ltd123, I do lots of foam carving and if you don like the mess then you can use a hot knife. It will only work on EPS foam not urethane foam. HereÂs some pics of my foam carving projects: Cartoon Trees Theming for Water Parks - 3D Trees Themed Water Park Attractions - Six Flags 'Ship Wreck Splash' Water Park Carvings - 'Ship Wreck Splash' Artist Carving 3D Foam Ship Wreck For a Themepark Themeing for Water Parks - Six Flags Over Georgia Skull Splash Water Park Props - 'Skull Island' Water Park Attractions - Skull Splash Roof 3D Foam Props for Water Parks - 'SKULL ISLAND' Six Flags Sculptures for Water Parks - Three Dimensional Skull for Six Flags' Themed Waterpark 'SKULL ISLAND' Water Park Theming - Bell Tower for Six Flags Water Park Themeing - Bell Tower Water Park Sculptures - Carving Bell Tower Three Dimensional Signage - Calloway Park Sign Three Dimensional Signs - 3D Sun Carving 3D Water Park Attractions  Mermaid Playground Themeing - Toddler Town Facade House Facade 2 Giant Clog Canoe Theme Park Attractions Theme Parks Exhibits - Cartoon Snake Slide Exit Amusement Park attractions - 3D Pirate 3D Sculpted Pirate Ship Amusement Park Sculptures - Octopus Sign IAAPA Booth IAAPA Themeing - Eel Slide Exit Theme Park Props - 3D Pirate Amusement Park Props - Pirate Head Sculpture Chipmonk Head Sculpture Softplay Corvette Soft Sculptures Playground Sculptures - 3d Shark Faux Marble Sign Tree Houses Tree Bases Robin Cat Relief Carving Skull Chair Movie Prop Moon Relief Sculpture Parrot Window Relief Sculpture Alien Window Relief Carving Picnic Basket Props for Water Parks - Cartoon Birdie Cartoon Bird Foam Sculpture Cartoon Butterfly Professor Window Foam Relief Carving Treasure Chest Window Relief Sculpture Snake Window Flat Carving Alien Robot Flat Sculpture Clay Dragon Maquette Lion Window Low Relief Lion Height Restriction Sign Low Relief Sculpture Snake Head Slide Exit Sculpture Pizza Pooch Head Movie Props - 3D Space Pillars Space Medallion 1 Space Medallion 2 Skunk Softplay Dinosaur Chipmonks Clubhouses for Kids Octopus Slide Exit Dragon Slide Exit

sabradees- Just interested to know what your final solution was re: paths / rails. I'm a totally blind gardener and I've been doing some searches just to see if there are any other blind gardeners out there. Built my own garden paths in two lg beds this past spring. Much smaller scale than what you are doing, but I've been very pleased with the results. I was following sq foot gardening principles, which suggests 3' wide paths between gardening areas. This concept has helped me create smaller garden beds, some of them irregular in shape, which I can access from any side. What did I use? Newspaper under cedar chips. Disadvantage has already been mentioned ... I'll have to renovate these paths every 2 or 3 years. Enchanted Places has it exactly right. Scent, strategic use of a "landmark" plant or structure (like a seat), are wonderful ways to help orientation. I suspect that your DH can get around well using available clues in the landscape, so the special issues are more for your Mom. Here's one idea that I don't think was covered: Use rails on both sides of the path. Sometimes, when my blood sugar dips very low, I can get pretty confused. My mobility is v good; I average 2 to 3 miles per day with a v speedy Guide Dog, go hiking, etc. But, when the blood sugar takes an unexpected dive, I can get "lost" in my own house! Somehow ... if I can find one wall and then another immediately opposit, it triggers "hallway" in my fuzzy mind, and I can find my way to the fridge and the orange juice! Same thing happens when I'm gardening sometimes (somehow always when I forget to put the juice box in my pocket). I've been known to get "lost" in a relatively small patch of grass because I couldn't for the life of me figure out where in the heck the front sidewalk disappeared to ... it was right here a minute ago. I've been to some state / national parks that double rail some or all of their walking paths, and its very helpful. Might be cost prohibitive, but it might help to use them in certain areas. Thank you for providing these things for your loved ones. I, too, am fortunate in having a life-partner who helps me in so many ways. God bless- BA

Your cabbage and artichoke plants look positively wonderful, Xuan! They must love the humidity! I can hardly believe the cabbage is forming heads already! My veggie seeds, besides the radishes, haven't even made an appearance yet! We've gotten plenty of rain, but the raised beds dry out faster than the ground, what with all the wind we've gotten lately... they needed to be watered yesterday, for the first time this season. Due to the different soil types in different garden areas, some beds are still a bit muddy while others are beginning to dry out a bit... we have heavy clay soil in some areas, and others have been amended with compost, peat, topsoil and sand. A few areas are rather gravelly, as well, and I'm constantly picking out small stones and pebbles. The other raised beds by the barn were filled with a combination of topsoil and rotted horse manure... by next year, that soil should have broken down even more and become quite beautiful! I should still add some sand to the beds... maybe some peat, too. When I hear about overly dry conditions and wildfires raging, it's usually in California... I normally think of Florida as being humid and wet! It must be difficult to find edibles to grow that can take both wet and dry extremes... Mulberries sound delicious! When I was a kid, we had a good sized mulberry tree in our yard... we would pick tons of berries and enjoy them with cereal in the mornings! I've got Tithonia "Torch" seeds planted... I can't wait to see the flowers! Your bouquets of them always look so pretty, Cindee! And you're so right... fresh picked home grown fruits and vegetables taste so much better than anything you can buy at the larger grocery stores... most of the commercially grown food, unless it's organic, is rather tasteless! Especially the tomatoes! I look forward every year to harvesting fresh pea pods and green beans, tomatoes and bell peppers, and all the other delicious things we plant! This year, Larry is going to make pickles! Yummy!

Hi all, I first want to thank you all so much for your comments and observations. The insight and knowledge on the GardenWeb forums is tremendous and I learn so much. Before I forget, Paul (paul4x4), you commented on the size of the bricks in the living room fireplace. I don't have any idea if the fireplace or chimney was altered. I do know that my chimney guy said that the fireplace/chimney is not large enough to be safe for wood burning--and that it is unlined, so that we should not burn wood in it without having a liner put it. Something about the fact that burning wood would send flames too high into that chimney. I have an update to respond to tzmaryg's comments about what's behind the radiator. Due to a leak in another part of the hot water heating system, the system had to be drained and I took the opportunity to have the plumbers also disconnect the radiator and move it out so I could get behind there. First, there was a plywood-like panel covered with the light color wallpaper that I had removed from the rest of the wall. This panel was just nailed into the white wood of the mantle surround on one side with small nails, so I took those out and pulled the panel away. Here are photos of what I found behind it: Long view--see that dark round-ish patch in the center of the peeling wallpaper? That's a 5" hole going into the chimney!: Close up of hole: Looking through the hole into the chimney: Needless to say, seeing an empty hole going into the chimney sort of freaked me out--even if it has been there for quite a number of years. This chimney takes the gases from the boiler. I had the chimney guy out today to seal it up. If it was a stovepipe for smoke going into the chimney, is it weird that the wallpaper looks like it would have been tucked up right against the pipe at the time? In the close up pic, you can see how the wallpaper goes right up to the edge of the hole. tzmaryg, I was *so* hoping to see some decorative tile behind the plywood panel. :-) Thanks again to all for your input!