Dawg....I paid the first HM for approx. 12 hours of work @$12 an hour(of which only about 7 hours was spent on the GH foundation, the other hours he spent putting up molding inside and other misc jobs because when he came back the second time...it was very windy). The second set of guys promised to finish it for $200. 2 of them spent about 6 hours and never came back...and he has NEVER come asking for any $$$ Plus he left his ladder here...bonus for me I say...OF COURSE, I'll give it back to him if he returns...but I sure wont be paying him for a job that someone else did. The neighbor has not charged me anything...and I have baked him cookies...and have offered to take he and his wife out to a nice dinner of their choice and time. I've debated about offering him $$$ I suspect he would not accept it...but I'm not sure how to approach it...Any thoughts on that notion? I still really appreciate your very generous offer...I just knew my DH would have done a double back flip if I had actually accepted your offer....Just think of what he would have thought!!! Having had some OTHER MAN...travel from SOME OTHER STATE...not to mention (from his perspective) a TOTAL STRANGER....(of course having interactions with you here as well as via email...I know that you are no STRANGER than me :) ....ha ha.....The divorce would have definitely cost me much more!!!!! But you are a doll for even considering such a proposal

Dear Shelly, If Myrtillocactus could feed the world (and it can, you know - its berries are tart and tasty), we will look to you to supply cuttings. I know you're up for the challenge. As the others have suggested, you might consider cutting the offset just below the end of the scarred portion. Normally, offsets from this plant are best taken at the joint, a phrase, I grant you, fraught with possibility but at the moment meant botanically. Leave it around for Morgan BestKitty to admire and plant in the spring (you plant it - Morgan has better things to do, I daresay). I'd suggest a more-porous-less-peat mixture for rooting the cutting, but you know best. I'd guess that the single cutting will grow best if that second offset is left on, but you could root that one, too. Your amputated plant will grow offsets again, but there ain't no growin' outta that scar, whether it's old sunburn or (in several of my plants' cases) the residue of alcohol residue left in the sun and seared into the very epidermis, not unlike tribal branding. I admire the shot immensely, because it allows me to be nosy and see what you read - one of the first things I do, as a curious person, when invited into someone's home for the first time. I love the Anais Nin and Fellowship of the Ring next to each other. Some of the jewel's thousands of facets revealed!

Yes, it is ginger. Specifically is is Myoga Ginger (Zingiber mioga). It is the flower bud of this ginger variety that is usually eaten. A pot-only plant, as it was in this garden, in my Northern locale. FataMorgana Here is a link that might be useful: Myoga Ginger

How about some more costume jewelry ... Some pins I've collected over the years .. The horse has Sterling on the back of it. The goldtone one very top right is a Monet? The cattails to the left says "Tenn Silver, B9, E.F." on the back. The one with the orange stone seems very tarnished and I think it says "Made in Gr. Britain" on the back. The straight bar one has S&S on the back? The goldish "s" says "KOP - Stockholm" on the back The "earth" pin has something like @JJ on the back. Same with the Star stick pin. The gold leopard has MMA 1985 on the back. The little black, white and gold cat says "Shambala", somehting Beech? on the back. The colored flowers are newer ... I forget the maker though. I think the one older flower is ivory, how do I tell?