Hi everyone! Celeste, first I want to tell you how much I enjoyed your article in the current Heritage Rose Groups newletter. I wish I could do the same thing: wind in my hair, holding on tight, and exploring the highways and byways with my sweet husband via motorcycle, sounds like a lot of fun. Too bad I am scared to death of motorcycles!!! (I cannot believe I just admitted that on this forum!!!) I have loved roses since early childhood, due to my mother's love of them, and spending some time with her in her "garden" (well, just a suburban yard, really, but when you are a preschooler, the whole world is bigger, you know?). I have had small gardens at each home I have lived in, and even when I was young and single, I would at least have houseplants and a rose or two in a large pot out on the patio or deck of my apartments. My husband Johnny and I married in 1996, and he knew from my small pot ghetto at the time that a larger garden would be inevitable once we bought a home together. Although he is not a gardener by nature, he is very much an outdoorsman, and he was content that I would want a nice big garden. Whether it was roses, other flowers, or vegetables would not have interested him at all. We bought our home in 1999, and before we had moved in, the garden plans were beginning inside my head. As soon as we had made this older house habitable inside, I changed my focus to the outside... Being the nice guy that Johnny is, he took my planning and excitement in stride. He could be counted upon to dig some holes, and assist with maintenence. But no way would he help pick what roses and other plants to buy, or help choose where to plant them: "You just tell me where to dig, and I will dig" mentality, lol. I joined the Texas Rose Rustlers, and Johnny has been sweet enough to tag along with me to the meetings. After all, how many times have I gone with him to the deer camp, or out fishing, etc, just so we could spend some time together? He met several men in that club that are avid gardeners of every description, particularly rose gardening. He listened to the speakers at each meeting, he joined in the socialization, he made friends with all the sweet older ladies that think of him as one of the nicest guys they have met... and before you knew it, he was asking questions, becoming curious about soil science, propagation, hybridization, and even would love to try his hand at growing roses from seed. Several years and hundreds of planting holes later, Johnny still doesn't consider himself a gardener. He leaves that distinction to me. He is the gardener's helper in his mind. He has lots of pictures of me in the garden that he loves, and I know it is not just that the pictures are of his wife! I think one would have to be heartless to spend so much time caring for the earth and not be able to develop an abiding love for the plants that you have nurtured! And anyone that knows Johnny, knows that he is a man with a very big, very happy and loving heart! Does he get teased for gardening with me? Not that I have ever heard. Would it bother him? I doubt it. He is pretty strong minded, and can hold his own in any circumstances (except for needles.... he nearly passed out during a minor procedure once, but that is a tale for a different sort of forum!) I wonder what sort of folks would think it odd for a man to garden? Maybe I am naive, but gardening is pretty common here in Texas. Lots of us come from Farming roots. And there are generations of hybridizers to look to for the nobility of the art of gardening. How many of the founding fathers of the United States were gentleman farmers before they were called to become patriots? I doubt they *only* grew their cash crops, but probably also grew things that they fancied. ... That reminds me that Thomas Jefferson was just such a man. His garden journals still exist, and he was, I think, the original American "Master Gardener"! Maybe there are problems with people's thinking nowadays, to disparage a man for being agrarian, rather than just a hunter-gatherer! Seems to me that agriculture was a step up on the evolutionary pathway. My final thoughts: Anyone that is foolish enough to question the masculinity of a male gardener is deserving of having a whiskey barrel full of compost, or a trash can full of fermented alfalfa tea dumped on their head! And anyone that stops to think about it will realize that rose gardening ain't for sissies! Most roses have big, mean thorns, and they bite. Anybody that would laugh at a guy that wrestles Mermaid without fear is lacking in brainpower. And last but not least, as Poodlepup knows, men that grow roses... yeah, they're hot! And most of them don't even know it! Allison

After seeing your latest pics, ans re-reading your OP - I would say the following: 1. You PURCHASED the piece of stone for the Island - it was your property 2. THEY suggested that you wait on the island 2 1/2 years ago, and on THEIR insistance - took responsibility for the piece (still YOUR property) 3. What they are trying to give you as the island made from "your piece" (if the small sample in the pics is what the stone SHOULD look like...) does NOT match with the sample. Based on these three criteria - I would say you have a case, and that your Fabricator now has the responsibility to "deliver" - if he can't to your satisfaction, you'll need to work out fair compensation for loss and de-fault of contract. Hopefully it won't go there - I'm hoping that your guy will make things right and give you what you feel is acceptable... TO YOU !!!! I would hope that your Fabricator can find a stone with waaay more of a match to the sample, and then everyone wins. My guess is - they lost track of your "piece" AND either broke it or fabbed it (the original) for something else, or they just lost track of it and it's still there - burried in their scrap pile.... I work with shops all over the world in my business, and I cant tell you how many other fabricators are in this general group....... EVERYBODY makes mistakes now and then !!! LOL - But..... you gotta hols your guy's feet to the fire and have him fab up an island that YOU will be happy with. Seriously - I'd wait and see what he can do, then lets evaluate your options Not trying to be "self promoting" here, but you can e-mail or call if you need to discuss... www.azschoolofrock.com - I'm hoping that everything will turn out OK for you at the end of the day...... hth kevin

Good solution the the problem John. I don't have a proper kitchen at the farm and we do fine adjusting to the environment given. 50lbs!? of tips!? I would do 8lb packages rather flat on parchment lined heavy foil on 1/2 sheet pans, favorite dry rub, over some thick sliced onion, and into a low oven 225 for 2-3 hours...pre-heat hot 375 for 20 min, then turn down. (or those foil pans) . Basically braising till fork tender, not fall apart tender. You could start a couple batches early and get them chilled on ice and ready for the grill, then start the next batch in the oven....yada, yada. Then off to the grill for 20 min. with a wet mop and serve with a favorite sauce. Lots of salads and sides go with tips...anything that goes with ribs. But slider rolls will make a super sandwich. Everyone has their favorite dry rubs and mop sauces and dipping sauces...just be careful of too much salt. Lots of added salts and sugars in pre-packaged rubs and sauces...probably the one major complaint at gatherings i've been to.

Christian, Your The The Lady Gardener may be responding to too much nitrogen for her individual varietal needs. My entire one and only rose bed gets a generous feed of pigeon manure (essentially equivalent to chicken manure), in November. It is spread evenly over the bed. This is all the fertilizer the bed gets until after the first, spring flush is finished, which flush begins 6 months after the manure is laid down. There are some rose varieties which produce vegetative blossom centers every spring. My assumption is that their nitrogen needs are not as high as the roses in the bed who do not produce vegetative centers, growing under the same level of nutrients available to them. Perhaps too much nitrogen is responsible for the vegetative centers seen in your TLG. Moses