The national service weather forecast has something I've never seen for Nashville... 100% chance of Severe T 'storms! We had straight-line winds blow through Tuesday night at home and the power not only went out, it went out for as far as the eye could see, including businesses and street lights. They came on and went off all night, rather like generators were coming on and running out of power too. Strange. Stay safe Dorph. Learning kids can wait, otherwise there won't be no kids to learn. Our classes start next week. Senior seminar and Foreign policy this time around. Only 4 classes left to achieve my undergrad. It's going by so quickly. Shoot, I'm still trying to time when I'll file my intent to graduate form. I'm afraid if I do it, they'll find more classes or I'll be jinxed some other way!

I hope everyone did ok in the Issac storm last week. We did ok, the gardens were thrashed worse than I imagined. I have been replanting veggies found dug/wind whipped outta the ground (not workin well but have saved some things. Lost almost all my tomatos :-( but, family is safe - so I set out to clean up. Welcome GardenHeart. I'm new here too, nice site, I like that one can locate others growin in the same areas. It is def a unique exp gardening down south! Natal: the 1st pictured bed is about 8ft wide x 16ft long. Access was limited due the forest behind it! We have woods not 3ft from the rear of this one and the animals thought it was a buffet! Using 4x4's with a "pathway" cut out was like makin them a trail. So we added a major drainage for each of the boxes, eliminated paths (which also helped with water distribution during downpours. Previously we had a lot of good soil wash away thru paths, now it just shifts but stays put) my kids and I have walkways along the edges of each box to access plants and just step over the lower boards to get in and out. The inconvience was well worth the reward in this case. The racoons and moles avoid the wood frame here. As far as the Citrus, we have a satsuma but it failed to produce this year. We fert with these 6inch stakes once a year and always had a plentiful harvest. (Time release ferts) this year we did it to late and it may have affected that :-( usually in Feb I add the stakes and it wasn't done til April. Shame on me I know. But a few friends have them and they failed to produce too so maybe a weather or bee problem :-( they spray A LOT for mosquitos down here and it can kill bees too...so I dunno

It's not even Tax Day yet, but it's 85 degrees here today.70% humidity. With pollen turning everything yellow. I can't imagine being in the South and having the home open to that. Our "windows open" days for this year have consisted of about 8 hours total, only during the middle of the day when no one was home. Saturday was nice for a couple of hours, until it got too hot. It will be too hot for the rest of the summer. Yes, summer starts in late April here. Then there was the pollen. September stays above 90 for most of the month, with ragweed pollen too. October does start some pretty nice weather, and some days in early November can be 70 degrees and sunshine too. But again, you are limited to the hours that you aren't working and can actually enjoy those days. Which doesn't work out to much time for the expense involved. I'd rather just have a traditional patio slider or french door. The costs won't be so high, but you'll still be able to have some fresh air when the weather allows.

I built a huge koi pond at the house across the street. Rumour has it that house came in around $40mil. That guy is going to look like the poor cousin now, I guess. These guys tend to be #3's, referring to my earlier post. The money can be good but as Racket suggested, they expect a disproportionate amount of your time (meaning my time as the company face) when you have 15 or 20 other jobs going on. The value of our dollar may be nearly the same, but even with the strength of our dollar material and equipment prices haven't fallen much so I guess a pool here costs even more that a couple of years ago.