Thanks, Gilroy! I wonder if anyone has success posting images from their libraries directly to gardenweb? We've gone back and forth--from making the pond into a firepit--which would mean somehow making it drain snow melt and rainwater, to reviving the pond, which means a bigger financial and time committment, plus lots more to learn (just trying to figure out the GPH and the lift and the head height and immersible vs external and direct drives vs mag drives...! Yikes!) We've also talked about making it a firepit surrounded by a pond or somehow making it into a hot tub or outdoor pizza oven. It's the focal point of our backyard and letting it fill up with algae and Mosquitos and weeds every summer just isn't working. Our neighbor put in a swimming pool and all the noisy equipment sits atop the hill just above the pond's retaining wall and behind a hideous chain link fence. We're hoping to cover up the noise with the waterfall sounds and eventually put up our own wooden fence to hide the chain link. But, wow, what a lot of work and expense. I love old houses and am glad you're trying to stay true to the design of your home's era. Have you posted any photos of your home and where the pond is sited in relation to the house? Good luck!

I came across your questions while examining my stats on my blog site. I appreciate whoever it was who visited being curious enough to explore my little realm of pain. The 6th picture down is definitely not the same as the first picture, although the species could - I suppose - be the same. But these were in different locations, so I would suggest different species. It is also one of the reasons I am not 'all that' at Rose names. I respect how many varieties there are far too much. I have enough on my plate at the best of times,....roses I love to look at, but that's as far as it goes. ;-) Typically, at that Rose Garden, they clump a few varieties of each together, making what ends up being a more effective and, probably healthier showing in general. I know they sure look good, lol. Here is a link that might be useful: Steve Snedeker's Landscaping and Gardening Blog

lafutura, you have piqued my curiosity as to why you would want to install a perimeter drip line on a lawn that is already watered by a system. I would think that installing a gate valve or similar ahead of the drip zone would allow you to regulate the water flow into the new drip line. Concerning the other question, there ought to be a manifold on the premises. Either all the piping to the zones start out at a central location and are routed their separate ways or else all the valves (and piping) are in a central location. Another possibility is that a main 'hot line' was run from the water source and the zone lines (and valves) were tapped from it. A radical approach would be to disconnect the wire from the unidentified terminals (one at a time) at the clock and observe which area wilts. This is recommended only if you can critically observe your whole landscape daily. You want to spot the earliest symptom of wilt to avoid serious damage to you landscape.

Edna Gladney was just one of many entrepreneurs operating throughout the US, beginning in the early part of the twentieth century. The Cradle was a similar operation near Chicago. They were 'alternatives' to state and religious charities, an option for people who often failed to meet social workers' qualifications -- too old, unstable, dubious histories, etc. An adequate financial situation was qualification enough at these alternative operations. They even created an aura of being superior. *Their* babies were 'special'. (They did attract people who would pay more.) Gladney and Cradle still exist, but they had to change after the advent of birth control -- and subsequent difficulty in finding the desired product: Healthy white babies. A greater social acceptance of white pregnancy outside of marriage also limited supply. (Am I shocking you? You didn't know about the business side of adoption, with Demand, Supply, and Profit?) There are no Payments. Goodness, that would be *illegal* -- even given the remote chance it became known under the sealed records system. Instead, there were and are upfront and lifelong contributions to these 'charities'. Supporters also housed pregnant girls -- cutting down on Overhead. Pregnant girls worked as nannies and maids. (In the late 1960's a friend of mine was on her hands and knees scrubbing her benefactor's kitchen floor when she went into labor.) There were simpler, cruder operations in less affluent areas: "Baby Farms", where pregnant women were 'sheltered'. When they gave birth they were presented with bills for room, board, delivery, and nursery care. If a woman had had financial support, she wouldn't have been there in the first place, so... she signed the surrender and the baby was actually *sold* -- no pretense of 'a charity'. Should the infant be un-marketable (not white, infirm, whatever) , it was sent to the state home. Local judges facilitated these adoptions. (The legal system has long opposed unsealing adoption records.) I don't know if it still exists, but Easter House in Chicago was still using this bait and take as recently as 1990. They found frightened pregnant girls through ads in newspapers and at schools. Respondents were brought to Chicago and isolated in small apartments, escorted to clinics, their hospital bills paid. Once a healthy infant was born and the agency had the surrender, the girl got a bus ticket home. Today families are more likely to view the unplanned child for who it IS, a member of the family. "Shame" no longer has the same unworthy power to break a family apart. And...childless people can now have a child made-to-order in a petri dish -- as though sperm and ova were merely 'donor products', not resulting in their sons and daughters.