Wow, thanks for this information, the numbers in each variety are staggering....and humbling. Very dangerous information for me to have since I am sure the only way to taste all of them is to grow all of them.... Just to clarify, yes, we harvest tomatoes in zone 10 in September and often all the way until December. I have been harvesting our German greens and some are still on the vine (almost ripe but after the autumn equinox!), my sprites (grapes) are just ripening now. I have two late season varieties with flowers and two more without flowers yet (now those might be too late, maybe I am pushing my luck but we'll see....) I have used tomatogrowers.com from FL and they are very expensive for only 30 seeds with a very low sprouting rate (for me in my zone - I am not saying they are not a good source) which does not work for me. Also, if I have not tasted some of the varieties sometimes they are disappointing even though the description sounded really good. I know my favorite tasting ones so far but it is a short list and I am trying to expand my tomato repertoire. Going to the farmer's market, purchasing a locally grown heirloom tomato, tasting it, (deciding yeah or neah? on saving seeds), and harvesting the seeds seems like my best option, just because our growing conditions are pretty different than most commercial seeds suppliers. I could be misinformed here too, so if you guys know a good source for Heirloom tomato seeds in Southern California I would appreciate the information. Oh yes, the orange tomato was 1.3 lbs (a $5 tomato!) and was very similar to Kellogs Breakfast, maybe a little less acidity? or maybe it is just a KB that was renamed by the grower? That one was good enough to save, so in addition to my $5 delicious 2 meal tomato I got about 75 seeds, more then twice what I would get from a seed supplier....and I do know I like it, and it was grown near my garden(s)....am I the only one that does this?

How did this get so long and I never saw it! One comment from way up at the top.... ALL the houses you pictured in your neighborhood had the faux shutters removed. Doesn't that tell you something? For one thing, yours are too short, and do not contribute a thing to the appearance of the house, except upkeep. One house has a panel of some sort beneath a window. Would it be something to consider adding a high backed bench under the one north facing window? Another home had the tall pencil slim Italian cypress, Those had to be there many years to get that tall. Consider something vertical like those plants. Very little upkeep, you sure don't have to prune them. I hate making more work for myself or my DH, so avoid anything requiring seasonal maintenance. Don't know what gardening zone you are in, but cruise the neighborhood and see what you like that looks good, and buy some. Paint colors can be so iffy. But to avoid mistakes, continue to PhotoShop until it looks right. Don't cut it up with a lot of colors though. If you want to detail something do it on that huge garage door of yours.

Such a great, great, great movie. I have a story about it and I swear on my children's lives absolutely true. Tragic ending, IMO.... Sometime in the mid-80's, as was typical, teen me is chilling out in the pre-5000 channel era watching an old movie on a Sunday afternoon. I love Cary Grant, and have parents that are renovation addicts, so this one is particularly fun for me. Mom comes in and joins me, we laugh at the silliness and finally she says, " Uncle L has that house." Me, "Who?" "My uncle L, he's W's father." "Why don't I know him?" "Because he's an abusive and mean old SOB that no one likes very much, but he built my Aunt M that house - she's the one that died long ago in the car accident." "He doesn't have THAT house!" "Yes, yes he does, they built a bunch of them to promote the movie, although he couldn't get one of those. But, Aunt M wanted one. So one day he just called the studio in Hollywood. He actually talked to a producer on the phone and convinced them to send him the plans. I'm pretty sure they still have the plans and signed letter from the producer that came with them. He also owns a whole bunch of land where he goes hunting and fishing - he had all the timber and siding on the house cut from his own property and waited for it to cure before he built the house. It's an amazing, beautiful house." I was in it since that conversation, and yes, it was. Here's the tragic part - the immediate family never told anyone when it was time to sell it. My uncle died 9 yrs. ago this Spring (he lived in the house until his death in his 90's) and DH and I were looking to move to the town he had lived in to be closer to DH's work. We live in that town today. We really wanted to buy it but my cousin insisted on selling some of the land separately for commercial zoning - we didn't want commercial property right up against us, so we said no thanks. The house with a small amount of yard around it ended up being sold at auction for less than $200,000, I believe it is being used as a rental property and every time I drive by it I want to cry. It looks terrible and unloved, and honestly, the old guy had kept very good care of it until the last couple years. It has such an amazing story behind it, and I am sure that almost no one knows that it is a Blandings Dream House - except my cousin, I don't even know how much his own kids know about the story or if he kept the paper work that went with it. I would love to put the word out about it, because I believe there are organizations that keep track of the houses built in the promotion that try to get them preserved. But I'd just feel like I'm screwing over my cousin, and that the fools that don't take care of it now could stand to make a killing on it just because of what it is. Too bad, isn't it?

What a wonderful guest apt! You are looking for a 'soft' rustic look rather than a heavy masculine one so I think using your grey barnboard with white walls would work well. Reminds me of the pics I see on European blogs. What type of flooring do you have? Sea grass rugs might work well with this style - over some easy care hard flooring of course. Focus on textures rather than color with this scheme. I'll post some links that might give you some inspiration: "Color scheme" of pale grey, white, natural willow, and red accent. Painted furniture works well with this type of 'soft' rustic style. "Blog header pic" uses whites, greys, and natural materials. "from this blog" "from this site." "barn conversion" Of course another idea is to use color without going to the heavy masculine ones. Let me know if you need pics or links of that and I'll see what I have.