Hi, Thanks for the comments. I hadn't thought about hanging it, but that sounds better than a fence. I don't really like the 'boutique' either. There are no hard to grow plants in the yard, but there may be when the cement pond is history. I've been looking up that plant called protea. A few of those may like it on the slope. June, I was thinking about you the last few days, wondering if you got back from Texas. The fence isn't done yet. I haven't been able to find the mis-mix for the final color yet, a sunflower yellow. There are 35 boards ready to hang except for that last coat. The rest are sanded, many are patched and some are cut out. A kid on my street made a little flier for the neighbors so he could work for summer money. Perfect timing. He's worked here for several hours and does everything I ask him to do. We're making good progress in the (long) side yard. That's where the metal is. Once that's done, most everything else is wood and easier stuff. We're still plugging along at the swap meet on Fridays. The mountain is a little lower that it was. I may even be able to make the demo date sooner if it keeps going well. We're going to Caliente, NV next week for a 2 day visit. I'm sure Caliente is a prime vacation area, lol. Email me when you get a chance. Linda

Oh man, first the beautiful Aloes, then the Hummer? Enough to make me cry. By the way, those of you who think the bella is the best are wrong, wrong, wrong. Suprafolia has it all. The leaves are worthy of an ode, the flowers before they open inspire you to song. The blue overlapped, delicately edged floral scales stop you in mid thought. The flowers after they open are second in the Aloe universe only to A. praetoriensis. (The looks of the 2 species is very similar, but the supra has nicer foliage.) These are not opinions, but facts. ;) lzrddr, if I get a good pic of A. preatoriensis bloom, can i post it here? I don't want to dirty up your thread.

Why not kill the vine with kindness? Fill jars with dilute Roundup solution (3 parts water, I part Roundup), place ends of vines in the jars through holes in the lids and seal the jars by twisting the jar, not the lid. The jars can be hidden by shrubs or other vegetation. The vines will gladly take up the Roundup/water solution and be grateful for the additional water. Top off the solution in the jars as needed with additional solution as the vines take in the water and transport the roundup into their roots. Next year, the vines will be very unhealthy if they even survive the winter. Repeat the second year if necessary. All the roots are probably interconnected, so all parts of the vine in your yard and the neighborâÂÂs yard will eventually die. Commiserate with the neighbors when they express sadness over the unexplained death of their beloved vine.

Congrats Glenn! I am sure that you enjoy your fresh cup of coffee. I am a big coffee aficionado and always have a new coffee to try, my favorite are the dark roasted ones. Right now I am trying one that I bought in Ireland, another one that my daughter got in Paris for me, a Brazilian roast from the coffee roasters in the area, a Peruvian from Amazon. I visited the plantations where they grow the Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee but one of my favorites is the Chiapas from Mexico. And yes I am familiar with coffee growing around other area than the mountains , I visited in Manta, Ecuador a town around the beaches and they grow both Arabica and Robusta coffee beans. And I just finished reading The Monk of Mokha, good readings for anyone who enjoy coffee and non fiction stories. Silvia