Oh, sure calamity, just make me want to tear my path out and change it to look like that one, lol. That's really nice. Thanks for posting it. The pool demo contractor hands out photos of the pool with the poem written in it and thinks it's really funny. I went out with a can of spray paint the night before they started and found out that I'll never pass as a graffiti artist. Next, I found out that it was really hard to take a photo of the whole poem because the pool was L shaped. Duh! It rained for 6 solid hours here on Friday night. Sure glad I kept the pump. I started it up as soon as there was enough water to pump and left it on through the whole storm. The back yard is currently lower than the sidewalk, so the water has nowhere to go. The deck drains are also gone, so the slope now drains directly into the flat part of the yard. That will be fixed as the work continues. It's raining again today, but not nearly as much. The sun will return tomorrow. Linda

Wow, you've been busy, PM! I love your purple/blue silver tree! Looks great & that Santa/Sleigh fits nicely under it! And that cherub wreath is pretty above your mantle. That Lemax vignette in your china cabinet is so cute! Love it! And the bath garland w/those icicle looking ornies is GORGEOUS...bet that was a fun project to get up there! Ugh! Your bathroom looks beautiful ...the blue & silver...lovely! The BOTP shelf vignette sure is festive w/that great Santa pic...nice work! Cute tree, too! And I love that wreath decorated w/shiny ornies...beautiful! (now stay away, Jazz!) And, of course, you know I would love your Woodland Santa's...& that tree, is perfect! TFS, Karen! Wonderful! Jeanne S.

I had a reply that just disappeared! GRR. Short version: Plumber didn't install a new valve, used the old one. However to my dismay, they installed an ugly (to me) handle/faucet...because they are limited in choices using the old valve. If there had been a new valve installed, maybe a different outcome? I showed the plumber what HD had that I preferred. Turns out plumbers don't have wholesale inventory access to HD and they think the HD hardware is "lower quality". So now I am stuck with limited options because of the old valve business. I have a nice brushed nickel finish on my sink taps. I'm not asking to match 100%. But I would have liked a nice clean finish in a similar tone of brushed nickel for my bathtub tap. At the time of ordering, I thought the liner was the way to go. Our house is pre 1990 and I didn't really want the hassle of asbestos testing and redoing the tile surround.

Nanzjade, more plants around the corner... We put in this section of patio this spring. My husband said how empty a space it was and we'd never have anything to fill it, I was up for the challenge.... I think I proved him wrong :-) Thanks Mike. Sorry the bupleurifolia seeds are all gone. Hopefully next summer I'll get more. Denise, that variegated minneola is 28" tall, not including the pot. Funny, I had the larger pot in mind for the New Zealand Lemonade, and the smaller one for the Variegated Minneola. Turned out just the opposite. Let's see, I have 2 Shiranui, 2 New Zealand Lemonade, an Australian red lime, a variegated Calamondin, a Meiwa kumquat, a vaniglia sanguigno blood orange, a Fukushu kumquat, and a very sad, very yellow, little Santa Teresa Lemon. I hope I can fit them all back in the greenhouse for the winter. I bought the glazed pots at Ocean State Job Lot, pretty inexpensive. The larger ones (like the one the var. Minneola is in) have two good size drainage holes, and the smaller ones (like the New Zealand Lemonade) have one.