I have a small orchard, and in addition to the five apple trees I planted, a bird must've pooed the seed to start one wild, and I inherited four old ones already on the property. They're all standard sized trees, and I grow mostly heirloom varieites organically, so that means they tend to bear heavily every other year. This year practically nada, but last year.....oh my. I made apple sauce, apple butter, apple jelly, apple pie filling for the pantry. I stuck apple pies, apple crisps in the freezer. I incorporated apples into the diet at least twice a day. I gave apples away. Apple drops are a yellow-jacket and wasp magnet, and there were so many drops, my husband had to take the front end loader and push them to the back of the property in piles. The deer eat well those years. It's the old 'cup runneth over' I had to go to my son's farm to pick this year, because our harvest was so lean. sigh. This has also been a banner year for black walnuts. Like your red raspberries, we harvested and my husband husked, cracked and pickout out a few hundred dollars worth, most of which are in the freezer now. We just said 'enough is enough' and left the rest to the wild-life.

MrClint, Same deal with citrus and peach trees everywhere here in Fresno. I usually just go knock on the doors of the folks who have huge trees in their front yards, with fruit I like, and ask them if they are "done" harvesting for the year. So far nobody has ever minded me clearing it off. I usually save a bag for them, take as much as my family can eat, and then give the rest to local food closet/church charity places. sklett: really, don't sweat losing the tree. I've lost some myself and I still struggle trying to experiment with my citrus in different locations around my yard. I almost lost a few more this last summer trying to test if container trees could ever acclimate to full southern exposure without shade (nope). Just during the last two weeks I had them in my patio without light, hoping they'd do fine all winter. But I already saw leaves dropping so I had to back-pedal that plan. There is a fine balance between soil temperatures and light they receive and I was too lazy to attempt figuring it out for my micro-climate. It's possible your tree dried out. It's *very* easy to do when you bare root and put it in a new mix that has so much peat in it. I've done it, but caught the problem quick enough. So now when I build a mix with lots of peat, I have to keep misting as I go. Otherwise, you could literally pour 100 gallons of water into a bucket of peat and if it drains out the bottom, only half of your mix is wet. The inside is still bone dry. Either you have to submerge the entire container the first time or make sure the bark was well soaked so that moisture transfers into the peat. Just find some GreenAll bark, open the bag and get it wet, then set it aside somewhere until next spring. You can get a fresh beautiful citrus again when spring arrives. hopefully the bad memories will be forgotten by then and you'll be excited again. Chris

Well, you must think it through, depending on your mom, is she up to socializing and training a puppy, going through baby gates up around the house, the teething and chewing stage that can last quite awhile? Have her house turned upside down. Afford to pay for good food, vet bill, what if the puppy ends up with health problems, can she afford that? Is she willing to do all involved? Walking it, playing with it, throwing balls, etc. that is all involved. Does she travel? Does she have someone to not only feed the puppy but walk it, wear it out and play with it. People tend to forget what energy puppies have and all that is involved in owning one. Also does she have good health? How old is she? If something happens, will you take the puppy into her home or someone else? My mom has a friend who lost their last elderly dog and she wanted another dog in her live. They finally got word about a puppy and they weren't prepared and of course you forget when your dog grows older and then elderly and get used to a dog that isn't full of energy constantly,etc. A puppy is lots of work and totally exhausting. I remember those days and how tiring it was, the constant training courses we went too and training daily outside and the tons and tons of walking we did to try to wear them out. The destroying of things, the teething was bad. I sure don't want to go through that again. I hope your mom is up to all that.

It looks great! In fact, picture perfect....keep going. And send your DD over here! I wish I had an artsy craftsy daughter! I have two sportsy girls (not a scrapbooking/painting/decorating bone in their bodies). It used to make me madly crazy when it was book report time--they would throw some pics on a cardboard piece and proclaim they were done. I would have spent 10 hours on something like that as a kid LOL. It probably drove MY mom crazy (she was doctor and couldn't care less about art!) The Quiet Moments color looks really nice--just a teaser I know, but can't wait to see the finished product...then are you done?