I went to Otto and Son's Nursery today in Filmore, CA and checked out their red roses. There was a heatwave lately of 100+ degrees Fahrenheit, so most of the roses were looking faded. It was a good test to see which roses were looking there best. Double Delight was faded pink and white, but still pretty. Firefighter was a close distance away and was also a faded-pink, but not as pretty. I was disappointed, because I didn't think it matched very well with Saint Patrick, a greenish-yellow rose I planned on having as its companion. Right now I have Firefighter in a pot in partial shade, because it is so young, but will eventually be placed in full sun. I no longer think Firefighter is heat tolerant in my zone, but I still think it would be a good match with Double Delight in a cooler zone. Even the older blooms were fragrant. The red roses looking the best in heat were today were Grande Amore and Ingrid Bergman. The staff there said Grande Amore starts out dark red and fades to a lighter red, not pink. Ingrid Bergman was very nice and they were showcasing it at the front of the nursery. But unfortunately, there was no fragrance that I could detect. This post was edited by jasminerose4u on Sun, Jul 20, 14 at 3:32

We rented a 14" electric dry brick saw, BX-3. It came with a 14" diamond C1 blade. The cost was $65 for 4 hours. The saw required a 20 amp service. It worked really well, but it was quite windy, and the dust went everywhere. We did the border first, installing the pavers vertically. Then we laid all the horizontal pavers that didn't need cutting first, so that we could minimize the time we needed to rent the saw. We had never done this before, but we are quite pleased with the results. We had intended to sweep sand into all the crevices, but I like the look of it without the sand, so the jury is still out on that. I'm sure it would be more stable with the sand, but not as aesthetically pleasing to me. We'll see.

Thanks, everyone, for the responses AND for all of the help/suggestions along the way. Chelone, I am considering adding some thyme or something as groundcover between stones. Can I plant it right in the stone dust, or must I add soil? As for the kitty, that's Molly. All of my (3) cats take turns asserting their ownership over new things. They like to pretend they own things exclusive of the others, so they usually are not to be found in photos together. Here is Tiger (Chelone read about him in a post elsewhere): He's mad because I wouldn't let him out in the rain. Here are some pictures from outside the fence as requested by Treeskate. I could also use some help with a couple if things. Yesterday I moved my Viburnum burkwoodii 'Mohawk' back several feet because it was not thriving where the runoff from the new patio bed was affecting it. So it's now in front of the window well and will hopefully disguise that for me. I popped a Buddleia in the space in between that and my Limelight. When the Limelight and Viburnum grow in I'll move the Buddleia. Here is the new area, finished last night: I'm looking to fill in the mulched area with some kind of groundcover that won't be too invasive but will cut down on the need for weeding until the shrubs fill in. Any ideas? Oh, and don't mind the two different types of mulch - - that's what I get for shopping at two different nurseries! For those of you wondering about Martha, you might be able to just make out her stones in the distant background of the first picture. I've moved them more times than I care to think about. No word yet from the people who are supposed to be working on it. . . Here is a picture from the front. I could use some suggestions for what to plant in place of the pachysandra, which will (eventually) come out. To the left are some peonies and a clematis. Any help much appreciated!

WoW!! THANK YOU GUYS. I was so nervous posting here - this issuch unusual kitchen that I truely wasn't sure how it would be received but we absolutely love it and I am so glad you do too. I really think the biggest help was working out where everything would go when we were done and then setting up the "kitchen" floorplan in the garage using appliance boxes and working through a couple of our make-a-lot meals. We refined it quite a bit that way and the actual kitchen has met or exceeded all our expectations in function and form. The one thing I sometimes wish we would have changed is moving one DW more into the prep area making cleanup easier but the reasoning for not doing it was sound form over function :) We didn't want to see the prep sink from the front door and that was the only other floor-plan that worked. I keep having to remind myself of that. dancefit my pots are All-Clad Stainless. We bought them because non of our old pots and pans except for the Le Creuset Dutch ovens were not compatible with the induction top. I LOVE these pans. They are awesome to cook with. They've definitely made me a better cook. mustbnuts - the floor-plan was inspired by out of the box thinking by my then 7 yr old LOL. He wanted me to watch him play outside while I was cooking. Initially there was some reserve here about putting the cooktop under the window but code in our village allows it as long as there are no combustible materials like fabric around and if the windows open, which ours do, the cooktop cannot be gas which ours isn't lascatx - great minds think alike!! The yellow pendant was supposed to be the back up in case any of the others ever broke. The one that should have been there is a blue one but the electrician put them up without consulting me - he didn't think it made a difference - and then to get him back would have cost $100 so we live with it for now. It's still beautiful. Auchmedden The checkerboard was from my inspiration kitchen and my friend Julie, who is a graphic designer sat down with me, a few copies of the elevation and brown, yellow and black crayons and we worked it all out in about an hour although I couldn't have done it alone. Crabapplemcn and others: the metal braces were custom made for my kitchen. Our granite fabricator has worked with Eric, the stainless steel fabricator from Indiana, before and together we designed the look I wanted. Eric consulted with the installation crew and together they figured out how it would be installed. The wall they attach to was built to take the weight of the bar PLUS those pullout seats from innovative-seating. We ran out of money so just have standing stools there now. Acountryfarm - we had TG dinner last year for 44 WITH NO PLUMBING in the sinks and an oven that I didn't realise at the time was 50 degree too low LOL This year I have plumbing and only 14 people coming. I'm really looking forward to it. maydl,redroze and moonkat - thank you :) Come on over any time just give me some warning so I can get the counters organized rmkitchen - you're a GENIUS!!! THAT WAS MY INSPIRATION KITCHEN!! Their kitchen was based on Circus Circus but I took most of the colorful elements out - wow you have a good memory. I saw the kitchen in a magazine and my inspiration came from there. I didn't hear about the TV show until much later Here's one of the pictures we used for inspiration! mindstorm - you had me there for a minute. [GRIN] but my manhandle doesn't like to fly and he hates being packaged in a little box. He likes it just where he is and he's staying put. These are our upper knobs Our inspiration kitchen had about 15 different handles but the space was about 4 times what we have. It would have looked like a circus. zeebee - I'd tell you where I got the pendants but then you might have to shoot ME. It wasn't easy working with THAT glass blower but any good local glass blower should be able to make you something similar. Flyleft and others. A lot of the storage solutions are unique. DH is a fledgling woodworker and did all the fittings for the inside of the drawers including the can drawers. Everything was made to measure which is why it all fits so well. A HUGE advantage of going fully custom. The rest is due in HUGE part to Ken at Ayr cabinetry. We tweaked this layout to make sure EVERY inch was used. He never said no to a single request. I think I drove him nuts but it was SOOOO worth it. raehelen :) Thanks again everyone. Now I must run and clean up the mess I made making dinner: Beef Brisket, mashed potatoes, broccoli and La Bete Noir! Sorry - no pictures.