Well, like most things "yard" David, there was kind of a stream of consciousness set of posts as I went along this year. But, to kind of tie it together for those who might be interested I decided to overseed this year primarily because my trees were getting big enough to keep the KBG and P Rye (small percentage) doing as well as I wanted. I hadn't done it for a couple of years while trying to battle poa. I cut my grass from max height on the mower (4.5" maybe) down to about 2 inches over a couple of weeks.I usually mulch mow but used a grass catcher to do that. Then I rented a slit seeder and put out 4 lbs of Bedazzle and 3 lbs of Midnight in the sunnier areas and then 9 lbs of Pennington Dense Shade mix (43.5% Camilla Red fescue, 19.50 Integra P rye, 14.5% 7 Seas chewing fescue, 9.5% Boareal red fescue, 9.5% Kenblue KBG). The areas that didn't come in quite as strong as I would have liked at about day 14 I added some Justice fescue and Exeda fescue. I held out as long as I thought I could to plant because it was so warm this fall. Soil temp was 68 degrees at 6" and 67 at 2" inches when I planted and the air temps were eighties and often into the 90's there for a couple of weeks. I had a pretty good germ, probably the rye first, by about day 8. I fertilized at the time of planting with about 20lbs per thousand of alfalfa meal. At about 5 weeks I put out 10 per k of dried molasses (mostly SBM). So, I expect I'll have quite a heinz mix, but with the mix of sun and shade I have now, I think that is what it'll take. FWIW, I have a strip of heavy shade on the side of the house under some burr oaks that I got a pretty good stand up on this overseed, but, it is already weakening. May have to try some of that Shadow Turf you have mentioned over there next summer. Although, eventually, I'm afraid I may have to go to a shade type ground cover there. It was a struggle this year with the hot dry weather. But, its turning out well enough, so I won't complain.

KennyP, I'm with you on the cages. It's as if they were designed by someone who'd never grown tomatoes! I've done some variation of the Florida weave for the last few years, tposts with twine layered every foot or so. The waterbed frames for raised beds are a great idea. Set them in place, fill with soil and you're ready to go. A couple of years ago I lucked into a conversation with the grower for one of the veggie stands in Brighton and found out I was overwatering the plants. He said tomatoes want to be deep soaked every 4 or 5 days instead of the every other day that I had been doing. I've noticed a much deeper root system on the plants since I started watering once or twice a week. How often are you watering yours? Just making sure I got good advice, lol! Your set up is awesome, Kenny! Barb

Thank you for your kind comments. I know some people don't care at all for lamb (Karen, you have a very good reason for not wanting to eat lamb!) Here's the recipe: I love Google! I Googled "Peppercorn Lamb + Silver Palate Cookbook") and.......voila....the recipe appeared! Lots of fun comments about how good it is came up too! Roast Lamb with Peppercorn Crust From The Silver Palate Cookbook The mixture of mustard and three peppercorns gives this roast a crisp and piquant crust. (6 to 8 portions) 3 tablespoons crushed dried peppercorns, an equal mix of white, black, and green 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves, or 11âÂÂ2 teaspoons dried 1âÂÂ2 cup fresh mint leaves 5 garlic cloves, crushed 1âÂÂ2 cup raspberry vinegar (Available in specialty food stores) 1âÂÂ4 cup soy sauce 1âÂÂ2 cup dry red wine 1 boned but untied leg of lamb (about 5 pounds after boning) 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard 1. Combine 1 tablespoon of the crushed peppercorns, the rosemary, mint, garlic, vinegar, soy sauce, and red wine in a large shallow bowl. Add the lamb and turn to coat with the marinade. Marinate the lamb, covered, in the refrigerator, for 8 hours, turning occasionally. 2. Preheat the oven to 350�F. 3. Remove the roast from the marinade and drain; reserve the marinade. Roll the roast, tying it with kitchen twine. 4. Spread the mustard over the meat and pat 2 tablespoons of crushed peppercorns into the mustard. Set the roast in a shallow roasting pan just large enough to hold it comfortably and pour the reserved marinade carefully around but not over the roast. 5. Bake for 1-1âÂÂ2 hours, or 18 minutes per pound, basting occasionally. The roast will be medium rare. Bake for another 10 to 15 minutes for well-done meat. Let the roast stand for 20 minutes before carving. Serve the pan juices in a gravy boat along with the lamb. (I strain the pan juices, thicken w/ a tad of cornstarch mixed with water.......yum!)

The Citristrip was good and wet when I took the plastic off. I use pieces of cheap plastic drop cloth, since one big piece is easier to manage than a number of shopping bags. After scraping it off, i scrubbed it with a soap and water solution and a scotchbrite made for paint removal. I know it didn't attack the stain, as the stripper was till orange despite having been on there about 16 hours. Around here, 1/2 gallon is $20, but it takes about 3 quarts to do one door, thus $30. I found one quart wouldn't quite cover one side of a door. Applying it too thin is a waste of time. We'll see what we decide for a finish. Our powder room is right on the foyer, and I wanted a rustic old door in that spot. It's going on barn door rollers, and I'm trying to find an 'interesting' handle to roll it back and forth. The foyer is small- 6X8, so I don't want to go too dark. It's surprising how light the wood dries- you'd think I got much of the stain off, but when wet, it's very dark and blotchy. Yellow pine is terrible for staining, so I think they used a very dark opaque stain. I imagine these doors came out of old mill houses, and were probably the cheapest door available at the time.