I don't know how much of a money saver it was. There was a lot of finish carpentry involved. They weren't just thrown togther by the framers. We have a traditional colonial. The basement stairs are below the main staircase, and the attic stairs are above the main staircase. The treads are clear white oak, to match the floors. The newels and ballusters are painted and the handrail is stained lyptus. There is a lot more than seen in the below pic. On the second level it wraps around the stairwell and there is also a 18' open balcony on the second level. Open staircases, like the one you posted, are very uncommon here. The ones I have seen were usually on bridal (or double bridal) staircases. Even then the underside is sheetrocked.

As for the frog, most, if not all of us, have had to crawl through ground glass at some point in our lives. I find the memory of that time in my life more than enough, without having a permanent visual reminder....... I'm afraid you have missed the point. The tattoo is not a reminder of "crawling through glass" at all. It is a reminder that she is strong and as long as one "keeps flapping" (as she calls it) they can overcome the worst odds of whatever faces them. She sees the frog as a symbol of strength and perseverance. It's a positive thing and makes her smile. Reminds her to believe in herself. As to the poster that said why not just do temporary tattoos.......well because they are not personal. A tattoo is much more than an embellishment to many of us. It becomes a part of us. It is our history. Those who can't get past the idea that it's just permanent art are missing the point that several of us have tried to make. I rarely see my tat. Forget it's even there. But when I do think of it it puts a big huge smile on my face. It took a long time for me to decide to do it. It's a symbol of freedom, of survival, of loving who I am. The tat itself is just a cute little character. No one seeing it would ever put any meaning into it. But for me it means everything. Similar to my friend's frog. It is a part of me. Reminds me of who I am. I like who I am. The one I want on my foot will not have the same intensity of meaning. But it has been well thought out. It will reflect another lighter side of me. It is something I love. It will be unique due to the artist I've chosen. I don't like young people getting tats much either. I asked my own kids not to do anything to their bodies that couldn't be reversed until they were sure. Neither has a tat and they are in their 30s. The idea of getting one creeps out DH. But he cringes when I put my earrings in. He has issues with skin being broken. Can't look at the needle when he get a shot or gives blood.

I live in a quite rural area and don't find deer to be a problem in my garden; in more than 30 years on 3 different sites in my town, I've only had a small bit of nibbling on peas once, and I've never fenced the garden. I think there is so much other food available during the growing season that they would just as soon avoid us. My problem animals are woodchucks AKA groundhogs which do a lot of destruction in a very short amount of time with legumes and cole crops being their favorites, and voles, which are an ongoing problem, munching on underground crops like potatoes, carrots, and sweet potatoes. Both will tunnel under fences unless the fences are buried. We have deer around - I often see them or evidence of their presence, but they tend to not come into the veggie beds, even when they are nearby. I've honestly had more problems with loose cows than deer . . . A few questions, and please forgive me if you've already thought these through. Do you know that deer will be a problem? Sometimes if the deer pressure isn't high, a bit of aversion therapy is enough. For instance, I kept deer out of my in-laws' hollies last winter with a combination of 80 lb. fishing line strung around various things a number of feet away from the bushes in a random web up to about 5 1/2' high in combination with Irish Spring soap in bags hung on the bushes. I don't know if it was the near invisibility of the transparent fishing line or the odor of the soap that made them unappealing, but they were untouched for the first time in several years. How will you hold the fence up? Are you thinking the construction fence with feet? How expensive will that be - cheap enough to make the investment in fence or its rental worth the veggies? Even regular fence panels that need poles buried for support on Craig's List don't seem inexpensive, and gates aren't cheap either. Rocks alone won't hold up fence panels without feet. I wouldn't worry about the height since you can extend that with poles fastened to the chain link supports and light weight netting or a couple of strands of wire. Do you have trees on the property? Would it be cheaper to use a combination of 3-4 strands of electric wire on trees around a larger perimeter than the fence panels? There are some good ideas on the veggie garden forum: here's a search with deer as the search term.

I was listening to the radio today and they were interviewing a woman who removes malicious or offensive tattoos. It's a positive focus. Tattoo removal story Then there was this story about the Inuit practice of facial tattoos. The link takes you to a short summary of the last few minutes of the interview. The whole interview is really worth listening to. I haven't seen her movie, but would like to. Inuit facial tattoo story I know this is a bit of a hijack, but the humanity found in both of these stories struck me as appropriate.