I would suggest the following as possible resources: -The Free section of your closest Craigslist - Local Master Gardeners group if there is one - www.freecycle.org shows a number of Freecycle groups in Oregon, not sure if any of them is close: Applegate (Oregon, United States) La Grande (Oregon, United States) Hermiston (Oregon, United States) Albany (Oregon, United States) Newberg (Oregon, United States) Salem (Oregon, United States) Brookings-Harbor (Oregon, United States) Bend (Oregon, United States) Sweet Home (Oregon, United States) Freecycle is a great resource to give away things you don't need to keep them out of the landfill as well as to get free stuff! Good luck, you're doing the right thing and you get karma points for trying! tox

Shooting Star is not the same plant as Fuji Waterfall. Shooting Star is a Hydrangea macrophylla (Big-leaf) and is most likely a renaming of H. mac 'Hanabi' (Fireworks) and is sometimes listed as 'Sumida no Hanabi' (Fireworks of Sumida), developed as an indoor, potted plant for the Florist market. 'Fuji Waterfall' is a H. serrata (Mountain Hydrangea, small leaf) and is said to be the same as the Japanese cultivar, 'Fuji no taki', which means "Waterfall of Fuji" The confusion developed when a nursery began distributing 'Hanabi' with the 'Fuji Waterfall' label, whether knowingly or unknowingly and since the florets of the two are similar, no one questioned the name. A group of visiting Japanese Horticulturists, visiting a nursery in NJ, pointed out the error, but it appears no one cares and I suppose they are still being sold with the incorrect name attached. Since the fertile flower colors of both, H.macrophylla and H.serrata, are pH sensitive, you will need to maintain the current acidity level of your potted plants, to retain the blue color. A small amount of Aluminum sulphate, applied 2 or 3 times each year should suffice. but be careful not to apply too much. Fertilizers containing a small amount of Sulphur can also maintain the correct pH. One of our daughters gardens in Zone 9 and she has had very good success with Hydrangeas. But living only a few hundred yards from the Atlantic Ocean, she rarely has temperatures that exceed the 100°F mark, but 90°+ temperatures are quite common. All of her Hydrangeas are grown in full shade. Good gardening! Rb

In stark contrast to bevangel's take on the economy based on the new postings, here is the reality for us in WV: nothing will appraise in this market, so it looks like we are done. We had one plan and got a low appraisal, so we downsized and cut back on the high-end items to make the numbers work only to be told by the bank (small regional) that they weren't writing construction loans any more (of course, after we jumped through their hoops). Took it to another bank who was working with our builder and said it would work, shouldn't be a problem, and now the appraisal is $85K less, in just one month. Despite our rebutting what we thought were obvious flaws and mistakes (e.g., using an 18-year old log house and not adjusting for age/condition; land value comps using small unrestricted lots advertising "double-wides welcome"; not using 2 recent MLS land sales at prices similar to what we paid), they mumbled something about it being a less than perfect process and the number was not changing. I guess those already building have a different market or more cash than we do. If you have a plan, but haven't had an appraisal done, better sit down and think about a plan B. In hindsight, I guess I should have done more due diligence than relying on the "experts", builder, banker, etc., who were all optimistic; never a "we might quit doing construction loans, depending on market conditions in the next few months". I have another builder friend who said he has had five new house projects also fail b/c of the low appraisals. So, we will have to decide whether to hold on and hope it gets better within 2-3 years, of course at much higher interest rates and probably build costs, or settle for a good deal on something for sale and eventually sell the lot we like so much to at least break even. Sorry for the Debby Downer rant, but that is our reality. Thanks for all the great advice, comments, place to vent, and maybe it will all work out. If anyone has any ideas on how to beat the system, I'm all ears. Good luck to all!

Lily, thanks for the suggestion to try Ollie's. I swung by there tonight and found some good cards at a great price. I also bought some Paula Deen cookware to give as Christmas gifts. I didn't have time to look at all the books, since it was close to closing time. This was probably a good thing. :-) SteinMart is another store I never heard of. They'll all probably get here eventually......