Why not just plant a white oak, q. alba? Why bicolor? Tuliptree is a rapid grower and fun to watch. I have to actually thin stands of them behind my house where they pop up all over the place but one of my favorite trees none the less. If you said you primarily wanted a tree for shade while you'll be living in that house, I'd say plant something like tuliptree. But since you've now come out and said you are looking to plant a legacy tree, that's more along the order of slower growing trees like beech, white oak, sugar maples et cetera. Prices sound reasonable if they are retail prices. I saw that a park about 45 mins from here planted an allee of American beeches with about 15' spacing and it was a really cool looking effect. It created a lot of shade and the trees didn't look that old. Some things you might be concerned about with beeches, * easily damaged bark/ easily invaded by insects * difficulty in transplanting * surface roots and suckers * spring raking * not much grows under them * their fruit can leave a cleanup job but then so can oak acorns.

I really need to wash the siding and windows! I was very depressed today with all of the Harvey news. We made some donations and cried some more. Just trying to do something else to redirect my thoughts. I did finish Stephen King's 'Full Dark, No Stars' a nice read of 4 novelettes. I have The Gunslinger on hold at the library and will try to pick it up tomorrow. I want to re-read the Dark Tower series in chronological order.

The wind is whipping up today and blowing around the few leaves left from my yard. I wish it'd blow them across the street into the sort of community compost pile we have, and where they'd have ended up were I home to get them up today. I didn't want to spend all weekend long raking leaves, but that's what happened. I do think I'm almost done for the year, and that makes me happy. Put out more seeds in winter sowing containers and got ten of the last eleven ready. Seedaholic is holding my order until they get their Helenium seeds (see the link for the beauties. I'm in love), so when they arrive, I'll be ready to add the seeds, tape up the containers, and put them out. Just in time for cold weather germination. Yesterday, I worked on cleaning the house inside. Felt nice at the end of the day. What's really funny is the reason that motivated me. I bought a new broom. I like using it so much, I just kept sweeping and sweeping. The floors feel so much better. The old broom left bristles rather than get up the dirt-made the floor dirtier ;) . Today, I will catch up at work because my boss is at a convention on the west coast. We had a fellow come in from Japan (she'll start her three year rotation in January) on her way to Anaheim (where the convention is being held), and she pretty much had clothes for that venue. It's not southern California warm here. I felt sorry for her, but today, I bet she's nice and toasty while I'm wearing a wool coat and my feet are freezing. Aint it funny how the world goes round.

What haven't I done lately? Whew. I planned my outfits for the week yesterday, because everything else is done. I did make some cookies (and ate too many of them). I put the dahlia tubers in pots with soil and put them in the basement. I hope they'll be ok. And I decided to get back on the diet wagon full force, so I made my snacks/lunches for the week. I sketched the front bed and sat to watch the sun moving to decide how much of the bed is truly shade only. I watched a painted lady butterfly on the butterfly bush after I deadheaded it. Made me smile! I rested for the remainder of the day. . In the past week: I cleaned the house from top to bottom and even cleaned the oven (not self cleaning). I painted the dining room and one wall of the hallway (the one facing the living room) before guests came so they could enjoy the new color and see what color the hall will be. I raked a million more leaves; I'm almost done. I painted a lot more of the pergola. We took the broken plastic roof off the pergola so it won't hold in moisture (mold. I've had fungal sinusitis twice in the past year, so I am thinking about these sorts of things), or leaves, and catch the wind in a way that sounds scary to the cats. "What's that noise?! Augh!!! Run around and look wary". Poor things. The boy got up on the 25 foot ladder and finished the last few dabs of paint on the body of the house. I need to paint one more set of shutters, finish the front and back porches, and the window trim, but the main body and doors are done. We replaced two of the 72 window panes; these were broken. Now, they're all ready for reglazing. That will happen the next time we have warm weather, and I scrape off the old glazing. I have two storm windows on, but need 7 more. I weeded the entire garden, and started 27 kinds of seeds. I put out several more winter sowing containers, with five more to go. I watched Inception, and stayed confused the whole movie. I get the basic premise, but not the tiny details. I made a fantastic turkey and sad sides. Everyone else liked them, but not me. I threw it all away, except the turkey. And apple pie. The boy ate that one. I did gain a couple of pounds, but no big deal since I'm dieting. I'll be back down by the end of this week. Oh, and he changed out the dining room light switch. It dims now. I think that's everything. Next week is work on the car weekend, new tires and oil change. We might also put up the porch swing now that I can access the top of the pergola.