bad news ... anything without a leaf is dead ... presuming that pic is current ... which doesnt leave much ... and that trunk crotch is a nightmare ... get rid of it... it is a very short lived tree .. in tree years ... its overly mature... and just not worth the effort ,... IMHO ... in my world.. its an opportunity.. for something new ... even if you insist on the same ... it was a bad winter for such... and i would presume... that is what did it in.. or put it over the top ... i would prefer.. if you come back often.. that you learn to put the pix right int he post.. look for the HTML code... and paste it where you type ... and on preview.. if you see it.. we will ... sorry.. its just not worth the battle to resurrect it.. right there out the picture window.. in the front yard ... ken

WHOA! I was curious about Whink, so I just googled for their MSDS (which must tell you the ingredients). The active ingredient is hydrofluoric acid. That is a serious and dangerous acid. It dissolves glass (so it may not be good for your sink). More serious, it is harmful to YOU. It does not "burn" your skin, like hydrochloric or nitric acid. Rather, it is more pernicious. It penetrates your skin and does nasty things to your innards. From: http://web.utk.edu/~ehss/training/has.pdf Hydrofluoric acid (HF) differs from other acids because the fluoride ion readily penetrates the skin, causing destruction of deep tissue layers, including bone. Pain associated with exposure to solutions of HF (1-50%) may be delayed for 1-24 hours. If HF is not rapidly neutralized and the fluoride ion bound, tissue destruction may continue for days and result in limb loss or death. Full disclosure: I may be overly strident about this warning because I have a minor, but permanent, disfigurement on my hand, and lingering pain in my thumb, due to unrecognized exposure to HF about 30 years ago.

So, of course I have seen this, but didn't clip it when I saw it and now I can't find it. Looking for pictures where they carried the backspash tile 1/2-3/4 behind a chimney hood. Not all the way to the celling, or to the beginning of the hood. Okay...go :) P.S. Thanks in advance.

oakley - You don't know how I wish I saved some of the threads/pics from 2010 holiday! Thankfully, a very saavy poster (dawnp, IIRC) found me a good part of what I am looking for with the ribbons over in the Holidays section of GW. You might try looking over at the Holiday threads if there's anything else you want to find. Can't remember the name of the particular poster, but she has complied a scrapbook of sorts of ideas and projects that have been done by other participating posters for anyone to view. So helpful, and there are many talented and extremely friendly posters over on the Holidays. There isn't any drama, and I've always found it to be a pleasure to participate over there for sure. Judithva, in particular, walked me through a couple of things by private email. I have her to thank for the decor for my DD's Sweet 16 birthday party! Can't believe that was 5 yrs. ago. Despite using every word combo search here on Decorating, looking for last year's holidays pics, I came up with nothing. I couldn't find anything older than 2011 with regard to Christmas decorating. Maybe you could start a 2011 mantle thread here this year. If not, please share a pic of your 2011 decorated mantle. I always love seeing how the mantles are decorated. So wish we had a fireplace. Fortunately, I live vicariously through my DM as she and DD have a mantle. Every holiday season I spend a day helping DM with the holiday decorating. Would love to talk her into using bleigh's 2010 mantle as a guide. I just sent her a copy of the pic via email yesterday. You know, subliminally, putting little ideas in her head so that when she's ready for me to come, maybe I can persuade her to try something different this year. Bad, I know. mtnredredux - first, tell me about your user name;). Not an easy one to remember, I had to copy & paste. Hoping not to spell it incorrectly, lol. Any event, your tree is/was beautiful. Your pup, oh boy, what a face. Yes, I do see that there is a gift under your tree that is wrapped in your not at all favorite "red" ;). More importantly, I see alot of things on your tree that could lead you in a direction of a tree decorated sans any red. Won't be making the same mistake this year. This year, I am going to copy all of my favorite holiday pics to my computer so that I am not searching like a crazy woman this time next year.