"Hey, are you me, or am I you"? "Tag, you're it". My Tiger is so big right now, the leaf is about to break, I fear! Just one made it out of the 5 eggs I had. He has that leaf so scrunched up about him, it looks like a wad of green paper. He is on my Wild Cherry. Congrats on your beautiful female, Sandy! I need to check my pecan trees. I have a couple that are getting big, and I don't think I can reach the top branches on it, but maybe they will be nice and lay eggs down low. Elderberry is also used, and I have a stand of it, too. The hail did some damage, but I have lots and lots of fragrant blooms on it this year. Good job! Susan

On the subject of planting leaves. I did this same thing this summer. I had been to my local nursery for the late season sale and spotted an American Hero that appeared to be sporting. Sadly I already had one in the ground at home so i passed over it in favor of expanding my collection with many others. The plant in question had two "crowns" (correct term for hosta divisions?) that were fully two inches taller than the rest of the regular white centered leaves and were dark green with even darker green margins. I told myself it was probably just reverting and i probably wouldn't want that particular plant anyway. Of course i looked it up when i got home and discovered American Hero to be a sport of Revolution(a plant with even more white than AH). I went back the next weekend, found it and bought it. I brought it home with the idea of splitting the larger division off and planting it separately. Imagine my shock when the two tops simply popped off with the slightest manipulation of the crown and fell to the ground. I was somewhat depressed and just put the AH in the ground hoping that what was beneath those tops will return in the spring and just set the two amputations off to the side. The next day i returned to the scene of the crime and as I was examining the amputated crowns I noticed some cracks in the soil near my Whirlwind and thought what the heck. Stuck em in the cracks,packed em in, gave em a drink and proceeded to watch them for two months in which they never wilted and even outlasted many of my non-abused plants when the colder weather showed up. Needless to say I was impressed and have my fingers crossed for next spring. So, no, Sheila you are not alone P.S. my mom is from Bloomfield and my dad hails from Yankton.

I have an Asperger's grandson. When he was very young, he became attached to a piece of green flannelette. As he grew, that piece became smaller and smaller until almost gone. They were visiting one time and his mother asked if I might have something to replace it with. But it had to be that specific shade of green. Well, the stars were in our side because I had a good sized piece exactly the right shade.. He is now 24 and I am not sure if he still has a piece in his pocket for comfort. Probably. So I think your little minky blankies will be comfort for a long time. Theresa

I can't really picture the finished look you're after so I can't help there. But 4x2 is awful tight, especially because you'd better be doing some sort of an insulating "liner" inside the firepit (fire brick is better than a steel liner, and you can find black firebrick) or else you risk cracking your concrete slab. Regular concrete and late night wood fires aren't best buds. Killer views, and I think the firepit helps lead the eye to them. But the expansive views make the 2 ft width feel all the more dinky and undersized. Go bigger. As long as I've been at this no one has ever said "dang Dave I wish we went smaller". Not for nothing but you could also really play up the view to the distant horizon by making the far edge slightly narrower than the one closest to the house, really force the perspective. At first that's what I thought you did, but I think it's an optical illusion caused by the patio shape.