Grapes grow on this years stems which is why they are pruned so heavily every year. In the Napa Valley the grapes are grown for wine but quality is still paramont. My neighbor who grows 360 acres of grapes thins both the foliage and the grapes during the growing season. Plus of course the usual dormant pruning that prunes back last years growth to remove all but one or two buds. Last year he needed to thin twice during the season to limit production to 4 tons per acre from a possible 8 tons to improve the quality and sugar of the grapes. Too much shade can also lead to moldy grapes. Al

I need to be watchful when in the are of the lumber yard where pressure treated wood is because I can have an asthma attack, same as if in an area of the garden center with the synthetic chemicals or the soaps and detergents sections of other stores.

Who knows what tomorrow may bring? There used to be a japanese restaurant in Atlanta many years ago that made you shed your foot wear at the door. It was a novelty then. We would eat there when we were in town for a play or some other such event. We were in Charleston a few years back doing the plantation tour fund raiser. It was pouring down rain when we went to one beautiful place. I can't remember the name now but it had a golf course. We had to take off our shoes at the door and don those hospital type things. I totally understood. The mud and water would have ruined their floors and carpets. Once in Russia I laughed because we were touring a palace there and we had to put shoe covers on. The shoe covers were squares of carpet pulled up by two corners and a piece of elastic holding it together. I remember thinking then that it was a good idea but wished they knew about the hospital shoe covers. I also wondered why they didn't do a similar thing at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg to protect those beautiful old floors. In private homes,I suppose "when in Rome" would be the thing to do. Just think what a whole new world of opportunities for yet another shopping trip it would bring if it became the norm to take off one's shoes before entering someone's home. You'd have to have a pedicure at least every 2 weeks and you certainly wouldn't want to wear those tacky little shoe or foot covers or anything that someone else had put on their feet. The very thought of catching a fungus or some other such thing would be enough to drive one to drink. There would be a rush to design little shoes and foot covers of every color and material. Fabric would have to be imported from all over the world. There would be a scramble of designers to come up with the best the quickest. Milan would probably devote a whole show to shoe covers alone. Television commercials would have to be made showcasing beautiful feet wearing the very latest from Paris in shoe and foot covers. Oh! My! God! we would then have to make yet another decision. Which shoe covers to take to wear with the dress. I can't think about this today. "I'll think about it tomorrow y'all" she says as she presses the back of her hand to her forhead and sighs. No wonder the Wall Street Journal was so interested. Janis

Yeah. Tompson’s is crap. They live on name recognition from a very old technology. Since it is fresh it will be harder to clean right now. Heavy bleach solution will help. However the good news is just wait 2-3 months, it will be gone for the most part. Resealing is not a problem after it no long beads on surface. Use a oil based sealer with lots of oil in it. Even the clear ones have a brown tint in them so that they can protect from UV greying as well. I found TWP Wood Preservative to be one of the best on the market with a easy application over my 16 years sealing. Cabot is a ok backup as well. The pics are from a fence we stained a year ago that the client added reinforcement to. Color is still great!