perrr..rect, Perky! A real "down-home" as said above! Luved the slideshow! Would like to see some bigger pics of a couple things, if possible...the shovel scene (painted?)...and another of the windchime...it's quite "shaded" somehow...what items are on your chime? Oh yeah, and the "like my hat" (can't see what it is)??? Milk can looks awesome, too! Ahhh, you must luv that DH of yours...good work! Jeanne S.

Good morning all, Happy Anniversary Sue and Tom!!!! Hope you have a wonderful day. What a beautiful day!!! 73 degrees out and Im about to take my coffee outside and enjoy the morning a bit before I have to go and get ready for Dougs company party. They are having some kind of BBQ at a family type amusement/water park. Arrgghh!!! That is absolutely the last thing on the planet Id like to do today. (Im one of those strange people who loathe amusement parks. You could not pay me enough money to go to Disney.) Anyway, Im going to lose this primo garden day after being gone last week and having to deal with the hot weather the beginning of this week. Sigh Anyway, thank heavens for the container gardens. They are the glue that are holding things together here this year. They are truly filling in and looking fabu at the moment. My Mountain Ash in the back yard is dying off again this year. It looks like garbage and I told Doug we are going to prune it with a chain saw next weekend. Time to get the messy thing out of here. Martie, what a treat, another post from you! How excellent you had someone do all that edging for you!!! Im jealous. Maybe I need to ask for a garden helper for a couple days for my birthday present. RE the fertilizer for the containers. Ive used several different products over the years. I used to use the Miracle Grow liquid fertilizer and last year I used the AlgoFlash liquid fertilizer. This year Im trying out the Osmocote slow release in the containers. The growth is more restrained but Im satisfied and it cuts down on the time it takes to do a liquid feed once a week. RE planning, I try to keep plants with like watering and light needs together but dont always keep to that. Ive found that if you place a plant that needs less light in the back of a container that is in full sun it can do well. Ive also pushed the light limits of things like fuchsia and coleus and found that we can grow some traditional shade plants in more light that youd think. That Fuchsia Billy Green is in full sun and doing quite well. The only times it is a problem is when the temps go over 95 degrees or so then I have to mist them a couple times in the day or move them. Hi Honey, isnt it always the way that no matter how much weight weve lost wed like to lose a few more???? LOL I think you look just perfect right now but I do understand the wanting to get into one size smaller. I suffer from the same want. One of my many problems in being satisfied with where I am, is every time I see Sue I feel like an elephant. Id just love to be that lean and fit. She is my idol as far as body types go. Marian, so sorry you are continuing to have problems with the raccoons. Have you considered getting some inexpensive feed and putting it on the perimeter of your property to keep the animals away from the house? I dont know if that would work or just attract more critters from miles around. ~~ Your coleus looks very much like my Trailing Plum Brocade. Im really enjoying the trailers Ive added to the coleus collection this year. V. thanks very much for your input re the fungus. I suspect you are 100% right and Im going to have to do that. Im thinking I wont replant cimis in that location either. Seems there is always something that creates problems. Eileen, Im so happy to hear that your Mom is doing so much better. Im sure she is feeling a lot more alert since the pacemaker was put in. We need lots of oxygen in our brains to function well and if a persons heart isnt working properly that would affect our brain function. ~~ I totally agree with Sue that it would be great if youd do a thread on making your cement leaves. Yours are awesome and Id like to give that a whirl one of these days. OK so here are a few piccies from this morning. Even though things are starting to wind down there is still plenty of color out there, Fiesta This is a sweet new fuchsia called Mrs. Lovell Swisher For some reason my heucheras do 100% better in the containers than they do in the ground. Im loving this Eupatorium Little Joe this year. Probably my favorite new perennial Enjoy the day everyone! Deanne

How very dreadful, Linda :-( I am so sad for you that your beloved doggies have gone on ahead to the Rainbow Bridge, but this is even worse news. I will send my very strongest good thoughts for your husband's recovery.

Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers. Well it is Sunday and we got through the reunion all right. Actually it went great. We had 12 classmates out of 42 show up and 25 little kids. My folks rushed home and were there late Friday night and the girls stayed at my sisters that night. My folks put up 2 pools and also got one of those giant little tykes water slides that inflate. People showed up around 1:30 and stayed until after 8. We all had so much fun, 2 of my sisters came over and helped out with the kids, they had fun on the water slide and pools, my dad got one of the horses out and they had pony rides, he also had his full sized popcorn maker going and they ate tons of popcorn and we also had popsicles and watermelon to cool off. I made too much food as usual and my mil made several salads, we just grilled out hotdogs and had a lot of fun. Those that wanted to had brought beer so we just sat around talking about the high school days and comaparing current notes. I can tell you it was a blast and took my mind off dh. He did come down and had fun too. We go see the surgeon on Tuesday and see what he has to say. I think he is planning on doing more tests and another CT scan. They got his pain under control. They think that it was a combo of the gall stones and they discovered an infection in his intestinal area so put him on iv antibiotics. His blood sugar has really dropped since Friday and we are working on getting it under control. The Dr. thinks that the gall stones and infection brought out the diabetes. She is positive about it and that with diet, exercise, cutting out sugar and oral meds that we can get things under control. They won't do anything about the gallsones and hernia until the diabetes is under control. All in all it really has been a long week but in a way I am glad that it happened. DH hasn't had a physical in 11 years and is overweight. While there I asked Dr. to do a full work up on him and am curious to see what his cholestoral is. The hardest thing is that he really isn't a fruit or veggie person. I am sure you know that between the kids and I most of our diet is veggies and fruits and meat is a side dish. Right now his blood sugar has been staying around 180 which is in the high range of what the diabetes consultant wants but is way better than what it was before. Now to try and catch up on my sleep, we are also in the processes of moving the girls and Hayden down stairs and had carpet put down on Friday so the house has stuff every where. My mom is going to come up on Tuesday and stay a couple of days to help me catch up. With me being pregnant and Dan's hernia the furniture moving will have to wait until we get some family to come up and help move things around our 2 story house. Again thanks for the support and love, Stacie girlsingardens