Hello nanner, I thought I'd post a bit about what's been going on around here the last few years. I wish I could say the stone house is done, but it isn't. (I feel very silly about the fact it's not done. We had every good intention of finishing it and we have laid more stonework every year, but other stuff keeps getting in the way, namely, life!) We got involved with finishing and remodeling the quarry garden and a whole bunch of other stuff, like moving the little 'barn' again (for the 4th and final time--at least, that's what we told our son, who wasn't amused!) Last fall, our furnace gave out, so we installed geothermal which meant we had to tear up the entire west side of our yard (about a half acre) and saw down trees, dig up hundreds of hostas and perennials and relocate as many as possible. The bright side of this was the opportunity to change the entire landscape of the front of the house, AND to get more rocks! Our 'digger guy' "C" is still around, too, and he was instrumental in the geothermal excavation and in loading another 130 tons from the local quarry for us. We had "C" make a berm close to the house and that's where we started the new rock garden. We're not sure if it fits in the landscaping or not, and we jokingly refer to it as 'the elephant burial mound' which is kind of self-explanatory. :-) The first pic shows one of the four trenches: Below is a picture of Carl & I after two of the six loads of rocks were delivered. By December 2009, this was as far as we got on the Elephant Burial Mound: I have to take more updated pictures of this garden, especially after the dwarf conifers and flowers are planted. I started a blog about the garden with lots of pictures and all the other goofy stuff that goes on around here which goes into much more detail, if you're interested, the address is: http://krensgarden-karen.blogspot.com/

Thanks, I'm concerned though, the little girl, I thought finally took off, evidently just crawled down the plant where I didnt see her, she's still there. We just had a cold front come thru and the temps are supposed to be in the 50's tonight. I almost brought her in, but they live out there naturally, I didn't just throw her out in 20 degree cooler temps, she's been out there since 5-6pm. Right? Worry worry worry....

i was at the nursery this past weekend and saw wrought iron shepherd's hooks on freestanding stands. this was at a nice independent nursery, not a big box store and they carry a large selection of wrought iron items. you might want to check around at some of the nurseries in your area and see if you can find something similar. here is the nursery that i saw the hooks at, i don't know if they do mail order. :) jiggreen Here is a link that might be useful: country market nursery

Clueless - You didn't listen to me when I told you to get the 8500 because of the better suspension but I am over that now. Hopefully you will be OK with the suspension you have. Despite what some ads will tell you it is not a good idea to stuff the washer full. Depending on the contents, about half to 3/4 full will allow room for the water to slosh and the clothes to snuggle with each other in a happy soup. The clothes also need room to move so the load can get fairly well balanced so the machine is stable when it ramps up to warp speed. Good luck with your new toy. I love my 8500. I think I love the dryer even more than the washer. I can dry all my clothes on Low heat and they are dry in about 10 minutes. Very cool.