Dorothy, We only dropped down to 3 degrees and the pond froze over on top but not all the way down. All our fish must have survived just fine (I didn't see any floating dead bodies when the ice melted). I've heard of people putting them into rain barrels but haven't tried it myself. Jo, I fold them up and stack them on a high shelf in the garage. I've never had anything get into them or into the floating row covers stacked on the same shelving unit. If the thought of pests or rodents getting into your stored stuff (it hasn't happened to me, yet....) bothers you, you could buy a storage bin with a snap-on lid and store them inside of it. I do pick up things carefully (most of the time), but that's because I'm more likely to find a coppehead or a rattlesnake than a spider. Either last year or the year before, I picked up something off the ground in the garden and something that was underneath it stung me or bit my finger. It hurt worse than anything (except possibly childbirth) I've ever experienced and I was petrified it might have been a snake. When I finally stopped jumping up and down and screaming "Ow Ow Ow", I looked at my finger and there were no fang marks. In the meantime, Tim was using a stick to lift mulch and stuff and see if he could find the culprit. My finger and hand started swelling and turning red so I ran inside and took children's liquid benadryl (to get it into my system ASAP). The redness and minor swelling persisted for a couple of days, and my finger and hand hurt for almost a week. I guarantee you that after that occurred I was once again very, very careful about picking up anything. I think it likely that a scorpion got me, or perhaps one of those big yellow-and-black hornets. Both have stung me in the past and the pain was similar. It was a good lesson to me to watch where I put my hands in the garden and one I will not soon forget. You can discourage spiders in your shed by spraying with a Spider Web Eliminator product. There's also a product called Spider Not that you might liket. I used to have to order them online, but now I see them in some local stores. I'll link one below to show you what I'm talking about. I spray the garage, sheds and back porch (formerly a screened-in porch and now a sunporch) with a spider web eliminator a couple of times a year. In general, I don't worry about spiders at all except for the venomous ones like Black Widows and Brown Recluses. We have about a million spiders an acre here and I appreciate all the non-venomous ones because they help control pest insects. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Spider Not and Spider Web Eliminator

When our kids were younger (they're 19 and almost 21 now), we ate all our meals together - from the time they could sit in a high chair at the table through high school and, now, when they're home from college. So many studies have shown that when children eat with their parent(s) at least 5 days a week, the children are far less likely to get involved with drugs, alcohol, etc., than those who eat separately. Plus, it brings the family together, promotes bonding, and is more fun! (Probably why the studies had the results they did!) All our meals are eaten at the table - b/f the remodel the table was in the kitchen, but it was a tight squeeze once our children reached 9 or 10; after the remodel, we ate at the table in the DR (we eliminated the Kitchen table in favor of a far more functional Kitchen.) Interestingly, when we started eating in the DR, it seemed that our children's table manners improved - or maybe it was b/c they were getting older. :-) To us, having a DR that was used only for holidays or for inside parties (pre-remodel) was a waste of space. Far better to use all the rooms in the house on a regular basis and have enough room to be more comfortable. Even our Living Room was converted into a music room with a piano and places for the children to practice their instruments. Later, we added a desk when my DH and I both started working from home occasionally (this allowed us to have two desks). Even when both our children are away at college, my DH and I eat at least half our meals at the DR table. The only time we eat in the FR on trays is when there is something we want to watch on TV or a movie - or when there's a fire going in the fireplace! :-) We have found that eating at the DR table still increases bonding and it's a great way to reconnect with just the two of us after so many years of raising children. Just as when the children were growing up, it's also more conducive to conversation - both seating and less distractions. Oh and sitting at an actual table is more comfortable than eating in the FR on a TV table/tray or at the peninsula.

When I lived at the house, it was blue recycle bins that my parents upstairs used and then blue bags. I put newspapers in three blue recyle bags. Tins and glass in another bin but they asked for glass to be separate. We weren't allowed to use anything at all except the blue bins and blue bags so I had to buy a bunch more blue bags and blue boxes. Then put them all in the trunk in my car and take them all down the day before recycle came. We lived way up mountainside and long windy driveway so couldn't use those pull ones that ones that live in city lots can use or that were low down and flat short driveways. Then pick them up when recycle picked up and grabbed the bins and boxes as they were stolen and so I had to mark our name on them and they were then left alone. And then moved to condo and you have to lug it all down to the parkade and into this little room so it means all this unlocking and zillion keys they make you have living here and too much they are full up and then its what to do???? So, I put it all in garbage bags and so if its full the garbage bag gets left on the floor and they can take care of it, nothing else to do. We also have here kitchen compost, don't like the bucket they give us as it stained something else and can't scrub it off. And so I take it down using my white garbage bags from wastebaskets and find that easier to take care of it that way. We all have to find out how to keep it from getting away and for those who can have it all together that is great but when you have to have it everywhere that isn't good. I miss not having recycle bins or bags and regular schedule but here no, its check the room and can I put anything in???? When first moved here no kitchen compost and so the garbage bins were sky high especially on weekends. kathy

Last while while Kevin and I were visiting our sister in Austin, we ate a couple of meals in her kitchen nook/breakfast area, where she has a table and chairs for six. Our BIL has taken over her dining table with his research papers, and has completely cluttered it up to the point that the dining room is completely useless to anyone except him. He already has an office in her house (He has his own house that he seems never to use any more - it may have been taken over by raccoons) but does not appear to be content with that. She also has a living room plus a den, and the den is connected to the breakfast nook. BIL has decided that her living room is the perfect place to strew his mail; i..e. mail for his relatives who use my sister's address instead of their own so that they can send their children to a different school district. Her living room floor is now covered with mail because BIL puts it there and does not pick it up. His children are her step-children - they do not have children together, but she has adopted them as her own. Anyway, we had no meals at her house, and it would have been nice if we could have had a family reunion in her dining room, but since that was unavailable, one niece decided that she would only see us at a restaurant of her choice, one hour before we were going to leave. Because it rained that day, we had to eat inside at the restaurant, which was so noisy that I could not hear a single word at our table. It was a very disappointing meeting, and I do wish that my sister could arrange to have family reunions at someone's house - I hate going to restaurants for reunions or parties and will not attend another one. My sister offered to make dinner for us one evening and asked us which can we wanted her to open, and so we declined. I was very sad that she was unable to use her dining room, and I only sat at her breakfast table once - to have reheated leftovers from a Cajun restaurant. While I was eating my leftover, BIL came and leered over my shoulder and asked what I was having - I assume because he wanted me to give him some, as he was acting like a puppy. Since I do not feed dogs in the house, I ignored him. I was having leftover stuffed crab and shrimp, and he could have ordered that when he was at the restaurant with us, but instead he and my sister split an order of crawfish etouffee. They only order things that they can split and therefore never have leftovers but like to graze on other people's plates, if there are any around. I do not like this practice - I do not eat off of other people's plates, and I do not want anyone eating off of mine. This was the first time we had been back to Texas in more than four years, and I told my sister that we might go back in 2020 or 2021. If it were more pleasant to have meals with them, I would feel differently about this. We did enjoy time we spent with one nephew and one niece, however.