well with the view you must have from the back of your house, I wouldn't want to waste a lot of time/money on the front yard. Your main front feature seems to be your driveway and garage-- i just hate that when builders do that to you. if it were mine: privacy from the road issue: 1 along the front af the lot at the road side i'd put in a split rail fence: plant some vines or roses to grow along the fence. between the fence and the road a border of mixed day lilies, daffodils, and lilies and some yuccas with mulch. to mark the coners of your lot, sides of the drive-- maybe some sort of shrub or small tree. the hunk of yard between the drive and the fence, plant with ornamental sumacs for great fall color and privacy. you might stick in some smaller hollies or pine trees for winter interest. consider putting a border of perrenials down each side of the drive or just a really tough ground cover-- houtonyia give great color in the sun and deals well with shade. house entry: make sure you have a generous sweep of walk way for you guests to walk up to your front door. Use the space between the walk and the house as a flower bed. this is the area where you want to be fussy in-- you will see it all the time to weed, deadhead and enjoy. keep any shrubs below the window level. Put lighting along the walk: a post light at the edge of the drive in the flower bed, with clematis going up it or an annual vine. On the flat part of your yard between the walk and the slope is where you want a sweep af perfect lawn, you may also want a path leading across the front of the house to the side and to the back yard-- in front of those junipers. i too would get rid of the junipers but still plnt shrubs in front of the house. what about rugosa roses-- they are good looking all year long and don't need lots of care once established. the slope: from the drive down to the house, i would plant a collection of shrubs anfd small trees that are ornamental: you could terrace the hill if you like and plant it with peonies. daffs, iris and add impatients and mums for summer and fall. or start at the top with lilacs, redbuds, magnolias, dogwoods, buddelias, azaleas, rhodadendrons and underplant with a ground cover and bulbs. bring this all the way along your lot line to the corner of your house but leave enough room to pass along side of the house to the back yard. if you want too, continue a single row of shrubs along the side of the house to the back yard along the lot line. end of the drive where the car is parked. You got to do something here-- just looking at the photos i thought the car was going to slide on down that slope. Maybe a planting of doublefile viburniums-- i assume that there are steps leading to the back yard-- also i would plant some shrubs along the driveway-- again rugosa roses, some of the shrub hollies-- you are looking for something about 5-6 foot tall that is evergreen-- mahonia, camelia(if you are in zone 7), clumping bamboos, some of the larger ornamental grasses--depends how much space you have to plant in between the drive and the lot lines. other thoughts: define the edge of you parking area with split rail fence. define the lower side of the drive with split rail fence. you don't give a clue where you live or what your zone is, so its really hard to give suggestions about plants. My peronal preference would be to just cut a little grass out front, do a little weeding and deadheading, a spring and fall clean-up. and spend my time enjoying the view and shade out back. Once these plantings i've suggested are matured, you'll be cutting just a bit of grass and triming only as needed. good luck diggerb

I certainly hope that no covenants are strict enough to demand meatball shapes. Some shrubs are more conducive to being sheared into shapes, but others are not. As to the statement "The amount and character of the landscaping must conform to the precedent set in the surrounding community", I'd interpret it thus: - Amount = you must have some sort of landscaping (trees, shrubs, grass, mulch) and not just empty dirt mounds and weeds gone rampant. - Character = you must have some order to your landscape that offers cohesiveness in such a way that it looks like landscaping. I would not interpret this to mean that if your neighbors have crepe myrtles therefore you must have crepe myrtles. And if you do have crepe myrtles that does not mean that you have to hack them into nubby stubs like your neighbor does cause that is just wrong. Nor does it mean that you have to populate your landscape with just exotic plants; by all means incorporate native plants if you want. Native does not have to mean unattractive, wild and unkept. With proper research you can identify beautiful native shrubs, trees and perennials that can be incorporated into a landscape that looks like a "landscape" (for lack of a better word). This is my front landscape, and it is all native plants except for one Daphne, 2 leftover boxwoods, and some daffodils. It was previously neat groupings of European hollies that required constant trimming to keep them below the windows.

don't go dumping that yet until you really authenticate it. it might be "brush" pottery. based on whether that is little boy blue or clown bust, your cookie jar is worth a nice chunk of change, seriously. and i'm almost positive the lid does belong to the bottom. are there any markings on the bottom of the jar? anywhere? maryanne some history: Brush Brush Pottery was started in 1925. George Brush first worked in 1901 in Zanesville, Ohio. He started his own pottery in 1907, but it burned to the ground soon after. In 1909 he became manager of the J.W. McCoy Pottery. In 1911, Brush and J.W. McCoy formed the Brush-McCoy Pottery Co. After a series of name changes, the company became The Brush Pottery in 1925. It closed in 1982. Old Brush was marked with impressed letters or a palette-shaped mark. Some new pieces are being marked in raised letters or with a raised mark. Collectors favor the figural cookie jars made by this company. Because there was a company named Brush-McCoy, there is great confusion between Brush and Nelson McCoy pieces. See McCoy category for more information.

That's it...Thanks so much! Does it work as well as the "normal" Wilton cutters? I mean, is it fairly sturdy? Have a sharp cutting edge...both the "holder" and the "design cutter"? I will be cutting pasta dough and not softer cookie dough. Thanks again. Susan