Oh, you lovely ladies, if you could see my garden now you'd be horrified, it's all sticks with old leaves attached, and new ones coming through, and tiny rose bushes with wire fences around them. However, I hope that will all change in another month or two, when I should have blooming roses in my garden. I hadn't looked at these wedding photos in quite some time, and Cecil and I had such a sweet time remembering that day while looking at these pictures. How fortunate I am to have spent all these wonderful years since then in this wonderful place with that amazing man.

I doubt that one or two cherry peppers is significant. The cucumbers are also low pH and the brine should be sufficiently acid for both veggies. In future you might consider using dried red peppers which add heat and color with no risk whatsoever. The green tomato isn't an issue. It's unnecessary to buy water, even if your water is hard. The document below on pickling has information on softening your own water. Tap water is fine, bottled spring water is fine (though expensive). The cloudiness is probably a result of residual minerals in the water (or using table salt) but it's not a safety issue. So from my perspective you're fine. Enjoy your pickles. Carol Here is a link that might be useful: How to Soften Your Water

Actually, that was the side I didn't do anything to other than cut a few of the larger berry bushes at the bottom of the hill. That birch is in rough shape and without staking it up and waiting several years, it won't survive. I would just assume take it down since it's not really in a great location anyway. I hate to do it since they are becoming relatively scarce due to disease and insects. This picture http://minus.com/lbx4OfKnwRF4xc shows what are definitely blackberry/raspberry bushes. I wouldn't mind having them, in fact I would welcome having a ton more, just not here. Being on the slope they will not be easy to get to when the mature and have fruit. If there was a way to transplant them or something I would love to hear it. I had tried it in the past, but the only way I have ever seen them grow was by accident and negligence. Based on the size of a few of the lower bushes, I would bet they may produce a limited amount of fruit. The smaller ones at the top of the hill however are definitely not mature enough from my experience. Going off on a tangent... I loved having berry bushes growing up and we had a large sandy area on my parent's property that they grew like crazy in. They eventually began to die off and my dad chopped them all down. The began to come back by the time I went to college, but it took a while to get any amount of fruit from them. My last year at college I rented a small cottage on a back road that had the biggest patch of black raspberries I had ever seen. I started picking as soon as they began to ripen and then ever couple days for the next 3 weeks. I stopped for lack of room in the freezer for 1gal ziplock bags. I made at least a dozen pint jars of jam and a few quarts. I gave a bunch away but i'm hoarding the last few of the "good" batch for myself. :) So in other words, I would love to have berry bushes, just not where they are. A lot of what you see on the ground on the left side (looking from the house) is debris and not much in the way of live plants other than some weeds. Obviously it is still very early here and not much has come up yet though. The tree shown in the background of this picture http://minus.com/lbwhVJrx76OE9d appears to be planted from what is left of the mulch/preparation around the base. This shot http://minus.com/lvFny84VUSjeW shows a rock swail that comes down from what is left of the last owners fish pond sort of thing. There is a reddish low lying plant growing on either side that I failed to get a close up picture of. It appears that it will look nice later in the spring but needs some weeding and/or mulching. I will take your advice and try posting some pictures on the "name that plant" forum. In the meantime, would I benefit from getting some sort of tall meadow grass mix to put down in a few weeks? *whoops, I wrote a book

Augie What size and efficiency systems both up and down do you have now-cooling and heating? Any specific issues with existing systems? I will assume you have conventional furnaces now. If you replace only outside condenser and inside evap coil and pair with existing furnace, you are just as well off staying with basic 13 SEER condensers. If you want higher SEER 15+, you must go with either two stage var speed furnace or at very least a single stage furnace model with high eff x-13 blower. I also question the sizing of the furnaces you were quoted. I will give a pass to the dealers on furnace models because these Trane furnaces whether down flow or upflow are adaptable to horizontal application which I suspect is what you have now. In other words, not a big deal. I do take exception to Mike's statement above about a two stage furnace running on low stage 90% of the time. Not true unless you have a true two stage thermostat. In fact if you use the timer on the furnace, you would be running probably 90% of time in high stage. A pet peeve of mine what dealers do to homeowners in this area. And yes a two stage stat costs more but will easily pay for itself. At this moment AHRI site is down. I will look up a system using both two stage furnace XV80 and single stage high eff blower XT80 for upstairs. I also recommend a pleated filter media cabinet that Mike suggested. IMO This post was edited by tigerdunes on Tue, Apr 30, 13 at 7:32