Jo, I use a drip irrigation system and put it away before freezing temperatures arrive. Parts of it...like the t-tape can be left outdoors but it drastically shortens its life. My garden slopes much more than yours, so I have my drip irrigation set up in zones with ball valves, so I can shut off some sections while irrigating others. Since water tends to flow downhill pretty well, even underground, my higher beds dry out faster than lower ones and need to be watered more often. Also, because they are on the higher south and west ends of the garden, they are more exposed to summer's south winds. Most of the time,, since water does flow underground from our neighbor's higher ground to our south, the lower beds at the north end of the garden have good deep moisture under them for a much longer period of time and often I don't have to irrigate those beds at all until mid-summer or later. To make drip irrigation work in our big,sloping garden, setting up zones has worked better than anything else I've tried. Our lowest temps at our house this winter have been 9, 10 and 11 degrees on several different nights, so I was glad we didn't have any drip lines out exposed to those temperatures. The people who leave their drip irrgation lines in the garden all winter often unhook the lines and situate them so any water left in them can run out. Then they use an air compressor to blow air through them to insure they are dry, and then hook them back together in place to they are ready for spring. I am not certain what they do with the rest of the system, but I imagine that even if they leave the lines themselves in the ground, they take the pressure regulator, filter and other parts and dry them out and store them indoors where they won't freeze and crack. Drip irrigation might not meet your needs if you don't want to put it up every winter, but it might work okay. You can learn more about drip irrigation at the website of Dripworks, which I'll link below. They even have designers who will help you design your drip system if you want them to, free of charge. If you go that route, be sure you tell them about the change in the grade in your garden so they can take that into account. Also, there is an irrigation forum here at GW and I bet the irrigation specialists there would be happy to answer your questions. I agree with Larry that a pressure compensating system likely would work for you. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Dripworks

Well, BM's mom picked up SD on Friday from school. This morning (Sunday), BM called DH & told him SD has been throwing up since 3am & has the stomach flu. I guess that put BM's plans out & she was going to be home for DH to pick her up. I made a suggestion that DH let SD stay at BM's until she is no longer sick, since BM is not working & SD can't go to school... he didn't want to ask her so he was still going to bring her home. The last time SD came home with stomach flu, everyone in our house had it for a week & this time, I told him that I was not available to stay home & take care of SD as I have to be out of town on Tuesday, so if she needed to be taken care of, he would have to stay home & take care of her... also, that if she gets DGS2 sick, he won't be allowed at daycare & I will have to stay home with him, which messes up my plans. As far as I'm concerned, BM knew of the risk because her other DD15 and her DS1 was sick with it last weekend apparently. She is the mom, she should nurse her DD back to health, right? If SD can't go to school, there's no reason BM can't take care of her until she's well enough to go back to school. After all, she could have warned DH that they've been sick since she knew everyone in her house has had it the last week or so. Anyway, DH arranged for SD to stay with her, at least until tomorrow/Monday. Besides the physical discomfort of being sick, it affects us being able to work (=our income) & being a sole proprietor w/no employees at the time, it would force me to close business or my dad (he has a separate business in the same location) would have to run both of them, by himself because right now it's just the two of us. He doesn't need the added burden of me getting sick and/or possibly getting him sick too. As it is, I'm already taking time off because the daycare is closed on weekends & the other grandparents have not picked up DGS for two months... and it's no longer feasible to bring him to work with me, he gets into everything as 2 year old's do. So, I'm aggravated now with the prospect of dealing with a sick child and/or having the illness brought to us & having it affect our already stressed finances. I'd just like to figure out how to stop being aggravated with everything... and feeling like everything is BM's fault in one way or another. I know that's unreasonable or irrational thinking. But, it's just one thing after another.

I love going out for breakfast on any day except Sunday. Too crowded,screaming kids,harried waitstaff. Not for me. I eat breakfast out often though. I don't order things I could easily do at home. I like to have things like omelettes, burritos stuffed with eggs,chili and topped with Spanish sauce, steak and eggs, pork chops and eggs, Hawaiian waffles, and other things like that. Breakfasts that I don't usually keep the ingredients on hand for and would have too much leftover if I bought them. We are fortunate enough to have several good mom and pop places to eat at so i don't have to deal with the chain food "steamed" eggs and pre-cooked bacon stuff. We have a lot of Mexican places that serve a killer breakfast too. There's one place I love that serves breakfast all day a bit farther away. I don't normally like "skillet" breakfasts but they have a breakfast called the "Kitchen Sink" on the menu. It is potatoes,onions,peppers,ham and cheese topped with eggs however you want them. What makes it sooooo good is the potatoes are diced teeny tiny and are brown and crispy on all sides without being hard. It's served with your choice of toast,pancakes or biscuits Gravy if you want. I can't even finish a half order. I get mine with bacon instead of ham because I only like ham as dinner or fried really well. They always do the bacon diced and crisp before mixing it in. Yum.

I agree with Jannie on the time. If you arrive at the church at 1:30, you will have time to visit with other people you may know before going into the home. It sounds like you are in for a wonderful afternoon. Have fun!!