Phillis, I can't even imagine what you went through. Glad things worked out for you and your family. Welcome Home! Billie

You might get more knowledgeable help on the Growing From Seed forum. Most of us gave up starting seeds indoors for just the reasons you are raising. You could certainly wintersow any pepper seeds you have left, but they won't sprout until your weather is warm enough to allow germination. If you want to get a jump on the season, starting inside is your best bet. There is also a peppers forum. I would think they are all in your boat just about now and you might get some help there. Martha

It was a lot of fun, actually! I never expected it to stick, but it stayed around for most of the day. Big wet stuck-together flakes. I was never worried. The temps here were in the upper 30s. This was the first "live" snow my 5 year old has ever seen. His school let the kids go out and collect it. He is now the proud owner of a snowball in our freezer--more like a sloppy iceball, complete with bits of grass, but whatever. lol This is more or less a once-a-decade sort of event here. I'm from Seattle originally, so this is not that exotic to me, but it was still a fun change of pace. Mike

The weather has been nice the last few weeks and I decided to work on the New Orleans garden some more. I really want to "finish" it this year, and I want it to be stunning! So I began digging out most of the plants that aren't going to stay here. I also moved out the whiskey barrel water garden and then dismantled the rock wall behind it. That was a real chore, busting up the rock wall and hauling the heavy rocks out of the garden. But it took up space that I had plans for. You see, in that spot right there is a concrete ramp that used to go into a storage building that was sitting where the guest bedroom is now. When we rebuilt the house, we couldn't get this concrete slab up and it has always annoyed me. There's valuable dirt underneath it and I wanted to plant it! But I follow the Marine motto, adapt, improvise and overcome. The slab was perfect for the whiskey barrel water garden. And now it's perfect for a couple of iron filigris chairs. I don't allow smoking in the house, so this area is now the new "smoking area". The chairs on this side of the "alley" are in the shade. And my brother can now sit there and smoke. And the unique "butt man" I bought for $3 at a yard sale is strategically placed next to them. And here's the new, improved, overall view of my "blank canvas": My plans are to fill this area with assorted herbs and a couple of tomato and pepper plants. I'll also have planters on the walls spilling over with assorted mints. All plants I plant here will be edible or useful in some way. I plan to put some kind of grid (sorta like lattic but a bigger pattern and sturdier wood) over the garden for an arbor-like roof. I also intend to use a similar grid pattern to enclose the open end and make an arched entrance to add to the elegance I have envisioned for this garden. Any suggestions you guys might have to further enhance my French/New Orleans theme would be greatly appreciated. Any ideas for plants would be great too. Any ideas on what to do about the ugly gutters? They've really got to go, but I need some kind of gutter system. Otherwise, this area floods and drains under the guest bedroom and can cause the floor to buckle. But the current system, altho effective, is just plain ugly. I've just bought some more trim paint so I can repaint all the trim on the house. As you can see, it definitely needs to be touched up.