I work with an NRCS agent, and hes a great guy, you have to remeber the agents we see in the office are not politicians, they are , excuse the phrase flunkies, . My agent Dan went to work with the NRCS back in the 90s, he wanted to work in wildlife and conservation, and he did for the first few years, and the office staff supported a agent in charge of ag. Budget cuts and the ag agent was given early retirement and no replacement was hired, they told Dan he would have to fill both the conservation job and the ag job, but Dan freely admits he knows little about ag, but that does not matter. Dan does his best, hes helping me put in better rotational grazing infrastructure, piped water, gravel pads, and good fencing, hes got 75 percent of my cost shared by the govt, plus a incentive payment for keeping the cows out of the woods. But as hes worked with me , he keeps telling me to tell him what I need cause he isnt a farmer. Its the politicians who are at fault, they cut budgets everywhere except in thier own pockets, my dad retired from the army, and growing up Id see politicats come in limos, thousand dollar suits, and five hundred dollar haircuts, theyd smile and shake my dads hand and say how much they appreciated him. But meanwhile while dad was serving, my mom had to apply for foodstamps to feed us. These politicians are already wealthy when they get into office, then taxpayers pay them hundreds of thousands of dollars a year plus transportation, clothing and other perks. They say we need to control spending, unless it means it affescts them. Originaly in the foundings of this country congress was not paid, it was made up from the wealthier citizens and they paid thier own transportation and was not paid for thier time. Now the wages for congress is an astronomical figure, all together I mean. Im not talking any brand of politics here, whichever way one leans Im sure everyone agrees that the politicians are greedy and self serving. And any bill they right they are going to stick a carrot out there wehter or not it makes sense just to try to appease the masses. One thing I learned growing up and watching dad in the service, is to try to legaly get whatever the govt offers, as an American citizen we dont seem entitled to much, so get what you can. josh

Oh I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO jealous! I would love to be headed up north for some leaf peeping! Anyway, yes get some Lust Bars at the trading Post - my tastebuds are tingling at the memory LOL! I would definitely make a stop at Stonewall Kitchens too - they have a nice little cafe and there is lots of stuff open on the counters around the store for tasting. I picked up a jar of the Roasted Vegetable Bruschetta Spread and I wish I had gotten a couple, it is awesome! If you go up as far as Kennebunkport, I would make a stop at Federal Jacks. The Brewmaster (and the whole staff) is quite well versed in explaining a lot of the beers they make on site and you can see the brewery as you walk in to the restaurant. The food was great too and it is right on the harbor so the view is lovely. There is also the Red Hook Brewery in Portsmouth and they have tours also. The food was awesome when we were there a month ago - the only drawback is not much of a "view". It is on the old Pease AFB property. In Ogunquit there are a couple of worthwhile destination restaurants - Arrows and The Tavern at Clay Hill Farm. Both are pricey, but the food is awesome. They both have web sites with menus, so you can google them if you are interested. Of course there is Flo's in Cape Neddick - hit the one on Rt 1 instead of the one in the Trading Post parking lot. Order your dogs with Flo Sauce and mayo - they are insane. If I think of others I will post them. Have a great time and take lots of pics :-) Alexa

OK, we're not finished but here are some progress pics. First, a big thank you to my wife who has really jumped in and helped me a LOT on this! A few generic comments- we've still got some planting to do, particularly around the gazebo. So it's not 100% complete. As mentioned above the plants are spaced for their mature size. So they look a little spread out right now, but they'll grow into place. The Bermuda grass is just coming out of dormancy, so it looks pretty wimpy in the pics. This first picture is the view from the driveway and sidewalk approach. There's a Siren Red Crepe Myrtle accent with a couple of Cordyline Red Sensations next to it. Veriegated liriope and dwarf mondo grass fill in the area in front and a border of Red Muhly Grass is behind. I discovered that spring is a bad time to buy Muhly Grass because it's not growing yet and is therefore hard to find except in small size. It'll eventually fill in and create a solid border though :-) The below pic shows a red banana tree (which was battered by high winds a couple of days ago, that's why the leaves are torn) surrounded by Pee Dee Gold Liriope with some Dwarf Mondo grass in front of that. That's a Tonto (red) Crepe Myrtle in the back. The grass is Mexican Feather Grass and is beautiful when the wind blows it! There is going to be a large Koi pond in front of the gazebo with an arched bridge connecting the patio to the gazebo (that's why nothing is planted there).The small bush/ tree outside of the bed is a fruiting Pomegranate tree. They only grow to about 10'. Below is the back of the gazebo with a Texas stepping stone to the backyard area. The small plants surrounding the rock area are an interesting new variety of Asian Jasmine called "Salsa". The leaves are beautiful- red, green and yellow all on the same leaf! It is not supposed to be as invasive as regular Jasmine, but I enclosed it in metal edging just to be sure. The Crepe Myrtle to the right is lavender. In the background is the stepping stone & gravel path we made back to the equipment pad. I like this because it makes for a really cool "zen view" from the other side of the pool through the slide opening. This is more Mexican Feather Grass with the Pink Muhly border coming up to each side (just beyond the pic). That's another Cordyline in the middle and Blue Fescue lining the front (this view is from the back). Last pic, this is really to show a "before" pic of the pergola. I put this in myself many years ago and it needs to be refreshed. I'm going to rebuild it sometime this spring or summer- removing the roof panels, power wash the cedar, install a roof gable with "sunburst" pattern, re-roof it with sheathing and shingles, install some decorative trim on the columns. That's it for now, back outside for more landscaping!

OK, I got you Ed. As for Abies c. it seems quite variable. Some shape up beautifully around here and retain good form, fullness, and color well into old age. Others seem to suffer from some soil-based issue, perhaps a localized pH anomaly. Another thing that I gradually realized-I've been a fan of Abies concolor for a looooong time-is a certain tendency towards double and even triple leaders at a certain point, usually around twenty feet or so up. Not sure if an insect is attacking the leader, a la white pine shoot tip moth on Norway spruce and white pine-or some other factor causing this, but it is common. When everything goes just right, lol, a great conifer. In my city, there is one which must be near 100 ft. in height. Very narrow form. About balsam fir-in my part of this state, it never occurs naturally in forests. Yet just one county north, it begins to show up and quickly becomes what some foresters consider a "weed tree". That description aside-and it really has to do with the fact balsam fir wood isn't used for much, not any aesthetic characteristics-the ones that people undoubtedly bring home from their cottages and whatnot up north do surprisingly well here, again even though nature did not place them here. I'm in Outagamie county in WI, if anyone cares to look up what I'm talking about. The next county up-Shawano (pronounced shaw-no) is full of balsam fir. Soils there are sandier than here and I suspect that characteristic has much to do with its distribution, along with pH of said soils. Balsam fir is very tolerant of downright wet soils too btw, and is among our most shade-tolerant conifers. +oM