There's an opulent horse barn near us. How's that for an intro? A quarterback who played for the Redskins (now D-NC, but this was built with 'skins money when he lived just down the road here) built a horse barn that's 16,000 sq.ft. under one roof. Five tall lighted flag poles stand out front. We first heard about it being finished so nice on the inside from Crossville Ceramics when I was there buying seconds tiles for my kitchen. They knew where Blaine was because they had just shipped 16,000 tiles (firsts) to a horse barn there (and when I guessed the street address they laughed.) When he started selling off parts of that farm as a subdivision, the real estate agents' offices were in some stalls. We visited the stalls/offices and the wood was all smoothly finished/polyurethaned/ with quality hardware (no wood slides) to keep the horses in. I doubt that the horses appreciated their homes. All that finish to nibble through before they could munch on wood. The problem with that kind of set up is maintenance. More money was put into fencing than we paid for our farm. But we've watched the fences deteriorate and need repairs. And the repairs are hard to keep up with. It's not the initial cost: it's the maintenance. (And taxes and insurance. And staff.)

msjam, My Jude gets about 4-5 hours of sun here in Dallas. I just planted him last year and he did great except after the last flush of flowers the plant just stopped growing. It didn't look bad, it just didn't put our anymore new growth at all. My other roses were still going strong and they are all in the same bed. I thought maybe it died. I pruned it back pretty far in March and now it is totally leafed out with about 25 buds on him. I don't know what happened last year, but maybe that is why he didn't get any taller than 3'.

We went Saturday. I have gone to all but one year of RI (last year). I think by far this was the best year for the displays and exhibits! I think the integrated show theme (music/symphony), use of more sophisticated hardscapes, plantings, etc. greatly improved the displays so they are approaching the New England Flower Show quality. Of course the show is much smaller than New England. We went to two talks. One called "Creating Your Landscape for Seasonal Enjoyment" and "Streptocarpus Plants: A Gift From Nature". I ended up buying a couple of Steptocarpus plants after the talk. Both talks were great. I hear that Aidrian Bloom spoke Friday. Did anyone hear him speak? I think the exhibit area was much smaller and the seed vendor that I like to go to wasn't there. Also the houseplant section where people exhibit their houseplants was much smaller. This is usually one of my favorite areas of the show since it is great to see some unusual house plants. Sue I have some pictures I'll try to post.

:) Beagles, I bought a nice plastic box for my touch screen stereo controller so I could use it from the tub. :) It's not the kind that you can get in waterproof form. I think they make those yellow toss 'em in the pool TV remotes though... Weedmeister, I love the active backsplash idea!! Not so much for the fishing shows, but can you just imagine? The recipe over the stove, Julia in the corner explaining how to fillet the squab and not lose any of the precious meet, the illustration from www.howtobutchersquab.info right next to her, the evening's menu with timer reminders on the other side, and the guest list with phone numbers, table arrangement, and allergies, at the other end. All controllable by voice or gesture. I totally love it!!! Marcolo, the TVs themselves are probably pretty expensive (mine were gifts so I don't know for sure), but the frame part can be done pretty easily if you're willing to compromise a little. You build a box frame on the wall, surrounding the TV (and run the wires through the wall so they're not all hangin' down), and then you cover the box with your painting or mirror. There are different ways to do it. You can make bifold doors that tuck out of the way and paint a pretty picture on them, you can hinge a proper framed art piece so long as it's not too heavy--I've seen this done where it dropped down and on the wall side of the frame, instead of brown paper or linen, there was a rack for the controllers and some pieces of the surround sound. I've also seen where the art only goes up when there's company, so they just have a double angled slat top edge/hanger and the framed piece sets on the floor behind an end table otherwise. I like having the ugly black TV on the island. It's right by the seating for A/V company when one is alone, or shucking peas (or, more likely, clipping artichokes), and I have it on a little slate turntable so it's easy to turn it to face the cook. Often, I'll turn on the news while I'm prepping or something and not even bother turning it because I'm looking at my work. Yup. Really functional. But no disguising it. The HDMI wire does help though. Just that and the power cord, rather than spaghetti. And the thing has Bluetooth and, I think, wi-fi, so if the stereo were allowed internet privileges (it's been hinting, and it has a birthday coming), the TV could get Hulu or Netflix without a computer hookup. 'Course, then my refrigerator would start calling home to Germany and trying to get my phone to talk my ipod into turning the car against me.