Sandy, Count me as one of those "teary eyed" people too. Can get choked up at any little kindness or concern! Often even get that way at church services--especially the really moving ones. I love your new tradition. And it is so good for all of us to focus on the good things in our lives. Goodness knows we certainly hear more bad stuff than we need to. I'll go look for your other thread now. Luvs

Hello, thanks und Danke for the welcomes :)! Yes, Jarpe, i want to :). Ken Adrian: The problem is that i can't climb the tree... It's grove is open to the public, but on private ground, the mother tree is about 80- 100 years old and as i say, all the live is on the top few meters, 20 m off the ground. The only chance of getting scions is to cut off the tree, or to patiently wait if squirrels, storm or snow rip some twigs of... Unfortunately in none of the years since 2010 similar strong shoots had fallen down, only some of the weeping, older side twigs, and they are really tricky to graft, only 3 to 4 mm thick and absolutely soft and pliant. In 2012 two out of three graftings had done it, one of these is still alive, the other one was trampled down by cats or playing martens... 2013' grafts brought no success (4 trials), and the first ones in this winter was the four i have grafted recently (we got only two or three stronger storms this winter, none was able to break some scions, and nearly no snow, one day and a half all in all here in our region)... Three of the freshly done graftings are with really big white quantities and one is with very less white, but the buds are vigorous, and if this one makes it, i hope it develops more white in the future. The next similar variety to my find would be P. abies "Pendula Variegata", i think, which i has seen the first time here in this outstanding forum :). I will keep you informed, Andreas

I got the hairy kerii from them, too. I'm pretty sure they weren't offering urc's when I ordered, or I'd have gone with it to save money...though they're pretty darned reasonable, anyway. I got a nice sized rooted single vine. Cena- In your place, I'd be annoyed, too! Six weeks is just too long--- and that had to be well out ahead of their Oct. sale. If it's going to take more than a couple weeks, they should get in contact with you and let you know what's up. From my own experience, I've gotten really nice plants from them, and always promptly-- even within a week of when I ordered. I ordered this month, and was expecting it would take longer this time, what with the sale on, but I sure hope it doesn't take 6-8 weeks. The weather can be getting pretty questionable by that time! It has already frozen here.

Wow, sounds like great progress! Make sure you tell your GC you want to be a reference for him - guys like that are hard to find! We must have started about the same time (we just finished week 4) but my progress is slower since we're doing more. We're adding on in addition to kitchen changes, so we've now got a demo'ed kitchen, new foundation, and framing in progress. Good thing we moved out for the duration! I hope your remodel continues to be as smooth and quick as it has been so far. Do you have an estimated completion date?