For what it's worth, here's my 2 cents. In my 2 past years of WSing, I have followed posts on the forum pretty regularly. I think that those of us around zones 4, 5, and 6 have to be a little more careful than those in both the warmer zones and the colder zones. It seems to me that we have much larger weather swings, for much longer periods of time. These alternating cold and warm periods are perfect for wintersowing, stratifying seeds and breaking down seed coats, but we will have better results being a little more cautious. In the older hardiness zone map, I was in zone 5b, but the revised one plants me solidly in zone 6. We don't get much spring or fall weather, seemingly passing right from winter to summer and back to winter again. It's not all that unusual for us to see a week in the 50s, even near 60 in January. It happened this year. If I had zinnias out there, they could well have sprouted. All of Feb. and March have been awful- endless snowfalls, ice storms and sub zero weather. Zinnias will not tolerate that. It just seems to me that we get a lot more changeable weather in the middle zones. The warmer zones stay warmer. They might get some snow and cold temperatures, but not the prolonged, drastic swings that we get. It also seems that cold zones like 1, 2, and 3 stay more consistently cold. They might get a warm day or 2 in winter, but it doesn't seem to stay that way long enough to germinate seeds way too early. There's also a big difference between eastern and western zones, those in the west being much warmer in spring, often cooler in fall. And if you look at the hardiness zone map, the areas along the coasts are just warmer than in the heartland. That big dip into colder zones is right smack dab in the center of the country. Based on last year's extremely warm weather, I was planning to sow my tender annuals in late March, but changed my mind. I did just a few last weekend, saving some of each type for another try next month in case they germinate and freeze. Most I've held off on because it still feels like winter. The past few mornings it has been in the mid 20s. Having lost tender wintersown seedlings to frost and severe prolonged cold weather in the past, I now just wait longer to sow my tender things. I don't want to risk the time, money, and effort I invest in wintersowing. Karen

I made my list by making each item into a simple task. I could easily have written bathrooms as one task but that turned into 4 items: each bathrooms drawers and each one's under the sink. But my house needs decluttering more than organizing this year. That's why this is working for me now. Last year, however, when I did my organizing for the first time in many years, my list had items such as computer stuff, stationery, maps, my personal papers, etc. I first picked an area for each item to be in. Then I went around the house and garage and searched out the item from the list that I was working on. I could never get into prioritizing. I just sat down one day and made a list of all the places (or items) that needed attention. Then I numbered them. I just pick at random an item from the list and do it. In my mind, I know which jobs are larger than others and pick one depending on what else I have to do that particular day. I find that giving myself, for example, 2 hours to finish a job puts pressure on me. Sometimes that 2 hours turns into 1 hour and other times, it can be 4. Then I put a check mark next to it once it's done. In my mind they're all important so one doesn't need to be the first. Well, that's not quite true. In the past, I've had company coming for supper and I made sure my pantry and fridge were presentable. Sometimes, I end up doing items I'd forgotten to put on my list. Then I just add them to the bottom of the list after they're done and check it off. No matter which list I've made, it never took much longer than 10 or 20 minutes to do the list and it all fit on one piece of paper.

Both my main grill and my small smoker are on my deck but I'm very careful. all I have to do is look over the the next door neighbour's melted siding to remind myself. I lay one of those cheap hardware store mats down. They are black/charcoal coloured and generally come three sizes stapled together. Hope I'm describing them, ribbed, made from some kind of recycled poly pop bottles or something. So, on top of the mat I place concrete patio stones, those square or rectangular concrete blocks that are used for walkways or patios when you are first married and can't afford rock work. So, the mat protects from grease drips, the concrete is a bit of fire/heat protection for the deck boards. The smoker is out, away from the house and siding even tho we have Hardie board and even tho the smoker doesn't run hot (the grill does!) When I'm done the concrete and the mat go into a deck box and the grill or smoker get covered and put up against the railing on the far corner, out of the way. Usually the grill gets left set up all summer but I move the smoker because its used not as often and you want it out of the way because after you use it a while it smells good and smoky. Whenever I'm either cleaning the grill or using the smoker I bring the fire extinguisher up from the workshed as well. Never had to use it in 50 years but I still have it on hand.

Yes, it works just fine. Most succulents will be just fine if they are in tepms close to 40*F. My plants are still outside, and we had already few nights when temps drop to low 40-ties. Using regular thermometer may be enough - but it doesn't alarm you. May I ask what kind of propane heater are yo using? I have unheated breezway that would work very well as a plant room, but I would have to get some heat in (can't get in heat from furnace without doing lots of work. Heater would be simple, and trying to get heat in from furnace may be more $ than using a heater.)