So much great advice! Thank you Ingrid and Michaelg! I know someone who goes to a feed store for horses. I will tell him to pick me up some 40lb bags of alfalfa and I can collect leaves from the local parks to mulch with. Checking Ashdown and Vintage for the sales, too. Thanks Diane_nj, Moroseaz, Silverkelt, Karl_bapst_rosenut, Predfern, Terryjean, Sammy, Jacqueline3, Roselvr and Canadian_rose for the wealth of info.!!! You all have made me realize that compost makes the garden world go 'round. Also thanks Hoovb and Particentral, for putting things in perspective. I suppose it's all relative and there are other hobbies that can be more expensive, but creating a gardening budget will help me get to the point of being wealthy enough to fly airplanes as a hobby, keep show grade koi and collect expensive art. Now, dealing with show dogs is not a hobby I would pursue. :) Juliet

How attached are you to your pan? Unless it is part of an expensive set, replacements are cheap, and your time and nerves are not. The last time something stuck on a frying pan I got frustrated and bought a couple of the new ceramic coated pans. So far, they are wonderful; better non-stick than the old Teflon coated pans; less fussy about scratches; easy to clean. I just use caution when working with them. The same cautions I would use for a Teflon pan; and I wash by hand. Not the expensive ones shown on tv. Just look on amazon.com and you will see a bunch along with user reviews. Get the best reviewed one.

You know, I would actually be tempted to throw fruit. But they never let them do it if we are outside! I have considered erecting a video camera. But I guess there is no law against letting your dog pee on someone's shrubs. We have wonderful pet sitter who occasionally does dog walks for clients on vacation. She is so paranoid about it, she carries a spray bottle of water, and no matter where the dog goes, even if it is on the grass along sidewalk, she waters it down thoroughly before walking away. I think any dog owner who is going to let their dog urinate on someone else's property owes them this courtesy, at the very least. Oh, well.

I reused granite in my last kitchen and it worked out really well. However, I was told over and over again that it couldn't be done. Some places gave no reason, others said it would surely break when it was removed. After watching the process from start to finish (including trip to the shop), I don't think it's that challenging and I suspect everyone I phoned just wanted to scare me into buying new. We had an enormous 96"x48" island, also in black granite. Really stunning, however I couldn't live with the cabinets and a few other design details in the kitchen. We were on a really tight budget so we wanted to take the entire kitchen apart carefully and reuse as much as we could. I was also told I couldn't do this with the cabinets, though this also was no problem and quite fun to puzzle the old and new all back together. Anyhow, when it came to reusing the granite island, I decided to move the sink so couldn't reuse it as is. Instead, I had it removed and taken to a shop where they cut it into a 96 x 18" piece which became a raised bar along one side of the new island (which was done in cherry butcher block) as well as a new counter with sink for in the pantry. It all turned out beautifully. We also re-used other pieces of granite counter but they stayed attached to their base cabinets so didn't have to leave the house. I think it's a shame to waste anything that is reusable but there are lots of options if you don't want to use it yourself - sell it or give it away on Craigslist/kijiji or Habitat For Humanity. We gave away all our cabinet doors in our last house and this time around HFH will be coming to do the removal/salvage for free in exchange for everything they can take away.