On the chandeliers in the main dining room. Had to be a cleaning person, given the fact if anyone saw them during business hours, they'd probably have beaten the crap outta 'em. Never did figure that one out. I'd love to trade seeds. Leave the flowers on the plants, put some kind of paper or something under the plant. Then let winter happen. In the spring the seeds will have had their cold snap and be ready to germinate. The seeds are very hard to see once they've dropped. I have purple, so I'll just let 'em spread. :) I forgot to say I also have fox poop. Chicken poop from the neighbors. And cat poop. Did I mention a full supply of cat poop? And 5 cats who think my raised beds are litter boxes? Convenient, though. Fertilizer and I don't have to scoop. Enough about poop. It's freaking martyphilpot out.