How did I miss this post.... Winners: Red Haven Peach - Still my favorite peach so far Muscadine grapes (All of them) Blueberries (All of them) Violette de Bordeaux fig (Always delicious).. but it dies back to the ground each year.... Black mission fig (Always delicious) American plum (Magically delicious jelly) Yates apple Horse apple Loosers: Brambles - Bitter.... All of them (Black, Rasps, Boysens, etc..) 2013 is going to be their make or break year.... Sugar queen peach - Worthless rotten ball of bugs.... Dug it up. Esophaus Spitzenberg apple - Fireblight destroyed it. Still on the bubble: Rebecca's gold Pawpaw - 3 years old and 12" tall... It's going to go away next year if it doesn't kick into grow... Pakistan mulberry - This is going to be it's last year if they don't taste better.... Concord grapes - I think it's too hot. Don't get reliable ripening. Fuzzy kiwis - 3 years old and no flowers... Roadside dug up peach - Small, green, and very bitter/inedible fresh till it's fully 100% ripe... but bugs and rot don't bother it... Ripe flavor is getting better every year.... "Elberta" peach - I don't think it's actually an Elberta... No fruit this year. Methley Plum - Reliable, but I'm not real enamored on it's flavor... I classify this plum in the "A bird in the hand" category so to speak... Italian prune - Too hot in full sun. Transplanted to the shade and it seems to be recovering. 2013 is it's make it or break it year... LSU purple fig - tastes "Grassy" until LATE in the season, then it's barely on par with all the other marginal figs... I don't like it - except that the kids like eating fresh figs off the tree early - and this gives them some fruit.... Thanks

Hi all, new to the forum. :) Hubby and I are gardening in Wheat Ridge. 2013's good, bad, and just plain weird... Yellow Cherry went steroidal on us, breaking down the biggest tomato cage we had. It had so many fruits on just one plant that I made tomato juice out of self-defense (it was delicious, btw). Golden Jubilee was a big disappointment. It ripened one fruit, which I never tasted because my visiting six-year-old niece was so enthralled with it that I gave it to her. The plant unfortunately never produced any more, but I'm hoping it was a good investment in the next generation of gardeners. Siletz had what I ended up calling "Teenage Mutant Ninja Tomatoes". It producedvery well, but the fruits were the weirdest thing I've ever seen. Almost all of them had what looked like stubby fingers growing from inside the fruit out through the blossom end. We later heard that there was a seed lot that had this strange mutation - evidently our packet was from that lot. (I had thought it was maybe our proximity to Rocky Flats!) They tasted fine, but were very weird-looking! Burgundy okra was a definite winner. I grew it out front in a rose bed we'd built that we didn't have the budget to plant entirely in roses. The okra flowers were pretty and occasioned lots of questions from neighbors who didn't know what it was, and we got enough okra pods to freeze a few bags. We haven't used it all up yet. Sugar Snap peas (the pole type) - another big winner. Nice fat, sweet pods and lots of them. We froze a bunch of these and are still enjoying them. Giant Marconi peppers - our first successful year with these. They really were giant! Good producer, too. Brassicas in general did rather poorly for us this year. Spring broccoli didn't produce till October, only one head of cabbage survived, and the cauliflower died the moment it was set out. Hard to tell with the potatoes. They got caught in that September deluge as we were starting to dry down the vines, and almost every spud split because of the sudden excessive moisture. They taste good, but look awful. That was our 2013...

I havent watched the show in a few years because I think it does a disservice to the general public and is very unrealistic. These people are eating 1,000-1200 calories a day and exercising 6-8 hours a day. They are at the ranch for around 16 weeks and then I think they are home for 2-3 months before the finale. I did hear Rachel interviewed on tv and she lost 155 lbs in 7 months(which would mean 4 mos at the ranch and 3 at home) ...that's an AVERAGE of 22 lbs. a month. Even Dr. Oz came out and said it is unhealthy to lose at the pace they do....and all his show seems to be about now is the latest weight loss diets/gimmicks. When you see people losing 12,15, 17 lbs in a week and then you get on the scale and see 1 lb, it makes YOU feel like the biggest loser..in that, how come you only lost a lb.? There's no way these people can keep up these routines when they return to their normal lives and are working again so of course they put weight back on. I also read an article a few years ago that what they don't show you is all the injuries they incur because they are pushed so hard from the get-go. You cant take a sedentary 300 lb person and expect them to walk a mile first time out or do 45 minutes at 3.5 on the treadmill, etc. without developing knee, hip and other injuries. I don't find the show inspiring at all because it is so unrealistic.

Wow, I've been wearing ankle booties for about 40 years, usually in black leather but also in suede (brown and black). Call it my signature look :) Always with a slight heel, some with crepe soles, others with slightly higher angled heels -- I don't do wedge heels. I always wear them with straight leg jeans or pants, not skinny jeans, so they go over the ankle. I have some from Jack Rogers (very comfy), Clark's (super comfy), Cole Haan (from Costco!) Actually, my Costco is selling Kensie ankle boots for 28.00? Other than that, I always have at least two pairs of Coach loafers/driving moccasins that I were for driving but also for walking around pretty much everywhere. They come in a bunch of colors; always one pair in black. Usually, I get the Crosby Driver. They frequently go on sale when new colors come out, https://www.coach.com/coach-crosby-driver/G1208.html?cgid=sale-women-shoes&dwvar_color=WIN#prefn1=silhouette&prefv1=Drivers%2FMocs&cgid=sale-women-shoes&start=2