You all are so nice!! I'm really tired, and can't respond individually to everybody, but I'm feeling it in my heart. Steff, it's actually the peach line beneath the orange one that was the big trouble. A lot of the color depends on the temperature of the kiln or something. But it came out okay in the end :) The red tiles just have a lot of grout in the texture of the glaze still but it's coming out slowly but surely. I don't really want the heavy acid of grout release, but using vinegar takes a long time. :)

Bon, Really, it isn't even time to put any warm-season edible plants in the ground yet except for corn in far southern OK, but I wanted to start some zinnias and basil and a few other warm-season things indoors. I don't even remember the OSU-recommended dates to start putting warm-season plants and seeds in the ground---probably April 10th for most things. Since I plant by the combination of soil temp, air temp and forecast, I don't remember the OSU dates as well as I should. I've got everything in the ground that I can plant at the present time except for a few flats of flowers I'm raising from seed, so I'll play around with starting a few herbs and flowers that I can put in the ground 4 to 6 weeks from now. Having had high temperatures this week in the mid- to upper-80s, I am worried we'll get too hot too early so went ahead and planted beans and corn this week. It is early for the beans, but we are unseasonably warm and so is our soil, so I think I'll get away with planting them early. It still is too cool for peppers, melons, okra, squash, cucumbers, southern peas and the like. Some years it gets so hot so early down here that plants that are heat-sensitive, like beans, start dropping their blossoms almost as soon as they start making blooms, so if there is anything I'll push in the ground a tiny bit early, it is bush beans. I don't rush pole beans or Lima beans quite as much as they don't seem to tolerate being planting a touch early as well as the bush beans do. Most of the veggie gardens we drive by on a routine basis on our way to town are either plowed or rototilled and bare, some with big puddles of water standing in them, so not many folks here have planted anything yet. A couple of them aren't even plowed or rototilled yet. I wouldn't have planted anything if I didn't have raised beds that dry out more quickly. I wouldn't dare put anything in the grade level soil yet because it likely would just rot. Even folks near us who usually get their onions in the ground here no later than the OSU recommended dates (and often much earlier) don't have onions in the ground yet. As far as Fred and I know, I'm the only person who's planted onions already, and it is getting terribly late in southern OK to plant short-day types. This may be the first year I've ever had my onions in the ground before everyone else. I just keep an eye on my soil temperatures, my air temperatures and our 8-10 day forecast when making planting decisions. I won't plant if the soil is too cold for whatever it is I want to plant because seeds won't germinate and transplants won't grow while the soil is too cold. Our soil has been shockingly warm this week in the raised beds, which made planting beans and corn possible. I need to tackle the weeds growing in the mulch in the grade level areas because those areas are too wet to work so they haven't been touched since autumn and are growing a healthy crop of cool-season weeds. It is warm enough that 4 o'clocks, daturas and the dreaded bind weed are sprouting. Ugh. I hate bind weed. Today is so windy and cold that I may not go out to the garden at all except to harvest asparagus. I might spend tomorrow catching up on the weeding in the grade level soil if it is dry enough. It it is too wet and big clumps of soil come up with the weeds, I'll just have to wait another day or two for it to dry out more. I will tackle the clean-up of the back garden next week. It is all grade-level soil with no raised beds, so has been too muddy for me to venture into it at all. The perennials back there are up and growing well, though, so apparently the constant moisture hasn't bothered them. So, what's a gardener to do when they can't garden? Starting seeds indoors is about all that's left to do on a day like this.

Just go to the paint store and pick up a gallon of paint, a tarp, a brush, a roller and a tray. Watch a couple of YouTube videos if you've never painted. Although some here say it will be done in a day, don't count on it. You'll almost certainly need two coats, regardless of what the advertisements say, and the prep work, taping and hand work takes quite awhile. Assuming you won't have to paint the ceiling or trim, allow for two days including final clean-up and putting the room back together. If the whole darn room is aqua, give it another day. Unless you love to paint, I'm a big advocate of painting kid's rooms a neutral color and letting them have input on bedding and decorations. The only time I failed to follow my own advice was a purple disaster that I shudder to recall.

Interesting Donna, I just took out from the library Binchy's A Week in Winter although two thirds of the book takes place before the week in question. All MB's usual 'types' although as this must have been one of her later books one sees a subtle change in her attitude towards the very conservative lives led by the people up until the '90's. Rather more 'free love' ('though without benefit of contraception . . . then still against the law) and the problems this can bring. I am expecting a positive and happy ending.