Greg and Joan, I'm looking forward to more pics from you two! Golden Pagoda is intriguing. You don't see that one much, and I bet it gets very prominent points in the Houston heat. Joan, maybe you hire a little crew of teenagers every Spring Break to help you out with those 200 trees! Can't wait to see the blooms that are developing here, and you bet I'll post when I get a chance. Robert, that Lemon Drop is Thornton's and one of only a few big ones I have. It's certainly the "branchiest". That's what you can look forward to in a few more years! Bill, our little guy gets us invited back to a lot of places! We would all love to go back to CA soon. Will definitely let you know if we get a chance. K, glad the seeds are coming up for you; they're the perfect flowers for a Texas drought! Yes, that is TLD on the tree because my memory is just THAT bad, lol. Sometimes I abbreviate and then ask myself, "Now what the heck does that stand for again?" Dave, thanks for the compliments! I'm in Austin. We're 8b but I've seen at least one big plumeria tree kept in the ground all winter in my neighborhood. It can be done in a sheltered spot with frost cloth since our freezes are all short-lived. Mike, I found another possible oh-please-let-it-be inflo today, so I feel like I won the lottery! Hope you also have a great bloom year!

Hi Chery2, I enjoy that site too and have bookmarked a number of recipes. They sure run a variety and I spent hours reading many of them. Cheers, McPeg

Hey francy, I'm using EK paint in the trim formulation--the ICI Dulux Lifemaster 9200 (see link below), mixed with a tad bit of Floetrol. The paint mostly levels out (DH says it does completely--he's amazed how easy it was for me to get a good finish on melamine), in fact I'd say it's more uniform than the other surfaces I've done with a brush (it occurs to me that I hadn't used floetrol in the other trim I painted--Devine trim paint), but there is a bit of a texture, just an imperceptible bit. But it's all over, not linear. I really like the look of it, but you might not. I think Michael had said to go over it with a brush if you want to get rid of the "stipple", but I would rather leave it as it is--the risk is greater for me than the potential reward. Maybe trying Floetrol will give you greater control, longer workability and leveling than you have now? Just a possibility. When I first tried it I poured out a little paint into a yogurt container and mixed a tiny amount of floetrol into it, just to see what I thought of the different consistencies/workabilities. I much prefer life with Floetrol now. :) AND life with the Jumbo-Koter.

This was our itinerary and we stuck to it pretty well. It all worked in that it kept us busy and going the whole time without a lot of driving in between. I think our longest straight drive was 2 hrs. Day 3, we lucked out and just caught up with a walking tour by a docent from the Museum of NM History which lasted 2 hours and he pointed out a nice place to have lunch inside an old hacienda. Day 4, after the horseback ride, we didn't feel a need to go back to chimney rock as we'd seen it on the horseback ride which was *fabulous*. But we did spend time hiking Plaza Blanca which was also incredible. Day 8, we hit Bandolier really early, before 8am so we had time to then hit Valles Caldera, which one of the wranglers at ghost ranch recommended. So glad we did and so glad we had a 4 wd vehicle which handled the 14 miles of dirt road just fine. And Day 8/9, Jemez springs, we didn't really "see" but drove through the canyon to stay at this little luscious place by the creek with a view, did a lot of relaxing and meditating, and got a couples massage (thank you mtnrd) before heading off to the airport to return home.