sorry it took a bit of time.. very busy weekend ... this is a splendid plant... but i want you to see this pic.. so your head doesnt explode IF it happens ... in MI ... all yellow .. towards white tissue.. can burn off.. in a bad winter.. especially the one after transplant... NEVER FORGET.. life is all in the buds.. and even if it goes nudey .... if the buds stay hard and brown ... it will reflush ... its never going to be a dense pine .... i swear to God i loaded all the BRV pix.. but they arent showing for me right now..maybe tomorrow ... look at the leader growth on a pic of the whole.. looks about 12 inches to me .... so it is a bit less than a standard green dens pine ... side shoot growth looks a bit less at maybe 8 ... this could easily be candle pruned.. to make it fuller .. denser.. and more shapely .... ken

Mason Farms : Sneak Preview Join the Williamson Garden Club for a tour and discussion at Mason Farms and Farm Market! Enjoy the beautiful flowers coming up in the greenhouses and learn how Mason Farms works and continues to grow. This lecture will be on Thursday, April 24th at Mason Farms and Farm Market, 3135 Ridge Road, Williamson, NY at 6:30 P.M. This event is free and open to the local community and general public. For more information, call the VP of the Garden Club, Eric Herriman, e-mail grow14589[at]gmail.com. Pre-registration is not required. http://grow-thewilliamsongardenclub.blogspot.com/ Here is a link that might be useful: Williamson Garden Club

You guys are jinxing my white carpet. I must have been temporarily insane but oh well. The dirty dog has already gotten the memo and DH is pretty sure that I never want him in there at all. I do of course, but only if he's clean. :) Grasscloth. The kind I have is natural grasscloth by Thibault. They have all kinds including the real shaggy stuff but I like this more uniform linen type weave. Not washable. Wouldn't put it in a bathroom or kitchen. Pretty much a den or bedroom. Phillip Jeffries make fabulous washable fake grasscloth, check out the link below. I've looked through a couple books, and it's really nice stuff. I have 3+ extra rolls if you want to buy mine :) Here is a link that might be useful: grasscloth

Annie, I don't think anyone objected to your answers. I have to remind myself to use salt because a lot of foods taste naturally salty to me. When I'm cooking for the elders, I have to balance enough salt so their worn out taste buds are happy (they don't eat enough when the food seems bland, so I salt with more verve than usual), but not enough to put them over "go easy on the salt". Luckily, they're not restricted, beyond things like salted pretzels and fast food (the latter of which they wouldn't want to eat anyway). It's interesting about the perception of chain restaurants as salt palaces, however, because I find some of them tolerable on that level. Not that the food is great, but I have some friends who for convivial occasions only want to eat at those places. In California, at least, there's some basic nutrition info on the menus, and the salt isn't nearly as bad as in a lot of fine dining restaurants where they believe in "layers of flavor" or "every component must be seasoned [i.e., salted]." Every now and then I eat something out that's really delicious and I realize that, while it doesn't taste salty, it is a heavier hand on the seasoning that is the thing that makes it so. That's rare. Often, I'm presented with food that's otherwise well prepared, but overwhelmingly salty. The food at the chain chain restaurants my friends take me to may not be wonderful, but they really don't overdo the saltiness. Hm.... They're the kind of places where seniors make up much of the early rush. Maybe that's why? BTW, I do make the brisket with coke recipe because it's universally loved, and who am I to object (it's one of the recipes that came up when packaged foods first started having rabbinical checkmarks that they were kosher--especially at Passover when everything has to be new and more kosher than kosher, have premixed, certified for Passover, sauces and seasonings can be a massive help). It's a whole brisket (or about 10 lbs.), a 12 oz. can of coke, a bottle of Heinz Chili Sauce (i.e., fancy ketchup) and a packet of Knorr onion or leek soup mix. It doesn't necessarily all get used. Enough to cover. There's plenty of salt! It doesn't make the meat salty tasting, although it does a good job breaking down the connective tissue. I've made a GF version which calls for soup base (Better than Bouillon, which has been recommended in this forum), but that's way, way saltier, and I had to rewrite the recipe to use my own concentrate! Which didn't have enough salt, and the brisket was fine on the cook but underseasoned. I think that might be part of the reason why soup mix became so popular in the first place -- because it's more aggressive on the salt than many people would have the courage to do. I remember a couple of decades ago reading that the secret to every Italian (in Italy) mamma's cooking was bouillon cubes. The piece was kind of alluding to the food shortages following WWII as an origin for this. All I could think is the secret is not "soup"! It's salt and MSG! (My mother's "secret" is good homemade chicken stock which has no seasoning in it.)