Wonderful ideas, everybody! I finally purchased an old wooden door for $15. The bottom half is 3 rows of 3 panes of glass, and the top is empty/open (used to be paned, as well). I'm making it into a garden gate to go under an arbor. I'll post more details later, as the project progresses. Theresa, some other places near Waldo to visit are the Blue Star Nursery in Hawthorne (352-481-3300), south of Waldo on 301, and the Breezy Oaks Nursery (352-481-3795) outside of Hawthorne, a couple miles east of the intersection of 301 and Hwy 20, on Hwy 20. Both are lovely nurseries, but very different. Also near Waldo is the Herb Garden nursery in Melrose on Hwy 26, but I'm not sure what their hours are. You can call them at (352) 475-5475. There is also the Greathouse Butterfly Farm on Hwy 26, between Melrose and Orange Heights. http://www.greathousebutterflyfarm.com/contact.htm Another wonderful place to visit in the area is Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' old home place, which is now a state park on Orange Lake in Cross Creek. http://abfla.com/parks/MarjorieKinnanRawlings/marjoriekinnanrawlings.html The restaurant The Yearling in Cross Creek is absolutely stellar ( http://www.florida-secrets.com/Restaurants/ENW/Yearling.htm ), as is the Blue Water Bay Restaurant in Melrose ( http://thebluewaterbay.com/ ), where they grow their own herbs! The Friday night seafood buffet is just unbelievable. I am a very picky restuarant goer (because it is rare I find a place that can cook better than I do), and I am telling you, I've had company from Seattle and Chicago who were very impressed with the cuisine at both these places. All these places are in east Alachua County or just over the county line in Putnam County. You wouldn't even have to go through Gainesville. If you wanted to make a weekend of it, you could find a bed and breakfast in Micanopy http://www.lanierbb.com/inns/bb7562.html or Melrose http://bed.florida-2.us/profile/FL/Melrose/4746 . Micanopy is famous for its antique shops, but I find it pricey. Quaint little town, though. Oh yeah, Crone's Cradle Conserve is in Citra, just south of Alachua County and Cross Creek, in Marion County http://www.cronescradleconserve.com/ If you wanted to make a weekend of it, and also go into G-ville, there is the Kanapaha Gardens there http://www.kanapaha.org/, and to the west, in Newberry, is Dudley Farm State Park http://www.floridastateparks.org/dudleyfarm/default.cfm , which I HIGHLY recommend! Also, a very nice B&B in G-ville, the Sweetwater Branch Inn http://www.sweetwaterinn.com/inn.html, where I used to have the most delicious lunches, until they quit opening to the public. Have fun! (If you were to check out everything I've suggested, you'd need 3-5 days, at least!) It's a lovely area of Florida. I don't know what your internet search skills are, and don't mean to be condescending, but if you go to yellowpages.com, you can get addresses for all these places, and then go to mapquest.com and put in those addresses and get the mileage between them. Hope this isn't too off-topic for everyone, but also hope if anyone is ever planning a trip to Florida, it will enrich your experience.

OA...the beehives I bought some time ago from "Tenderhearts" catalog ...probably 8 to 10 yrs. ago...they are basically just a heavy twine (or thinner rope...Macrame type wt) & are wound & glued together somehow...maybe could do one like a paper machee (sp?) project...using a shape (balloon) & wrap rope around with thinned glue...some of us use clear silicone for windows & doors on projects...so that would probably work. I did a terracotta pot last yr with rope & this silicone...here's a pic of it just planted last Spring...I've already planted it this yr. but no pics yet: And then the rope in the beehives is just touched up with some light colored paint. I'll crop it for a closer look: Hope this helps...thanks for lookin'! Jeanne S.

Last night I discovered that I cannot play DVDs with the home edition of Windows 8 - at least not without third party software. I installed VLC, and it will play the DVDs, but without sound. I never learned how to use Windows Media Center, and so I have always used other media players, but they will not work as well with 8. I installed Media Player Classic (my favorite from before), but it will not play DVDs, and it will now only play a few of the FLV files that I have. The ones that will not play on MPC will play on WinAmp, but I would prefer to have one player that would do everything. I guess I'll have to go back to watching DVDs on the TV with a DVD or BluRay player. Or I will try to find an inexpensive way to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro. I wish I had been given that option from the beginning. The reason that a DVD player is not included with Windows 8 is that MS expects DVDs to become obsolete in the near future, but Kevin and I both do not believe that to be the case. Kevin should know since he is in DVD sales at Sony, and while sales have already peaked, they are still steady and are a huge business. People still have vinyl records, and so I think DVDs should be expected to be around for a while. Apple removed the DVD drive from their notebooks long ago, and that is another reason I won't buy their products. I'll give you another update when I get this problem resolved. Lars

Though a repeat from another site, this is what I did with a few: An old wooden framed window, a few sheets of glass, clear caulk and a glass cutter are the basic tools you will need. Simply remove the clear glass panes (if present) from the window. These will provide great templates for your colored glass. If there are no existing clear glass panels, a cardboard template will work wonders. If you purchased a multi-pane window, never assume all of the panes are the same size. Simply cut the stained glass to fit into the sections of the window. You would be amazed at how easy it is to cut glass, though I do suggest using a pistol grip cutter and not the typical cutter one can find at any hardware store. You can find easily find someone who has cut glass and will be happy to show you. My husband is actually the one who showed me, and on the second try I had it down pat. Simply cut the panels to fit the windows, use clear caulk to seal them in, and wa-la! Inexpensive first try at working with stained glass. Very simple, basic, easy to do and colorful! You can use all the same colored glass if you wish, or mix them up. I used various colors in one of my first projects, an assortment of various clear colors I had in the glass supply box. I have numerous thin strips of stained glass which I have in mind for another window created with these strips. In stripes. I'll simply cut small pieces of wood to go between the strips of glass. Though I have a few panes left to fill in (waiting for the right colors to show up at the craft store) this gives a basic idea of what I'm talking about. (copyright from another site, but this is my picture) Recently I found old wooden windows with many tiny windows, but have yet to begin that project. We live in the country, so this particular window set did not get the full treatment of sanding the windows, painting them, etc. I was going for the "Trash to treasure" feel. The picture I'm showing was taken in the shade, but you should see the colors when the sun sets on the windows! :-) Here is a link that might be useful: