Toni: Luke is just a 'mutt', as they say. The best guess is part border collie and part blue-tick hound. We adopted him about 3 years ago from the elderly neighbor lady. She'd been walking him and fell and was hurt. She asked us to just watch him for awhile, but my then 8 y.o. DD really fell for him, and we ended up keeping him (her adult kids advised her to give him up, and she obliged.) It has worked out nicely, as she still gets to visit him, and occasionally he'll wander over there (we live in the country) and she'll have him spend the night....lol...funny! He was probably at least 2-3 years old when we got him, so he'd be 5 or 6 now, but still has a lot of 'puppy' left in him. He weighs about 75 pounds, so not exactly a 'lap dog'! It has been made clear to Luke that he is NOT the alpha-dog...and we humans aren't the ones who clarified the point, if you know what I mean! Harley (the 11 y.o. small dog)tries hard to keep up with Luke..it keeps him 'spry'! Our dogs chew on grass outdoors, but they have never bothered any of the indoor plants in that way - Harley will occasionally bury a treat in a large potted plant (grr) but that's the only way they've ever really bothered my plants. The cats chewed the ends of the leaves of my Beaucarnea but never any other plants. Maybe the dogs just know better than to mess w/Mama's plants?! (I like to think so)(Ã) jasdip...I'm still thinking 'previous cold-damage', but just my opinion....keep us posted!

This morning I was looking out my window and there were several white-throated sparrows eating dandelion seeds. I got to look at them pretty good for awhile. I'm thinking the bird that hit the window was a juvenile white throated sparrow. The feather patterns are similar, and the orange tint I was seeing might have been the juvenile version of the yellow at the start of the eye line. I have had so many birds in my yard, eating various weeds recently. I guess there is something good coming from our lawn mower breaking down. haha I'm tempted to leave alot more of the yard grow up, but there's things like septic field, geothermal lines, etc. to have to worry about. Anyhow......I think my mystery is solved and I can move on to the next one! :)

I saw on a cottage show on tv that a gazebo owner installed double screens (back to back) which prevented the rain from penetrating the gazebo. I researched this on line and could not find any reference to this. I am going to buy some screen and try it out on one of my gazebo walls. I hope it works and I hope you can still see clearly out. I thought of another idea if the double screen does not work. You can buy clear heavy weight plastic at your local Fabric stores. It is sold in rolls just like a bolt of material. I believe it is sold in different widths, up to 60 inches wide or so. I thought of stapling the sheet of plastic on a 1 inch by 2 inch piece of wood to create a header or top. At the bottom staple a 2 inch X 2 inch piece of wood (the thicker piece of wood would be heavier creating a bit of weight to hold the blind down). Drill a hole on each end of the top header. Fasten a nail or screw in the interior of the gazebo (matching the holes you drilled in the header. Hook the blinds on the nails or screws. When you do not want to use the plastic blinds, you can simply remove them and roll them up by hand and store them. It would take seconds to install these blinds and it should stop the rain from coming in. If you have strong winds in your area, you can fasten the bottom of the blinds using wing nuts. Just a thought..... Cheaper than installing window screens. Also once you install window screens on a screen porch or gazebo it does not feel the same anymore...

As an update, I ended up ordering the ruffled ivory euroshams from eBay. I also decided I prefer to keep the duvet at the bottom of my bed so most of the pillow options I was considering don't look so well next to the ivory coverlet. Once the shams come in, then I will revisit if I want to add an accent pillow or not. I still like the butterfly pillow the best, though it's no longer available, so may just wait until I find that just right pillow. Meanwhile, I am thinking of replacing the gold sheers with ivory colored ones which should tie in nicely with the ivory euroshams. Thanks for all of the feedback!