Yes, my Rubbermaid tubs have the plug, but I never use it. Had friends that always used the plugs on theres & eventually the plugs started to leak, so I just leave well enough alone. I just wait until the tubs are 1/3-1/2 down & then just tip them over, scrub or rinse, & refill. In the summer I move the tubs into the shade to keep the water cooler; in the winter, I move them into the sun to keep it warmer. While we do get cold temps that do sometimes freeze the big tubs, it's rarely so thick that I can't break it up easily with a hammer, & even then as soon as the sun comes out, the ice melts quickly. I do have one of those plug heaters, but haven't needed to use it here. If we're really expecting super cold weather, I just use a couple of those large muck buckets & keep them topped up with warm water.

TY! I knew the green ones can be brown sometimes but wasn't sure about the other way 'round. The stripe is very distinct. So do you think this was an attempt at amorous activities? I've not seen the 'raised hackles' or deepened eye sockets during such before, but have only caught that activity in person twice (when there was no question what they were doing.) You can see how into their fight they were, (or foreplay, if that's the case.) I was so close to get those pics. Took this pic 9/21, can't remember if I've showed it to you elsewhere or not. I think it had just hatched. It had grit all over it & is officially the smallest one I've seen. It was cool to the touch so I assumed that's why it was brown. Maybe it's an invader. I didn't see a stripe, but wasn't looking.

Thanks! Yesterday, I ended up planting a couple more small pindo palms and another windmill palm and placed an order for 2x brazos blackberries (blackberry x raspberry x dewberry hybrid), 2x 'austin' dewberries, 2x black beauty mulberries, 1x methley plum, and 1x conadroia fig. I've been wanting a black mulberry for some time, but I didn't want want that got as big as a tree. These black beauty mulberries are said to be semi-dwarfing, getting a maximum of about 15'. Only one of them will be planted on my property. I bought two because I heard they were hard to propagate and wanted to give it to someone as a gift. As far as whether or not I'll be able to grow all of this stuff in this area, the jury is still out. Aronia and autumn olives are things I haven't really heard anyone ever growing in Florida before, and the pacific northwest blue elderberries probably won't do well here because of the huge climate difference between Florida and Washington, but I'm going to try anyway. Some of the things may live but not fruit due to not enough chill hours or even having too much shade in certain areas. A good example of something going wrong in the shade was when our family use to have a large persimmon tree, a tanenashi I believe, and when it got to around 20', its limbs started growing toward the sun, and one day, it had so much weight all on one side of the tree that the roots came out of the ground. It did fruit before that but somewhat sparsely. Just another note about getting lots of plants in two acres. I wasn't totally in to all of the small plants and flowers when we started landscaping this place, and I even chose a few wrong trees initially to plant and ended up pulling them up before they got too big. When I say I chose the wrong plants, I mean I realized that there was very limited prime (somewhat higher and better draining - clear from driveways, access, lawn mowers, - full-sun) space and wanted that space for "better" things. Ever since then, I've tried to figure out what would work best at all of the "other" spaces in the property. There are plants that may like low land with full sun, and then there are plants that like shade but don't like wet feet. Finding plants that would work in a low/shady area that I actually liked have been a challenge. Local nurseries generally haven't been much help either. They just say plant some bald cypress, red maples, or river birch and be done with it! The size plants grow have also been an issue even in the better areas of the yard. Thankfully, almost all of my fruit trees are semi-dwarf, and a few are real dwarfs, and they can be pruned down to a manageable size. I'd be lying if I said I always put plants in the perfect location though. It's part of having a limited space and trying to experiment and make use out of every part of it, see what will happen. It makes things interesting. It's disappointing when it doesn't work out, but it's great when it does!

Good Afternoon Everyone!! I'M SO SORRY it has taken me this long to post. Bracing for Sandy, and then, after Sandy...we've been a little busy. But, thank goodness no where close to the aweful devestation in lower NY and NJ. My prayers are with those poor people. We only lost power, a part of a tree went down and some siding blew off the garage. Even with that little bit we are just now getting back into the swing of things. Those poor people I'm watching on the news, my heart just breaks for them. :( Maryanne, so glad the package made it to you. I was a little worried with the way it was a kinda overstuffed, lol. The pumpkin walk went terrific. We did have splendid weather for that. We had over 200 kids show up to claim their pumpkins. For a first year event, we think it was a super success. :) The packages are certainly flyin.... AND...drum roll....PARTNERS.... vina (flowergirl34) sends to maryanne (earthlydelights)***SENT***REC'D*** melissa (hazelnutbunny) sends to vina (flowergirl34)**SENT**REC'D*** maryanne (earthlydelights) sends to melissa (hazelnutbunny)**SENT**REC'D*** michelle (micyrey) and dianne (moonfire) send to each other ***Michelle SENT*** Dianne REC'D***Dianne SENT***Michelle REC'D*** annie (canyonwind) and sue g. (sguanzon) send to each other***Annie SENT***Sue REC'D***Sue SENT***Annie REC'D*** katie (kchd) and shirley (brittneysgran) send to each other **Katie SENT**Shirley REC'D***Shirley SENT***Katie REC'D*** I'm loving all the picture...Blues Brothers are priceless! And, I believe this wraps up this swap... THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE!! THIS HAS BEEN A FABULOUS OCTOBER!! Now, lets get ready for some Turkey...yum!! Talk to you soon! vina