Cherries in the peninsula area are subject to the micro climates which determine how often your trees bear fruit. The California Rare Fruit Growers have a lot of local knowledge available on their website crfg.org. If you are growing for your own use you can grow varieties too soft for shipping. My favorite is Black Tartarian, in my opinion the sweetest cherry. Al

I've been doing a lot of general cleanup and getting ready some new areas for next year. We finally got a fence across the front with some gates so now we can keep the dogs in the yard during the day while we're at work. And of course a fence is an opportunity to plant, right? This one is red brick(matches the house) along the bottom 20" and 4' of wrought iron on the top with brick pillars 18' apart. I hung out some Christmas decorations yesterday before I went to work, and today I have a sore throat and earache. So my boss is letting me take Saturday off, isn't he sweet? We had a large old native pecan tree struck by lightning about a month ago and not sure if it will live or die. It's so hard to tell if it's dead or just dormant, but it's smack in the middle of the front yard only about 50' from the house. But it's inside the fence so will be a part of the new area I will plant next Spring. I want to put lavender along the driveway. I have four large lavender plants out there already and they've done so well I thought I should just continue with that. I'll be shovel pruning about 8 roses this year out of the rose garden. Some have just not performed well, others I find I'm just not crazy about because of their lack of scent. Anyway, I thought I might wait till the Spring Plant Swap here in Fort Worth to take them out and pot them up, because rather than just waste them, I'm sure someone would love to take them home. They're all good, healthy plants, just not quite what I want out there. The back acre is really our problem child. I planted a bunch of wildflower seeds out there and I have my fingers crossed they'll come up. The instructions from Wildseed Farms recommended killing off all existing plants, raking the area free of all plant material and broadcasting the seed on the bare earth. Then water three times a day till seedlings emerge. Huh! Who has time to water three times a day? I just broadcase the seeds on the raked area that still had native plants growing in it. I just couldn't bear to kill off all the native flora. I guess I'll see if I wasted my seeds come Spring. The girls are all coming home for Christmas this year, so I'm gonna do some decking out in the yard next week. After they leave DH and I are going to Hawaii for a week vacation. THEN, it'll be time for some serious Spring planning. I'm just kind of milling about smartly in the yard for now waiting, waiting, waiting for the warm weather to come back. Everyone in the family is coming to my house for Christmas dinner this year so I'm thinking I should probably plan to prepare mass quantities of consumables for them all. I hope it's a warm Christmas day so I can take my mom out for a "yard tour" again. It's been a long time since she has been able to come out here, she's 81 and can't drive this far anymore. Well, I should probably write some of these things in my garden log instead of blabbing all day on the internet. But hey, you asked! Cheryl

Oh I almost missed this one- yes they are lovely. I remember the plates from a few years ago. When you describe applying the paint with Q tips you make it sound so simple. But when you don't have any artistic talent I can easily see myself messing even that up. emagineer - you're right about Susan's other projects - she is very talented in photography and rug hooking too.

I LOVE going to Pawn Shops (one in particular because they have such great deals.) So yes..I have bought from Pawn Shops and I have Pawned/Sold stuff. Got kind of a "Miracle" story to share. Many years ago, I was hot and heavy into doing the counted cross-stitching. A freind came over one day and told me that Walmart had all their X-Stitch supplies on sale! I was BROKE...but knew I HAD to get in on the sale! So what'd I do? I pawned my WEDDING RINGS!! (what WAS I thinking???). In my defense, my wedding set was white gold..and I'd started wearing yellow gold several years before..and my white gold set ended up in my jewelry box. So we go to the Pawn Shop and I pawned them for $25.-$30. and we headed to Walmart! I just never could seem to come up with the money to go back and get my rings (and d@mned if I was telling DH what I'd done). Months turned into years...and sometimes I'd think about my rings..and feel sick that I'd done something so stupid, but you can't un-ding the bell!:( It was probably 8yrs. later another friend and I were in the same shop..and I asked to see the white gold wedding sets. The lady pulled a couple of trays from under the counter and I started looking. Not for MY set...just looking!! I was looking in the 2nd tray and about fell over the counter! There was MY set of rings! I knew beyond doubt they were MINE!!! My friend knew they were MINE!! I almost started crying and told the lady that I'd pawn them several years ago...and by golly, I wanted them back!! Would you believe the guy (owner) asked if I remembered how much I got for them and when I told him...he let me "buy" the back for that amount!! All the Pawn Shops in this town don't have enough $$ to buy those rings NOW!*S*