Ina, I'm in full agreement with you - that seems a fair price for what you're getting, and if it's what you wanted, that's even better. I think of the trunks 8-10" wide that I threw away with abandon (and some flair, I'll have you know - I wouldn't queer any pitch with my delivery of a 20 lb. trunk into the dumpster)...well, it's almost enough for me to go sobbing into one of the many snowbanks we've developed today. When I do go back to SD sometime, I'm getting a hunk from the GWOJWKL, a real piece from the true cross, and I hope to be able to tell you that a stump resides with me, and you'll be giving me pointers on how to root it.

Jay, I am not even in the running, but it isn't because I don't want to be. I think I have about 50 or so, I guess that makes me half as bad as you. LOL I could have had more, but I use a lot of my garden for peppers and other things. Next year I will have a little more room when Al moves all of his stuff out of the end of my garden. There is a tree there so I can't plant the entire thing, but it should add about 12 x 20 feet of additional space. I could have done a little better job of planning this year, but I was kind of planting as I got an area finished and ready to plant. We actually have a fair size lot, but we have eleven very large trees and 210 feet of infiltrator lateral line. As it is, I have 18 tomatoes and 2 berry plants in a sunny spot near the south lot line. That area and the garden get the most sun, but because of the laterals I only put containers in that area. They are not over the lines, but are fairly close. I gained a little more sun for this season when the two cedar trees were cut, and there is a chance that we may take down two redbud trees. They have electrical lines running through the forks of them and they create a lot of headaches for one of my neighbors who gardens near them. He would love to see them go. I would miss the spring blooms, but must admit they are kind of a pain with seed flying everywhere. I have one more sunny spot that has potential, but I am saving it for my "wishing I had a greenhouse someday" plan. My garden area has a chain link fence, but the rest of the yard is not fenced. I only plant container edibles and flowers outside that fence because we have so many darn dogs that run loose. We have deer very close but I have never seen them come into the neighborhood. We get a lot of rain so they are probably well fed in the wild areas and don't get hungry enough to come looking for food. I am keeping my fingers crossed that they continue to stay away. They would sure find a big tomato snack if they came into my yard. It's funny because none of us have tall fences, and some have no fences, but the deer don't bother us. It is just amazing to me how much there is to do around a home. If it's new you have lawn, trees, and flowers to put in and if it's older you have to replace things and repair things, and just simply change things that don't meet your needs. A homeowners job is a lifetime career. We were in OKC today and although it was hot, there was wind so it didn't feel too bad. When we got home it was very hot with a heat index over a hundred again today. It is so humid that my tomato containers didn't need to be watered today although it was a hot day. The garden had a few things with a slight wilt, but the ground still has moisture so I'm sure they are fine now that the sun has gone down. On our last trip to Baker Creek, I bought a blackberry plant and a raspberry plant and they were little more than sticks with very few leaves in a gallon pot. The soil looked like it had just been dug from the ground. I decided that I would put them in pots for the summer and let them establish a good set of roots, then maybe put them in the ground in early fall if they looked strong enough to survive. That was just over a month ago, and they are great looking plants already. Now I have to get serious about finding a permanent home for them. The two blueberry plants that I put in last year seem to be doing very well. I need a farm, but I don't want to move to one. LOL I planted a short row of Contender beans and have picked them twice. I took both pickings and cooked them all last night with onions and crumbled bacon and they were sure good with a big hunk of cornbread. I may have to go finish the leftovers in a minute. I had zukes for a few days and I thought they were making, but they srivelled and died so I guess they aren't getting pollinated yet. I have 4 types of summer squash blooming, plus tons of blooms on the winter squash and I am seeing some bee action, so it shouldn't be long. It will be a DIY project if I don't see progress in a few days. Paula, I did not plant as many squash as you did, but I planted four zucchetta seed so that is just as bad. I had all of the squash I could use last year from three. I hope Monday is a dry day because I have lots of garden chores to catch up on.

Couple of things..... Is it only Fun2BHere's yard they are playing in and only her drive and side walk they are chalking up? If so....why is that? and if not...what do the others think....have they gone ballistic over the "intrusion"? And did it ever occur to you that by washing the chalk off the sidewalk you are providing them with a nice clean surface to draw on again? Just try leaving it there....I'll bet they won't add to their drawings. When I was a child I was allergic to all manner of stuff and it was a rule that I couldn't eat anythning without showing my mother what I was given and getting permission. So when my kids and grands were little, my words were.."Run home and ask your mother if you can have a cookie". Of course the answer always was "she doesn't care"...but I would insist....or say "well then I'll save the cookies until you are ready to go home then give you some." Another thing, often when there is something that "annoys the hell out of me"...I discover that the problem is my attitude and if I adjust that, I am a much happier person. Linda C

Bob_cville said: "greenhaven, if you are going to have an accident the band-saw is a good one to choose. Accidents there are likely followed by "Ow that %&@#%ing hurts" whereas over at the table saw the exclamation might be "Oh $#!+!, can someone help find my finger?"" That about sums it up, ha ha! Although it was followed up with the tjought 'So that is why he said not to push the wood through from the front.'. I was a bright kid I swear, lol! Kompy said: "Realtors! Take good pics or hire someone." YES! One of my biggest pet peeves!!! Real estate photos are the worst, but jorses for sale has got to be a close. I will not look at ads with no photos, but it peeves me off something fierce when I get to see a hairy, filthy horse standing in mud past his ankles wearing a halter eleven sizes too big and hung onto by Joe Bumpkin wearing cutoffs and rubber boots. Umm, no thank you? But I digress. Very few people ever talked to me about going to college, even though I knocked every test out of the park and was in college prep classes making good grades until my senior year. Not one of them actually encouraged it. I got married instead and went to college and earned a couple 2 year landscape design and horticulture degrees when my kids were in high school. But no regrets. I was not prepared to go to college when I was eighteen. And now I am a learning machine.