They not only bring them back but they bring them back in good shape. If pbulbs are wrinkled because of lack of watering, I cut them off. Everyone knows by now how to take care of them, its only for a couple of weeks at the most as they get them some time after they started blooming so usually less than 2 weeks away from my care. Anyway, it does not seem to be a problem, I always get them back. Is there room for more? Is the Pope Catholic? Will Rush find more ways to rant and rave against Obama? Of course there is, there is always room for at least a few more. Big Bob just did me a big favor, so his recent transgression is forgiven. One of my daughter's 26 foot motor home was parked just inside the fence, street parking is not allowed in both her and my neighborhood. He crawls under that to escape the mid day heat. Recently he did minimal damage to the retractable step. It was obviously necessary to move the motor home just outside the fence which makes the side yard a little smaller. What good is a front/side yard anyway? All you do is spend money on it, lawn care, flowers etc, totally useless. Now the MH sits snugly in a corner, back to the house, side to the fence. The beauty of all this is that it frees up a great new growing area, full sun all day, no human factors to deal with at this time. I have to move fast before the more normal Homo Sapiens of the household find a use for this space such as BBQ, table and lawn chairs etc. It can be done, I'm going to start this week end. Nick

Christin, other than the Sempervivums and hardy Sedums all my Echeverias and other tender succulents winter in a cool greenhouse. I have kept an Echeveria alive planted in the ground by upturning a black 2 gal. pot over it when the temps dropped, I think it was Echeveria elegans. It's not so much the cold it's the wet that does them in. A lot of them can tolerate 32* for a time. I have a 3 tiered plant stand with lights in the basement I should experiment with a few this winter. When I get mine all rounded up and sorted out I'll post a few pictures of the ones I have. Annette

Wow Jane, I am tired just reading about what all you did! Sounds like a wonderful time and lots of work and effort on your part. What a large group to entertain! So nice that your DH helps you with the decorating. Mine does not help with the inside at all. I carry everything up from the basement including the trees, all the boxes, ladders, etc. The only thing he does outside is put a blow mold Santa on our mailbox, although this year, he did run an extension cord from the backyard for some of the lights as they kept tripping the breaker this year! Again, getting everything down out of the rafters, off of the shelves, and put up is up to me! Sorry, I just needed to vent a little. I get a bit envious when I hear of other DH's that help with decorating. Anyway, looking forward to your pix. TFS, Candy

Jay, thanks for the Green site. I'll have to sit down and take my time going through it. marti8a, that is quite the house. It looks huge! It looks like they have implemented some good ideas, but the absolute true cracker style is very simple compared to that home, in the general style. However, whose to say if those early settlers were still around they wouldn't be trying something new, right? There were a few around with a cupola in the early days, but they don't seem to be common. We were going to put one on the house originally, but they can be hard to maintain and is another area for a potential roof leak. My husband said with the proper vents the house will perform the same as if it had a cupola. Some of the older homes have vents on the gable ends. I can't even imagine having a cupola with windows. I've seen a couple of them on modern versions of a cracker home. For one thing, who would ever want to clean the things? No one. So then you see dirty windows all the time. The other thing is the sun would be beating in and making the house extremely hot. There really isn't a practical way to cover them. Some cupolas do not have windows, but anytime you make a hole in your roof for something...... As people settled here from different areas they gradually brought some other styles with them. There are a few old homes in town that have been restored, and they have a more victorian look. There are also a few southern plantation styles that are old. The most common style still standing here is a two story "I" house with the added addition(s) on the back of the home. They had their kitchens outside the main living area for heat and safety reasons. They also added on as their families grew. The area that we live in is so cool because we can study these homes everytime we go into town or for a ride on back roads. We had a composting toilet in our "little house" (about 400 square feet) that we lived in while we built the main house many moons ago, when we were first married. I love the idea of composting toilets, and would have no problem with one in an outbuilding, but I didn't enjoy having one in my home. I'm not a squeemish person either. It made me feel like I had an outhouse in my house. They also have to be delt with properly or you can end up with odors, flies etc. I didn't get bugs in the house, but sometimes the venting fan froze in the winter and then pee you! The shower we build will most likely have a lip as well because the roll in ones can make a mess. I guess if one of us ever needs a wheelchair we'll have to remodel the shower. Hopefully, it'll never happen. My big thing is no shower door to clean and no shower curtains to deal with either. I'm still feeling really good about my loft. I won't be changing my mind again. Gee, I sure wish all of you were my neighbors. We'd have such a good time! Sandy