Hi Ya'll, It's here! The swap is tommorrow! Woopee! I'll bet everyone will have more fun than a centipede at a foot tickling party! LLLOL! jclepine: I had asked for some pineapple mint & a poppy.If you can't get the poppy may I have some cherry bells? If you have enough I'll share some with a friend of mine. I'll be happy with any plants I can get. b2alicia: thanks.The more I keep up with these swaps the better I'll learn the "lingo" LOL. I have a small strawberry pot. It only has 2-3 side holes. I'll bring it with me so U can see it. Would anyone like some of those grayish egg cartons(the 18 count type)that come from walmart? I'll bring some with me.("will trade for fresh eggs"? 3-4 empty for 1 w/eggs?? Yeah right! LOL lattefairy:yeah for the mint & tansey! thanks! billie_ladybug: wow! you must have a big truck to be able to bring all of that stuff. I have my bins loaded for the manure & plenty of room for the pots. If you need help unloading your stuff I'll be glad to help. kvenkat:May I put dibs on a yellow eve primrose,persian spining primrose, morning glory/star yelta,& an apricot daisy? I think I left you off of my wish list. If I asked you this before just disreguard this. catnohat:WOW! I can't wait to see all my plants! Thanks! Well I better stop so I can get up early & head for the swap. I will be bringing: juice,pimento cheese,crackers,a cheese dip,chips & plates. I have several boxes I will bring to share if anyone needs one. Thats it(I think) goodnight all. See you in the AM ! %):>

Keep a couple of things in mind before making your decision: digital format stores nicely and is convenient; however digital formats have changed greatly over the past few years and are expected to continue to change... think about those irreplaceable -and unreplaceable- Polaroids. If you do go digital, wrap the original photos in acid-free paper and then vacuum-pack so your great-grandkid has a chance to see them. Which is another thing, if you don't want these and your kids don't want these; maybe they aren't worth keeping under any circumstance -especially if they are out-of-focus or photos of your cousin's first dog. But if you do keep a few photos, be sure they (each and every one) are well-labeled and dated. DH has albums with pictures of many, many relatives -- some are marked 'Uncle Joe' or 'Mom's Aunt Sue'... no one now alive has the vaguest idea who these folks were, and although I've heard that Uncle Joe's real name was Donald I don't know his last name, and none of the cousins today know who was the "Mom" that had an Aunt Sue. Now me, I have no photos of any relatives, because mum was sure no one would ever be interested in the past -- and when I was in my twenties and thirties, I surely was not interested. So mum disposed of everything before she passed on. Nowadays, I would dearly love to have at least one picture of my parents or grandparents. And the last thought: If the group pictures are dated and you know the details (where, why, when the pic was taken), you may find an organization that would like to have them. Genealogical societies may interested if the people are well identified; and there are historical sites that collect dated photos of the world around us.

We actually used two of the base cabinets (with the counters) that we removed from the "old" kitchen. Moved everything in my dining room against the far wall so we still have a table and chairs. The dining room shares a wall with the stove side of the kitchen, so we took off the baseboard in the dining room and cut a small hole in the drywall behind there for the stove cord to run thru, and plugged the stove cord into its outlet in the kitchen! When we put the baseboard back up we won't be able to see the hole (or, yes, we SHOULD patch it). We have a microwave sitting on the counter, and a 4-tier plastic shelf (about 36" wide) for all of our "pantry" items. The drawers in the base cabinets have worked great for plastic flatware and paper plates. I also bought one of those tall plastic drawer units (Rubbermaid or Sterilite) to house all of the other drawer stuff that we removed from the old kitchen. This weekend it will be a year since we officially began demo. I suppose we made it a little too easy to drag our feet on this project! The only issues we've had - the fridge had to sit in the family room for about 6 months while we were trying to get around to laying the tile floor. It probably could have gone back into the kitchen and sat on the subfloor but it took so much work to rearrange the family room, I didn't want to have to do it twice. And, we only have a pedestal sink in our main floor bathroom, so we've had to truck laundry baskets full of dishes upstairs to the bathtub a couple of times. Luckily, we aren't big cooks, and we use paper goods (recycled though!) so we haven't had a huge amount of dishes. Wish I had a pic, but I'm a little too embarassed to take one. =>

I agree that research is essential. Everyone has been seduced by glossy pictures at garden nurseries or has overlook good roses based on pics. For example, if I didn't read glowing reviews on Julia Child on this forum, it wouldn't be a rose I would had bought had I seen it at the nurseries. At glance, it looks just like any yellow rose that is available. But fellow rosarians can't be wrong, especially from so many people from different climates and countries. It is definitely one of my favourite rose so far. In my experience it is better to spend a bit more money on strong plant than to buy cheaper weaker ones. This may not always be the case but a strong plant with strong canes is essential in my opinion, especially for those of us who live in colder climates. After so many years growing roses, disease resistant varieties and vigor is on top of my list. I would be willing to forego most roses no matter how beautiful they are especially if they are famously prone to diseases and are not vigorous. Of course, I have made exceptions but there is no point in wasting time to nurse unhealthy plants that takes a lot of your time and energy and space for that matter. Last but not least, do not stress yourself out with rose problems such as Japanese beetles and blackspot. I admit that I have been beaten down last year by Japanese beetles. However, I am trying to find other ways to deal with them. I may experiment with the traps as a few gardeners I know has found to be very effective for them. I started to buy more bs resistant roses and I found it really helps. I still get bs at the end of summer but they are more minimal. The last advice I have is don't subject yourself to a heart attack if your rose died. It happens like everything else in life. There are so many roses to grow and take the opportunity to grow a new one.