Northspruce...ROFL..I thought the same thing about the "domestic help"...Very interesting...I'll remember to use DW...beacuse she is dear and like all of the spouses, thinks' I've lost my mind about gardning...oh, she loves the finished product...but thinks I'm nuts..(a debatable topic) Why I like this forum....there is a spirit about those of you in the far north I don't see elsewhere...I can't explain, sorta frontierish but more like resourceful..self reliant and innovative......I'd take the summers if I could do without the winters...then again, today I got bitten by fire ants, a real problem in the south...and every time it happens I SWEAR I'm moving to say...ORegon? Certainly not far north...but a 2 day trip away perhaps to Souther Canada... Anyway, I hope some of you continue to put up pics...I really enjly them. I spent all day planting things I got on sale for $1 at Lowe's, Salvia Greggii, some other salvia's, Tennessee coneflowers, and even some sad looking zinnia's...a good snip, some fertilizer, and they'll be blooming in 2 weeks...sure was hot today....90's...I';ll make you a deal,,I'll send up some warm if you'll send a bit of cool...of course, when the cool weather gets here, it means you guys are under snow...so I'll be patient! Sierra...batting eyelashes is no fair and against the rules!!!! ( even my daugher's now figured that one out...."Daddy"...flash flash....oh, the camera thing....shame on me, I have an nice (now old and not enough pixels) video with a still feature, I lost the download cord, so there it sits...so now I use an Easyshare 3.1 MP, bought it for my daughter...works for the most part.....and very handy...I'd like something that is simple to use, easy to download, and no fooling around with photo editing programs....and some good closeups.....and I just can't imagine what it looks like when cars go by....

I wish this forum had the ability to use those simple enhancements. Sometimes I want to italicize or underline. I've tried to learn it but my brain doesn't retain that stuff unless I did it all the time. Just too many steps and the whole thing takes too long. I think typing on Word would be faster. At my age I am short of memory & patience! I use FF and don't worry about spelling as it always underlines. Even with that, I still spell wrong because I hit the submit button without proof reading. I'm always rushing. But back to the original question: Would Word work for using those symbols? I would us it rarely, but would like to occasionally. Jane

Affordable ford able bale lade lad fad fade doable dare drab brad loaf foal for deaf leaf barf fade fed led lead load lead deal dole flab blade dale fab fable able lade ade fade fore rad doff And I know there are lots more, but that is enough. GLISTENING

walrus, I've cucessfully used cedar for many years and find it the best and probably the most expensive. I oil base prime the pieces before installation on all sides, including edges. Then I assemble them in place. Yes you can wrap the top with some horizontal detail trim but you probably won't find it in cedar. You'll have to use pine here. A gap at the bottom of the column is always a good idea as it helps keep the rain water from soaking into the wood. After completion I put two coats of acrylic latex top coat either in low lustre or satim finish. To close the gap on the bottom of the post you can always add some kind of complimenting base molding. Good Luck, The PorchGuy Here is a link that might be useful: My Album