Thanks very much, Mike's Mom! Mike is more than welcome to email me about dogs. I hope you're feeling better... it's definitely no fun to be cooped up indoors with an illness, in winter. I'm more than happy to share my gardens and flowers with everyone... isn't that what it's all about, anyway? Don't worry at all about misspellings or typing errors... not everyone is tech savvy. I wouldn't be, myself, if it weren't for my husband... he's a self-taught computer geek from way back when! We used to have old Commodores in the garage, though I have no idea what he was saving them for! We began getting a little snow early this morning, and now, it's really coming down! I don't know how many inches are predicted, but I can tell we're heading for a White Christmas! I just hope the roads are cleared by the 23rd... we'll be packing everyone up and heading north to see the kids and grandkids, and to drop off a load of pups to their new owners. That should be a fun trip! Four hours in an Escort wagon with a crate full of yipping puppies! Thanks very much for all the compliments, everyone! What began 5 years ago as a blank yard with nothing but a few trees, has become a wonderful conglomeration of bulb and perennial beds, English Style rose gardens, raised vegetable beds, sun and shade gardens, and a small but growing own-root hardy rose nursery! My partner and I hope to have a small to medium sized greenhouse erected next spring... although, we've been planning that for 3 years, now... and we'll use it to start our rose cuttings. We're specializing in truly hardy, own-root roses... mainly old fashioned and hard to find varieties, although we'll have Canadian, Iowa Buck, some English, German, and other rose types, too. There are so few rose sellers in our area, and it seems that the majority of rose plants are grown in Texas, or are grafted varieties that just don't do well in northern gardens. Roses and perennials are my outdoor passions, but indoors, I'm addicted to Amaryllids, and trying to grow orchids! No... I haven't had the pleasure of seeing JoJo's dogs yet... I do hope she posts some pictures! Don't get me started on dog rescues and shelters... I'll never get off THAT soap box! There's no reason for our nation to have such an overwhelming dog and cat population problem... and if more breeders and owners took real responsibility, we wouldn't have a need for pet rescues and shelters! We live in such a capitalistic, disposable, consumer driven society... it seems that everything is created to be used and discarded. This mentality seems to carry over into the area of our pets, too, because so many people get pups or kittens or other baby animals, never realizing that these are living, breathing, feeling animals, completely at our mercy. They require a lifelong commitment, and yet, so many people dump them once they find out a little work is necessary, or some training is involved, or they get bored... it's so sad. I can't even watch the Humane Society commercial on tv without weeping like a baby... just thinking about all those innocent, defenseless animals that are abused, or dumped, or unwanted. Owning a pet is a lifetime responsibility, and breeding is an even bigger responsibility. We owe it to our animals to do it right. Ok... I'm climbing off my soap box now... it's a subject that irks me no end... Mike, take care of yourself... pneumonia is not something to mess around with! If you get too sick, who will take care of YOU? And now... since everyone is having such a good time... here are a few more pictures from earlier this season... And that concludes our garden tour for this evening! :-) Thank you for joining me... it's nice to look back at the gardens of summer... especially since it's still snowing out there! Yikes! My photo album online contains over 2 thousand and forty something images of flowers, family and pets... in no particular order, other than as they were taken and uploaded. I'm happy to share my garden accomplishments... and I'm glad they have the power to make you all smile! Happy Holidays!

My citrus have started the party out doors. Nagami kumquat in very bad shape but I believe it will live.. It is marked with the flying baseball cap. the crown marks my sweet lee tangerine tree. It was on its death bed then and is doing very well since planting there. The large tree below is my seed grown meiwa kumquat tree. In the process of moving it in and out I dropped it once and forgot to put in the spacer and burned the trunk with the light bulb. It has lost 1/3 of its leaves and shows no sign s of growth the smaller tree is a seed grown nagami kumquat. It is doing very well. 3 happy sweet lee tangerine trees from seed in bottomless gallon food tins. I had placed 3 sweetlee trees and a nagami kumquat tree in the community garden. Squirrels dug 3 sweetlee trees and the nagami up, one was replantable but died. the seed grown nagami was in critical damaged and was moved on to the roof as seen in the flying baseball cap. All four trees were very un happy not because the were grown from seed Here is a link that might be useful: http://s1094.photobucket.com/user/wreristhechimney/slideshow/Seed%20grown%20Meiwa%20kumquat%20tree

These are wonderful! I'm embarrassed to say I had only been searching ON Gardenweb's site for kitchens, it hadn't occurred to me to use Google (I feel like a dunce)... Mpagmom your link had kitchens that I hadn't seen but are also beautiful and great inspiration, so thank you! I'm working on my layout and will post it soon, I'm so looking forward to getting opinions and suggestions from all the knowledgeable people here!

Jakabedy, I did three post on 11 Bonita a few months ago. I emailed with him while writing. They just bought a lakehouse that wasn't even on the market, and he said he might start blogging about it. His other blog is Foodimentary101.com I write/post on the blog linked below. Mainly shopping, but have also written kitchens up too. Over 700 pages - mostly kitchens and bathroom. Two others from GW post there too - Rococogurl and Tryin2Grow, who is the rug expert. The 11 Bonita posts are: 18 Foot Island Kitchen Salie House China Room Timeless Modern Master Bath Here is a link that might be useful: blog