No big leaves on mine this year either. I did have anthracnose, though, and pretty bad for awhile: I had the tree inside a round plastic greenhouse and leaving the door open during the daytime was not enough. There were I think eight velcroed openings above but I'm too short to reach them. I think my 6'8" husband's almost too short: you have to lean over the curve of the thing and the velcro was so strong that the one time we tried, the handle you pull on for it tore off. To be fair, it was a few years old then. The problem was that water condensed on the inside of it enough to soak towels as I wiped it down every day, and the tree took a hit in that humidity. And yet you had to water it in winter because rain didn't make it in. The door tore and the company replaced the whole thing but then the pandemic hit; the whole reason for buying it was so I could go off and visit my small grandkids, but since we weren't going anywhere we took it down and I went back to my old method of multiple layers of frost covers on cold nights. So those were the drawbacks of that greenhouse--and yet. It made it so we could travel and not worry about losing fruit or the tree itself to the cold while we were gone. It's across the yard from the house, so, no radiant heat to help out there, and incandescent Christmas lights help a lot but you have to hold that heat in. The tree gradually recovered. We still have the unopened replacement greenhouse at the ready.

After hearing so many of your suggestions, I now know that my concerns about the dreaded wall in my living room were legitimate. I really appreciate all the comments, ideas and helpful suggestions. This site is like having your own private staff of decorators at your disposal. Parma is right, the space was supposed to be for a fireplace, but we decided that we wanted the fireplace in the family room in the basement. Couldn't afford both. Probably was a mistake. I read your suggestions and looked again at my pictures and could see exactly what each of you meant. Things I had never noticed before. 1. The backs of the shelves do need color to make the display pop. Right now everything just fades into the background. 2. There's no cohesiveness to what's on the shelves and there is way too many things. 3. I have already taken down the two small prints on the sides of the mirror. What was I thinking? 4. The jobots are too long. I had never noticed that. Do they need to go to bottom of the window trim? 5. The mirror does not do justice to the space. It may be too small, wrong shape, something's not right. First of all, I really want the upper ledge gone. The problem is talking my DH into letting me find someone to close it in. I love the idea of finishing out the shelves as a bookcase. I think that would look wonderful. Do you think old books would look better in the space rather than newer books? I am a book collector and have many shelves full of novels in various areas of the house. Les917: I really like your idea of the Sunburst Pediment and would like to find a way to incorporate it into the redesign of the space. Any other suggestions or pics would still be appreciated because this project will take place slowly in the spring. Thanks so much in advance.

Thank you all! They very affectionate, intelligent and social animals. Thanks allison0704. I cant find any carts with flat surfaces made for birds. I cant find anything at ikea that I can convert either. :( Thank you so much lukkiirish. They are my babies. :) I have always been bothered by the lack of nice looking cages. I had at one point spoke to a welder friend about designing a nicer looking cage, but never followed through. I usually do the wax paper too. I ran out. I thought I was the only one who does that! Thanks graywings! I think am leaning towards getting two of the platinum ones. Do you all think the lower profile platinum smaller cages will look better than what I have now? Here are pics of their regular cages.They are in a separate room, but when I come home from work they call and cry for me. The ones I am posting about are just for eating on top of, so we can all eat together and they can be out from me.

Thanks MagadalenaLee - I have not done any major remodeling for a couple years. When I did, I lived in a condo I owned during the process, so they didnt see much of it. Since then, other than one bathroom remodel, I've done exterior stuff (landscaping, paint, stucco, new roof, pool and hardscape). For people in the yard, the caique lets out alarm calls, warning of "danger." I abandoned the septic system last month and there were a lot of people and tractors on the property. I covered the back of his cage, as he has a habit of nose diving off a perch and hurting himself. The maroon belly conure is pretty chill. The nanday conure gets very loud when new people are in the house. She gets stressed easy and I think she thinks she is going to be taken away from me. When I start the remodeling push to the finish here, I am not sure how it will unfold with the birds. The addition is on the other side of the house, but I am hoping to also tile the entire house and also move the bathroom in the current bird room, as well as add a large 6-8 foot door. I am hoping the ctr. and I can strategize how to make it less painful for the birds and I to live here during the process.