As to the garbage can idea---if you have it exposed to the sun at all, it's going to heat up. (Think how a car sitting the sun will heat up in the winter.) You don't want that. I'm familiar with zone 6 weather, having lived & gardened there for many years, so I have some idea of what you're dealing with...that is, you need to keep the soil cold when you get those weather warm-ups in mid-winter. i.e., the idea behind the insulation is to keep the heat out and the cold in the pots, to moderate the inevitable wide swings in temperature. (Think 'ice chest'.) If the pots are not in the sun, then the insulation board on top of the pots is prolly going to be sufficient. If the pots get any am't of sun OR are close to a bldg., then you need to think about keep the whole shebang cold. Naturally, you would place the insulation barrier around the pots after it's turned cold, really cold. About the wood tops idea...an inch of wood has an R-value of less than 1.5...compared to R-5 for an inch of XPS (the pink stuff) and R-8 for ISO (the foil faced yellow stuff). So, although wood is an insulator, there are better choices. Of course, you could glue XPS to the wood if you want to. Oh yeh, the pink stuff, XPS, will hold up to the elements much better than the foil faced ISO--it's yellow underneath the foil and is much more brittle than XPS. Also, the R-value of ISO degrades to where it's only marginally better than XPS.

Hi finedreams, I had the identical thing happen to me with SD and SS. They both lived with us in there late teens and early twenties while in high school and college. They would take whatever they wanted. I lost silverware, dishes, potholders, drinking glasses, hair products, towels, blankets, personal care products, toliet paper, the lists goes on and on. One time SS (17 years old at the time) announced to DH and myself "I'm going to mom's and I'm taking tolietpaper (while he held a roll of tolietpaper up for us to see) because she is low on tolietpaper." Wow, I was so in shock I didn't say a word and DH said nothing. After he left I told DH that had to stop. DH said nothing. Another time DH and myself were in our bedroom sleeping and were planning to leave on a trip early in the morning. We had our luggage packed in our bedroom. SS arrives home at 12:30 AM and sneaks into our bedroom and starts going through my luggage. I believe he must have been looking for my contact solution. DH had given him money to go purchase some a couple day prior and reminded him twice. SS choose not to get any but instead was digging through my luggage. I was shocked again. I believe alot of my kitchen items went to BM house because she went through a second divorce and her second husband took some of the kitchen items. I believe SS felt sorry for her so decided he would take my things (which were my items before marrying DH) to help mom out. He never asked DH or myself and did it sneakingly. A couple of the beautiful potholders that disappeared were handmade by my grandmother that she gave me before she died. I wish now I would of hid them. I had them in the back of the potholder cabinet and rarely used. I was so very frustrated. When they lived with us as adults I purchased twice as much personal care products. Frequently, I would go to use my shampoo, contact solution, lotion, dental floss, etc. and I would be out or it was gone. I tried talking to DH about it but he did nothing. So, what I did was take my large suitcase with a lock on it and placed items that where important to me and locked them up. It was a hassle to go unlock the suitcase if I needed something, but it stopped the disappearing items. This was a few year ago and they no longer live with us, but it still gets me upset to this day when I think about. Because of this I do not want the step kids alone in our home. Just a couple weeks ago SS was home from college and in our house alone for only one hour while DH and I went to church. Well, another expensive item disappeared. DH was looking for it the other day and couldn't find it. He called SS and yes he had it. I always thought how inconsiderate these kids were and I resent DH for not saying anything. I do not trust either one on them. I believe they think we owe them. I feel that the way they have treated me, I owe them nothing.

I'm very glad your head doesn't have anything in it! at least anything that isn't supposed to be there. Hospice seems to have a reputation that the nurses etc will do all your thinking & decision-making for you & that their judgment is better than the judgment of the people concerned. That is not the case; you have to make sure that you get what you need. When my elderly friend was on hospice, she was doing well until we were told to start her on amnioderone (sp?). Within a week, she started hallucinating, I mean weird stuff. I called, I begged, I did everything I knew, & the response was "This is a natural progression of the disease." Maybe it *would* have been the natural progression, but it was a sudden onset, & it happened after she started the new meds. so I googled it & found that it is notorious for causing hallucinations. Hospice told me not to dare stop giving it to her, as that could cause a crisis, & although they said I could cut the dosage by half (!), they refused to consult the doctor who had prescribed it & said that my friend would have to go in to the doctor's office. She was elderly, fragile, & weak, & she weighed less than 100 pounds. so we made the appointment, drove across the yard to get the car as close as possible to her front door, enlisted all her friends to help get her into the car, caravaned to the doctor's office, everybody helped to get her inside, sat down in the doctor's exam room, & he said... "Yes, that often happens. We start patients out on the strongest amount & when they start hallucinating, then we reduce the dosage until the hallucinations stop." so. If you call hospice for any reason & they don't seem responsive or it seems like they're blowing you off... raise hell.

I'm trying hard to pare down my belongings. Our house is small, the kids have flown the coop. I have a garage and attic full of "good stuff" I put away, hoping either to sell or give to my kids/future grandkids. Well, I recently tried to give my pregnant daughter the baby bassinette ( a sort-of baby bed) we had used for our two daughters. She did not want it, saying it's old and moldy, it's probably dangerous. My feelings were hurt but I got over it. I'd donate it but I heard no one (no charities) want used baby items because they may be unsafe. I certainly wouldn't want someone to get hurt. So I'll save the bassinettte and let my grand-daughter to be use it as a toy for her dolls.