OH MAN!!! I wish I had known y'all were that close! I just started my Butterfly garden and my 6 year old grandson is interested in Butterflies, also. We were at the hospital in Roanoke last month where he had some tests done. I would have LOVED to have brought him to tour your garden after the procedure. We thought he would feel weak, nauseated and sleepy afterward. NOT! The day wasn't totally wasted. We found 2 red bee balm plants at the Walmart on 460 east of Roanoke on the way home. (Haven't been able to locate any around here) WOW! A whole acre? I don't want to impose, but if you would ever consider allowing us to come 'visit' your Butterflies, we would feel so HONORED and Blessed!! I can't wait until I have more host/nectar plants on our property. I'm going to try my luck at wintersowing to increase my garden without going broke! lol I would also love to have a copy of your Ist DVD of your garden if there are any available. Oh, I forgot my manners....Howdy Neighbor! I'm Betty from Appomattox and my 6 year old "Shadow" is Eli. Nice to meet ya! I might even get the Hubby more interested if he saw 135 Butterflies in 10 minutes!!!! WOW! A Whole Acre? I could learn A LOT from Y'all! Betty P.S.- I'm going to put this in my favorites so I can have the list of plants you added handy when I get ready to order seeds/plants. Care to share what else you have that you've found successful in your garden? I sure would appreciate it! BTW- Did I say, "WOW! A whole Acre?" lol

Goodness!! 50??? I am having a hard time keeping up with the 18 I have, lol. (last 2 eggs hatched today) apparently, every single egg I found was also fertile, and they all seem to be thriving so far. I am so glad all of these eggs hatched at almost the same time, I think it will be easier since they will all be so close in age, and hopefully size. The other 8 cats I have, are at all different stages, and I have had to move/separate them so many times it is ridiculous, some of them seem to be bullies, lol. The largest one of the last bunch is now in a "habitat" by himself, because he would not stop picking on the smaller cats and taking their food, and they weren't that much smaller than him. I have one small one who bullies cats WAY larger than him, lol, I had to move him after I saw him slither up to one of the big cats and try to bite them, or at least that is what it looked like he was doing. I have figured out how to tell if I need to give them more food, they "wander" when they want new, or more leaves, or at least these do, because every time i have had one wander away from the food, if i put new food down, they come back. The largest one will start eating the leaves before I even set them down in his cage, lol, he bites them and starts tugging on them. I am hoping everything works out for all of them, and that they all keep eating and growing, so far so good though. And as far as the food situation, the lady who lives next door to my aunt, does have a safe host tree, yayy!! So I am going tomorrow to cut some more leaves for them, and my safe dwarf tree is getting new sprouts of leaves in several places, so they should be big enough to cut soon, so it all seems to be working out in their favor so far! I too am interested to see when these two that pupated decide to eclose. The 1st one pupated on sep 18, second one on sep 23, I was able to move them into the reptarium cage I bought without harming them or disturbing them, so I am not so worried about them eclosing when I am not home now that they are in the mesh cage. what have the temps been lately in your area? The high was 95 here today. Supposed to get cooler this weekend though. Was it you who said you had a GST chrysalis turn black before eclosing? I have been checking them for any signs of change, but they haven't changed one bit.

I don't see how anything was deceptive about telling people they might need to do something. Around here it was very clear that you may need a new antenna or you may need to aim your antenna differently after the changeover. There's also websites set up talking about different antennas. The stations don't financially benefit from the change realistically. In some ways it's a penalty to them too. But I'm annoyed that they pushed back the changeover fearing that someone in South Togo might miss 15 minutes of Another World. I do get a kick out of the local PBS ads suggesting people go help neighbors and the old people hook up the converters and aim the antennas! It's kind of interesting. "Our PBS is changing over because they can't afford not to. They'd run out of money before June, they say. Since they depend on donations, I believe them." I don't understand this at all. Except that after the analog shut off of course they'd be off the air if they didn't change! How will the digital signal, and early, financially benefit them? Unless they're expecting a windfall from adding an extra channel or two, but I don't think that could be it. It won't affect their cable/satellite income so that couldn't be it. I don't understand this comment at all. Would you explain? I do agree, we've put up with these ads long enough. Pull the dang bandaid off the scab and let's move on. Now there's more commercials. And actually, that's costing the commercial stations in lost ad time. I too do not get the "crystal clear" reception touted as an advantage to it. I'm waiting until the conversion is complete and then try different antennas and aiming and see if that helps. But in meantime, it works and I'm not a fanatic on having a perfect picture anyway. Even with satellite and cable I didn't have perfect picture all the time. Now that would annoy me when I had to pay over $50 for a snowy picture!

Everyone- Thank you for the kind words! I know the other plan was less than idea, but it lined up well with the windows in the dining room. Now, I still have that...but with a better layout. Laura- The island is 6' x 3.5' and it could probably be bigger...but I want to keep it on the kitchen side of the beam, if possible. Cool stool, too! Rhome- I kept the panty and ovens on that end, so they wouldn't be behind the door to the screened porch, when it's open. I figured it would be safer (less chance of glass breaking on the door) if the oven handles were on the other end of the cabinets. Mama Goose- I'm so glad you like the plan! I love your kitchen and it makes me very happy that this is similar to yours. Good point about the baking area :) Quiltgirl- Summerfield helped me with my plan (a great deal) but it was a long process. I'd always wanted the fireplace in the kitchen/keeping room, but until Summerfield thought to put the master bedroom in the front of the house...we couldn't find a layout that really worked. At first, I wasn't so sure, but once I thought about the light, views, gardens, etc. it really made sense. The roses/flowers are outside the bedroom and bath, while the 'rustic' landscape (horses, trees, pasture) is out the back. Each goes better with the rooms and how I want them decorated/designed...so it's a great fit. Oh, square footage is about 2,000 without the porches and mudroom...a little more with them. Cabinetry...probably white cabinets (cottage/traditional) for the L and wood for the baking area. The island might end up green. The countertops...marble for the baking area, wood for the island and blue ceramic tiles for the L...I like color! LOL Inspiration pictures (already posted, but a long way back on the thread) First...earlier version with great beams. From Lavender Lass farmhouse pictures Wood and green cabinets... From Lavender Lass farmhouse pictures Pot rack over island... From Lavender Lass farmhouse pictures Bunny backsplash... From Lavender Lass farmhouse pictures An idea for blue tiles (maybe just a bit more gray) to match the flowers on bunny tiles... From Lavender Lass farmhouse pictures Colors for dining room... From Lavender Lass farmhouse pictures