Being a 61 year old born and raised Okie, from my view, I've seen the interest in storm cellars change over my lifetime. Growing up in the 50's and 60's, our family always had a cellar ( or a " fraidy hole " ) as my Grandmother called them. And we spent a lot of time in the cellar. My Grandfather worked for the Carter Oil company in Seminole ( which eventually became Exxon ) . He moved there around 1930 when the Seminole oil field was booming. Back then, the oil companies would build camps for their employees to live, because there was no housing, and the Carter Oil camp had two big concrete cellars installed by the company. One of them right next to my Grandad's house. But everybody had access. Then when he retired and moved into Seminole, he had a cellar built . On stormy evenings, my parents would take us to Grandad's and we spent the entire evening there, with my Grandad watching the clouds. Our warning system consisted of the men of the Seminole Civil Defense, who would take positions out on the outskirts of town and watch for tornados and would give word to blow the sirens. Some neighbors would show up and it became a social event as everyone chatted and passed the time. Around late 70's , my parents built their own cellar, but also that was the time when TV warnings were getting much better. They started using radar. And in my adult life, up till now, I'd never thought a cellar was a good investment because the warnings kept getting better and better. From other people I've talked with, they did the same, and houses with cellars become fewer than back in the 1940's and 1950's. My plan had always been to leave the house and go to a sheltered place, like Crossroads Mall. But after the debacle last May 31, when I got caught in traffic because everyone else had decided to get out of the storm's path, I then decided I needed a shelter. Its like we've come full circle, from a time that lack of any warning made a cellar almost a necessity, to warnings making cellars less important, to a time when the warnings are so good, we need a shelter again. This post was edited by LCDollar on Thu, Jan 23, 14 at 20:16

I worked retail for many years and my DH did retail loss prevention before moving on to computer security. Here's the harsh truth: MOST theft is done by employees, not store visitors. Copying? OF COURSE. What about the speculation that Thomas Edison did NOT invent the lightbulb (stole the idea from someone else) or Charles Darwin stole the whole "Origin of Species" from a paper he was sent by a younger student? That is one thing I am learning; if you ever have a great idea, get in, make your money, and get out. What about that guy who made $20 million selling those weird rubbery octopus things that you fling against a wall and they slowly "climb" down? He had many, many knockoffs. The woman who invented the Hairdini (sp?) or TopsTurvy (?) -- that thing you use to make perfect chigons or twists or whatever -- she was pushed out of business with all the knockoffs. No matter how big or small your success is, if you have any, others will try to duplicate it. And your employees will steal it. Ha. I sold "dressed-up skeletons" for 1:12 scale dollhouses on ebay. I used ready-made plastic skeletons and dressed them in fun costumes, like pirates or bride and grooms. Well suddenly, their was an alternative to the "artisian" skeletons, where the skeleton was handmade. For some people, all they wanted was a skelly to haunt their dollhouse, and finding a scale skeleton was very, very difficult. I started out makeing the skeletons for me, and I sold extras, and buyers loved them. I definately browsed all things haunted and skeleton-y on ebay for inspiration. Well one day, I happened upon an auction that was saying how these "plastic dressed skeletons were a rip-off on this artists idea, and told where one could get the plastic skeletons (for much cheaper than I was selling them) and how hers were TRUE art peices. HAHAHA. Dias De Los Meurtes, anybody? The mexican culture has been "dressing up skeletons far longer than any of us has been alive...did this artist really think she came up with the idea? Gimme a break! She obviously felt threatened by this new, cheaper way of doing what she was doing. But I tell you what...her skeletons looked amazing, and if I took away any of her customers, I was only taking the ones who didn't care about collector quality. Now honestly, in a antique-space situation, I would be embarrassed to copy the ideas of someone next to me. But if I saw a piece and it inspired me to make my own version, does that mean I should not sell it? We get ideas from everywhere....nothing is new under the sun, and if we have an idea that everyone wants to copy, the answer is to brand our art and make people want the NAME as well as the widget. How many times have you heard someone slam Rachel Ashwell for acting like she "invented" shabby chic? Well of course she didn't, but she BRANDED the concept and made a fortune. So if people are copying your ideas (generic you), make yours more special. Have delightful cards made up with your business name, or the artist name. Include a tiny dangling charm from the widget as your special touch, or wrap the item in gorgeous tissue paper. And keep the creative juices flowing! And one day when you are all jaded like me, you will remember this line (Stephanie Powers said it in a movie where she played the owner of a modeling agency): "Better to collect 10% from every model that to be a model yourself." And THAT, my friends, is my two cents, which many would argue is only worth half a cent :-)

Vesfl - cdb is one of my favorite colors ! I planted two this fall , but didn't get photos . I also planted a ville d Lyon as well and it's settling in . Yours look great !! wirosarian gosh that gate looks so welcoming with the clematis! Beautiful! Sjn- I second brushwood ! Also bluestone has great sales . Don't pay full price on Clem's because they will almost always go half price before spring . Great value ! And another fantastic one is silver star vinery. The size of her plants was fabulous! Marlorena - I'm glad you liked mine! I really wish I could find an ID on the one . It was on clearance because it had no tag and any photo search I have done hasn't turned up a match. Rosy lady your urn idea is a great one! Never would have thought of that . I had saved this photo to remind myself to try this, maybe you'll like it too . I got one of these tubs for 5$!! At a yard sale so I think I may do this . Another no id clearance This was labeled comptess d Bouchard but I'm not sure that's what it is . This was a late fall bloom so maybe the cold brought out the stripes? Oh marlorena I meant to say andromeda is great but really small . It took 3 years to reach the top of my 4 ft trellis .so you may be able to tuck it in somewhere! It blooms twice for me and did try to put out a thrird round this fall but we had a week of frosts way before normal . happy jack

I prefer to phone in my orders. I don't totally trust doing it on the computer (hacking and stolen IDs) and being inexperienced I often cannot do it unless the site is very user friendly. I appreciate alphabetical lists of roses but not all nurseries do this on the web. I like Roses Unlimited very much, next after ARE, but cannot get much out of their website, no alphabetical list among other things. I have to wait until they send me a hard copy. This is frustrating for me and wasteful for them. Also 2 years in a row now when I have called, The receptionist has asked if she could call me back in a few minutes. She is obviously very busy. In both cases I ended up calling her back in a few days. Last year she even tried to get me to wait a second time. This year I left the order on the answering machine. She had to call me back to get one piece of information that I had omitted. This was probably just as well for security reasons. But overall leaving the order on the machine worked well. I liked Reverence for Roses very much when I talked to the owner but they require registering to contact them. I avoid registering with all businesses to the point that it can be a deal breaker. So I write but we all know how long that takes to get around to. So sometimes those orders never get placed. Cath