Gonebananas, Thanks for the link, I had never noticed it before. I will disect the relevant portion of it below: HOS article: Do not wrap the scions because this will pull them out of cambium contact for sure. Plumfan: Lots of people wrap their grafted scions with parafilm after grafting. If your graft union is very tight, I see no problem with a moderately tight wrapping of the entire scion. As I said, many practice this! HOS article: Wrapping the entirety of any part in Parafilm is unnecessary and practically guarantees that cambium contact will be destroyed. Plumfan: His comments about "unnecessary" are totally out of line, as a parafilm wrap WILL prevent dessication in hot, dry climes. I would invite an experienced scion-wrapper to tell us how many cambium contacts he/she has destroyed! It seems that anyone can write an article, even if he has no experience in the actual technique :) HOS article: Use a small paint brush to paint the cut surfaces and taped portion of the rootstock with pruning paint - avoid the aerosol type, which has weed killer action. Using delicate strokes, paint only the cut tips and exposed cut surfaces of the scions. Plumfan: I am not aware of pruning paint that contains weed killer! I never, ever, use a small paint brush. I use a bamboo skewer which slathers on all the glue I need, and it is easily cleaned by wiping it on a clump of grass etc. Brushes are much harder to get fully cleaned. HOS article: Never paint over the buds, which will prevent their growth. Plumfan: This is absolutely FALSE!! I have actually run a battery of pear grafts years ago where I did nothing to one batch, painted only the buds from the second batch, and painted the whole scion from the third batch. The third batch grew at least 4 to 6 feet the very first summer, they grew the best. The other groups lagged significantly. This was done late in the grafting season when normally it would be considered too hot. I have never had a bud inhibited from growing by using Doc Farwell's glue on them. Do a test yourself if using nothing other than Elmers glue! HOS article: Avoid polymer paints, such as Doc Farwell's - they permanently interrupt the "knit" of the wound into continuous wood. Such grafts always fail to form a sound union. Plumfan: I will have to agree with some of that statement, as you do not want to get the glue into your actual cambium matching area. But if you correctly tape up a graft, I have a hard time visualizing just how it is that glue is going to get into the graft. If the union area is that leaky, it is going to dry out on you anyway. Plumfan: Somebody who caretakes the HOS's actual orchard, years ago, questioned my use of the glue, stating that they thought/heard it constricted the graft or girdled it. I promptly dispelled that myth, as I have never seen it happen. The glue stretches with the growth of the limb until it eventually flakes off. Within 4 or 5 years, you will find hardly a trace of it. That article needs to be accurized!

Tam, be sure to post pics for us when you do all your winter/snowman theme, okay? And you table setting sounds pretty too--we wanna see. ;o) Lynne, you had company all week! Glad you still have the energy to go shopping! Jenn, thanks for the good wishes. I feel like I just lost five days. Such a miserable cold--feeling a little better today so it should be gone soon. Karen, I'm glad to know that you don't think my little GD will recatch her cold from us. I'm going to go get some Lysol and spray the whole house before she comes--but I was concerned because we are both still coughing and blowing our noses allot. Hope you feel good again soon too. Luvs

I've always had favorable comments with a moderate strength vanilla scent, it seems to appeal to both males and females. I personally do not like flower scents, specially gardenia and rose. tttodd, the Slatkin candles are great; I especially like the fact that the lid is attractive and kills the flame without having to blow the candle out (eliminating that burned smell of having just blown out candles). I just bought a 3 wick Marshmallow slatkin on thursday and it has a mild vanilla scent. The glass jars at Yankee get a black soot deposit when you extinguish them by putting the lid on. Yankee has started selling some of their scents in a simple clear column container, like the slatkins; I personally do not like the countryish jars, they don't suit my decor. On that same shopping trip, I bought 2 boxes of Yankee vanilla tea lights, they burn well and go out by themselves, which is what I like about tea lights, specially the clear plastic ones, they look good in a clear glass votive holder.

I cough and choke when I'm around scented candles. I often wonder what people are breathing in when they burn them so much. Obviously it can't be good for you. I enjoy candles (and fire for that matter a campfire is a wonderful thing) but they need to be plain old cheap paraffin candles. No stench, no smoke, just clean burning candles. Candle aisles and cleaner aisles are two in a store I have to move through rapidly. What some call "rainforest", "citrus" and the like would be more appropriately called "cheapbeerfart" and "armpit". And I tell you for true there ain't no way in heaven, hell or Houston that I'd eat an apple pie that smelled like an apple pie scented candle!