Sadly, no blackeries here in zone 4 but we do have awesome red raspberries and what wonderful jams, jellies and pies they make. They prefer to grow in thickets too and you feel like you've been fighting 100 cats when you get your pail full. Really not sure they are much better than the tame but sure taste better because of the struggle you have to go through. Buffalo berries will soon be ready and that makes my all time favorite jelly, Doubt that they grow anywhere except on the open prairie. Oh, botanically they are Shepherdia argentia, a realitive or russian olive. Yes, they are armored with wicked thorns but the flavor is wonderful. Kinda of a hint of scuppernong grape plus strawberry and perhaps lime. Many years ago we tried making wine from them. Not so good, much better as jelly. Then the wild plums will ripen next month and we will be there with our buckets for the wonderful, conserves, jams and jellies. You have to beat the coyotes, coons and even badgers to them though but this year it looks like there should be enough for everone. Oh yes, the pheasants and prairie chickens love them too. We did go down to the hard hill canyons south of here and get enough wild currants for jellies , thay are so much better than the cultivated varieties. Again you race with he wild life to get the fruit but there sure will be enough for every living thing this year for the fruit. Also the sand cherries will be ready soon, really not cherries but a small tasty plum but again so tasty in jams and jellies.

I had a couple of pink flamingos in my yard for awhile. I named them 'Tongue' and 'Cheek'. They finally died. I think of,embarrassment.

raenjapan: hmm, interesting thought on the pantry door. do you know if you can stop them in any position or do they always swing closed. i'm having visions of walking into the pantry and having the door swing shut behind me. i'll have to think on it. napagirl: i'll go scour the FKB islands and see if i can find the sink you're talking about. i think moving the sink might make sense from a better use of the prep space, and maybe even a better source to fill pots from for the stove, etc. would it make a difference if i said we're considering making it the location of the filtered water, so people might be coming to that end of the island to fill a cup frequently? i think your point about the 42 b.i. being 'equivalent' to the space of a 36" standard is a great one. we have a 36" french door standard in our current place now, and the thing i run out of most often is actually freezer space. but i think i may end up with a small chest deep freeze out in the garage. we'll see. in the mean time i'll add in the bev. fridge to the sketch-up. my builder will probably tell me i can't afford it ;p. thanks for the picture of the boot bench, i'll add it to my file. celticmoon: yup, the 'new' layout measures 12' 4" across by 15' 1" deep, not including those bump outs. 2' 4" of that 15' 1" would be the depth on the fridge and oven stack. i hear you on the oven/micro stack, DH will definitely have some things to consider there as a) he's the one who's jonesing on the advantium and wants that to be not under-counter and b) he's the baker. as far as the dining room table goes, i think it will be ok. it will normally probably be in whatever the smallest configuration is and i'll offset it a little from the center of the room if needed. the big opening on the left of the dining is the great room, so the plan has always been to flip the dining table into the lenthwise direction extending into the great room when we're entertaining large groups and the dining table is fully extended. since a dining set is one of the few pieces of new furniture i'm planning on getting for the new house (i'm tired of my very functional but very 'meh' block top hand-me-down), so i'll just see if i can't find something a tiny bit narrower too. several of the farm/harvest trestle tables i've been eyeing are in the 38-40" width. thank you all so much again and i'll eagerly read anyone else's thoughts, layout ideas and opinions! happy holidays to those celebrating, lori

Well, alrighty-then. Here we are 8 days from the mailing deadline. Everyone on schedule? Lola - backhoes and dump trucks Dianne - boats and airplanes Meima - rockets and submarines Amy - trains and ? Georgia - Indy race cars and semi-trucks I have all my fabrics, patterns and the boat squares cut out. Hoping to have them all ready to mail by Monday. We're making 5 and mailing 4 to Georgia to distribute, right? I'll need your street address, Georgia. I'm very pleased with the patterns I've chosen. Can't wait to see everyone else's. Dianne