I have a spring horse we bought for my son (he's now 44) and I have it cut in half lengthwise, with the intention of having the two halves face each other, mounted on my board fence. I intend to fill the cavity with spray foam insulation, so there's no place for hornets to nest. What kind of paint should I use? Is there a primer that I should use? This horse is hard plastic and has been through a raft of children and still looks pretty good, so I'd say it's sturdy. My house is federal blue with yellow trim, so I want to have one horse blue with yellow and the other yellow with blue. Does that sound dumb? So far, this is just in the planning stages, and I don't find anything else in the Garden Junk forum exactly like what I've got in mind. I'd love suggestions....

De-lurking here to say it's not just you! We had a strange spring with wild weather swings (up to 40F from daytime to night), and I have to say...this is the crappiest rose season I've had in 8 years. Very abundant number of buds--probably the most ever--but the quality of the individual flowers just stinks. Like the worst thrips damage ever, but each and every rose has it. Some roses had stunted/balled/withered buds, others had blackened petal edges, still others didn't bother with blooms. My Queen Elizabeths, easily the most prolific roses in my garden, haven't bloomed yet. There are some old, established bushes that hardly went beyond their pruned size and only spewed a few deformed buds. Thrips are normally a problem on my light colored roses, but this blight is affecting every color. The later developing buds are better--if on the small side. It's the roses that developed first (late April to early May, which is quite late for us) that were the worst. Surprisingly, the roses that seemed to shrug it off best were some of my David Austins--Jude, the Dark Lady, and a few others. But some of the DA's (Abraham Darby) and other shrub roses and climbers (like Sombreuil) were just horrific. My mom came over and said "you know, if you just look at the roses from the house, they're not so bad." Sigh. And we had such a lovely, rainy winter (for us) that I was sure the rose flush was going to be awesome. And the numbers were truly impressive--hundreds of buds on some of my small (3 ft) bushes, which is the best I've seen. But again, the actual quality of the buds was the worst I've ever seen. Some tried and true winners from my garden were hard pruned just because I couldn't bear to look at their browned/blackened/crinkly/balled horrible little blooms. These included: memorial Day, Queen Elizabeth, Sheer Bliss, Peace (sob), Marilyn Monroe, Daybreaker, New Zealand, Just Joey, blue Nile, Evelyn, Abe Darby, Charles Darwin, Autumn Sunset, Golden Something(normally gorgeous downturned sunny yellow blooms, but this time they didn't even open!),Chicago Peace, Tamora, Pink Peace, Mirandy, Mary Rose, Secret (double sob), McCartney Rose, Tiffany....I could go on, but I'm feeling kind of nauseous. To put it in different terms: I have over 160 rose bushes with few repeats, and this year I have only brought six cut blooms into the house. SIX. But who can really blame the poor roses? Last week we hit 100 degrees on Monday, and on Thursday the high was 54 with rain (snow in Flagstaff, poor buggers). What is a plant to do in these conditions? Apparently, they sulk. Now it's getting to be blistering hot again, with humidity in the single digits. Spider Mite season. I won't likely see a good bloom until September, and then the deer and javelinas will be moving in for their Autumn feast. I'm thinking of getting into daffodils. At least the lilies, Shasta daisies, coreopsis, and cannas are doing well. And the glads look like they might actually open this year (last year they were all duds). I'm off to sulk myself. Heather

This is why I love this site -- you all help when we need it and then say we did great! The wall color is Benjamin Moore Aura Affinty #500. It's a greenish gray that plays off the slate that is on the floor of the Florida Room next to the kitchen and throughout the house in hearths and bathrooms.

I am so, SO thankful, so blessed that I had all of you to turn to. I just re-read all the replies again and I'm smiling from ear to ear (and to be perfectly honest...my eyes got a bit teary) and I am about to start RE-decorating the tree....for the second time; thanks to all of you. To read some of your stories....terribly sad yes....those memories. But then I read how someday I can look back at this and laugh and I'm hoping all of you who've had the fallen tree mishap are able to do that also. To all of you: If any of you ever need a shoulder, or need to vent, I'll be here for you just as you were for me-I sincerely mean that. Just holler! (or, at least email through GW and I'll be there for ya...any of ya!) My Dad is doing much better....thank you so much for asking. It was sure scary the night I called 911. The fact that he is diabetic didn't help matters. E.R. Dx'd as severe food poisoning but because his sugar was through the roof and white count was so high they decided to keep him. On day three they were still insisting it was food poisoning. Took matters into my own hands and got a second opinion. Five tests later...... Severely Gangrene Gall Bladder, infection throughout bloodstream, etc. etc. Emergency surgery at 9 that night. Today, Dad is going to the bathroom without me helping him get up and walk there and without me standing outside the bathroom door waiting for him to finish. Thus....I'm redecorating my tree today! LOL My son? My voice of reason and comic relief. I will be showing him this printed thread. Thank you all so much. As for mice, rats and Sterilite....here's some pics I took really early this morning. This is one of the last two Sterilite tubs that we didn't get broken down in time for the curb/trash pick-up. Until now I thought those cute little round mouse holes in cartoons were just that....round mouse holes in cartoons. Nope, those critters really DO make almost perfect holes to get at what they want! And yes, thank you for that tip.....I just finished printing out this topic, all the replies. I want to put it with the pics I took of the mouse holes....so I can hopefully laugh about it some day. If you are squeemish about 'rat and mice stuff', don't scroll down to the pics below.....stop right here *smile* But I did put pieces of bubble wrap behind the holes to keep you from seeing the 'stuff' inside. Considerate of me, no? *grin* ------------------- ------------------- ------------------ ----------------- ------------------