I was pretty shocked by all the freebie boxes at the op shops when I went this time. They usually have totally unusable items in them; unusable for my purposes, anyway. Maybe they were all 'fall' cleaning or something. HA! I have a few of those types 50s planters. They're kinda kitschy, but I do like kitsch. akup... LOVE your idea!! But how did you know that..................... that ain't what I'm gonna do!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA I'm going to be a bit slow at making anything cuz it's now cool enough to play in the garden. I'm clearing a huge section outside of Our Lady Gardyn so I can plant a buddleja forest - that's what I'm calling it. I need a home for my gnomes and thought a buddleja forest would be a fun area for them. And buddlejas aren't bothered by the frost, can tolerate the extreme heat, and can even survive the drought, so they're perfect as a forest. I also have another arch I want to put up and will put it there. Have had this arch for years and decided I need to get that up and put plants around it... also need to finish the trellises to the entrance of OLG. Had started doing that when the Feb heat came in, along with the fires, so my summer outside was shot. Gotta take advantage of this cool fall weather we're having. But I will work on the chair bottom at night so you won't have to wait too long for that project to be complete.

Well... of course, as soon as I post this I find a list from the Arbor Day order (or at least, I think it was that year's order). No idea which is which (which of the ones that came in this bundle actually survived), but could the third photo be a young Sargeant Crabapple? That's on the list, as is Eastern Redbud, Washington Hawthorn, dogwood (I know it's not that), Goldenraintree and crapemyrtle (I remember wondering why on earth they were shipping crapemyrtles to New England!!) In theory (meaning assuming they sent what they said they were sending), it should be one of those -- and the crabapple seems like the only one it could be? I'd be floored if they were shipping free Bradford pears (though someone on the tree forum suggested some form of pear as well) -- aren't they considered more or less invasive plants in a lot of areas these days? So I'm hoping for Sargeant crabapple since I wouldn't mind having one of those for the birds (means the little guy can stay right where he is now, in the bird/butterfly garden).

I recently attempted to make an online purchase of a product that costs less than $4. The weight of the product (in a padded envelope) would be about 2 ounces -- including the weight of the envelope! The shipping charge was over $8, and there were no options for different shipping methods. I wrote a comment in the "Comments" section of the purchase page, saying that they really should offer more shipping options, especially on such a light-weight product. I keyed in my credit card and shipping info, etc., and clicked the Submit button. (For what it's worth, I never would have ordered it online and paid double the product cost for shipping, but I could not find the product ANYWHERE.) I immediately got an error messsage that I had exceeded the allowed character length by TWO CHARACTERS in some section (it had an obtuse name -- didn't say "Comments Section"), and I figured it had to be the Comments section because I hadn't written anything extra anywhere else. So, I went back and edited my comments to eliminate many more than two characters, and again clicked the Submit button. I immediately got the error message again, but this time it said I had FIVE too many characters! This time I went back and removed my entire "comment," and clicked Submit. Error - no particular reason given. I tried again, and again got an error message. By this time I was thoroughly ticked off, and didn't know if my credit card would be charged twice, or not at all. So, I went back to one of the site's product pages, and clicked on the bottom-of-the-page link to "Contact Us." I sent a short, terse, message that although I loved the company's products I hated their web site and wanted to ensure that my order would be canceled. The owner of the company sent me a very nice, very apologetic, return message. The message said that they knew their web ordering left much to be desired and that it was in the process of being upgraded. A few days later I received a box with well over $100 worth of their fabulous products. ~*~*~*~* About 35 years ago, all of the print ads for a ladies shaving foam included a razor that was obviously designed for women. I wanted one like it! I looked high and low for that razor in every store that carried razors, but couldn't find it. So, I wrote to the company (snail mail!) and asked if they could tell me where I could find one. Several weeks later I received a box from the company. There was a letter inside, saying that the razor didn't really exist -- it was a prop made specifically for the photo shoot. Also inside the box were about a dozen full-size bottles/cans/etc. of various other products made by the company.

I promise any place I am considering will have good access, I absolutely hate when I go to a place that is not equipped properly. My husband's company had our Christmas gala event at this very fancy very expensive historic building down in Houston. The gal that was in charge never even consider or apparently thought of the fact that I would be in a wheelchair or that one of the top men in the company had just had hip surgery and was on crutches. The entrance had no curb cuts and a huge staircase leading up to the event. When we pulled up to valet everyone just stood there. I said well where is the accessible entrance. Finally some one came up and said we could go through the building beside it then through some passage ways which took us through the kitchen of our event but they were not expecting anyone there so they had it all blocked with food racks. It was horrible, I was furious. I had to leave the same way and that time we ran across partially undressed waiters. The guy on crutches made his journey up the extremely tall staircase. Believe me that gal, who ever she happens to be working for now, will never forget about accessibility!!