mogardener Sounds like what I hope to do. Our Winters are not as cold so at this time I plan to us chainlink fence on 2 sides and a privacy fence on the North side and coop (a shed we are converting to a coop) on 4th side and a roof to keep the run dry since they will not free range in my garden or the neighborhood. I plan to have a roost in the coop and in the run because I think they will sleep in the run during our Summers which can be very hot at night. I'm hoping they can process weeds for me so I don't have weeds sprouting the next year. I plan to have a smaller tractor...we do not have a lawn...if we can't eat it or it doesn't produce flowers fir butterflies/hummingbirds..it is out of here! LOL I plan to use the chicken tractor on veggie beds after they finish for the year...put amendments on the bed and let them work it in for me while they fertilize, too. Feedstore called this morning early so DH drove the 40+ miles to pick up the rest of our chicks. At this time we have six 3 1/2 week old Red/Gold Sex Links (lg brown eggs/high production), five 1 week old Buff Orpington (lg light brown eggs/medium production,good brood hens in case I want to expand), and eleven DH brought in today...five 1 day old Silver Lace Wyandottes (lg brown eggs/high production and good brood hens), three 1 day old Barred Rocks (lg light brown eggs/high production) and for fun...green eggs n ham ;) three 1 day old Easter Eggers (one chipmunk and two yellow) (med. size colored eggs/med. production). I think I will have a colorful flock and hopefully eggs to sell to cover feed costs. Saw on Food Network a chef talking about eggs he served...said they came from the farm next door...that they fed them beet greens so the eggs were high in Omega 3...figure I might be able to do that...had beets growing all this past Winter and fed them to my Mini Lop. Peggy

Probably everything falls under the category of things I thought I'd never be growing from seed . I was not a gardener at all before WSing, and it was actually WSing that started me on my Indoor-sowing of some things. But every year, because I've noticed some things that said "difficult to germinate" on the package, yet found they gave me little to no problem in WSing it, I always pick at least one "challenging" type of seed each year to see what happens. This year, I'm WSing a couple types of Jack-n-the-Pulpits, Burning Bush (Euonymous, spelled something like that), and either late winter or Spring Sowing Big-Leaf Magnolia. In the past, I've done Ligularia and didn't realize it had germinated, yet it kept growing in the spot where I put it. It grew to a nice size last year. I Spring and Summer Sowed Bay Laurel and Gardenia back in 2005-2006, and the plants are still alive and kicking, and doing well. I bring both of them indoors when it gets cool. Then there's the plight of the Cherry, Cranberry, and Blueberry seeds. Still haven't suceeded in those and I'm taking a break from them this year, because I don't really know where I want them in the yard anyway. And may just find out they've been growing in my yard wherever I dumped the unsprouted container contents. Linda

We've sold three houses and bought four. Overall, buying and selling can be extremely stressful. Prepare for the unexpected. Buying the fourth house (the one we currently live in) was a pleasure because we had a fantastic realtor (Louisville). We finally closed on the Tucson house (10/30) after 2 failed contracts, and the whole process was really frustrating as our first set of realtors didn't do the job. I learned that if you are unhappy with your representation (as either a buyer or a seller), move on! Make sure in your listing agreement that you have an "out" clause that allows you to get out of the listing if you are unhappy with your realtor. Do your homework! And sometimes even this doesn't always mean success. We thought our first set of realtors would be terrific. They were recommended by neighbors who had used them to sell their homes, they had lots of awards, they had been in the business for more than 20 years and when we first contacted them about listing our house they were very responsive. The minute we signed the 6 month listing agreemnt, they seemed to disappear. It was like pulling teeth to get them to answer our e-mails and phone calls. And in Tucson, the market has never been as bad as it has been over the last year or so. In an up market, realty companies hand out awards like candy so the list of awards doesn't really mean anything. So interview several realtors, get recommendations from people who have used them, make sure to have an "out" clause in your listing agreement with them, ask them their average DOM for their listings, ask how many open houses they plan on having, ask them about their marketing strategy and make sure you get several comps (sold houses not currently listed houses). Roselvr has a good thread on here somewhere about questions to ask your potential realtor. The biggest lesson is patience. And I agree with johnmari on counting your chickens. Even if you have a contract, don't assume anything until it closes and the money is in the bank. If you can, don't buy before you sell. And check these boards. Aside from the rare Grinch, there are some really fantastic people here who can help you! I wish I had found this board before we listed. These folks could've saved me a lot of frustration. As it is, they helped me stay sane for the latter part of our selling odyssey.

I'll share! I only exchanged gifts with my boyfriend this year but I got him several things I was really excited about. He is a microbiologist and I found two old microbiology books on ebay for him. One from the 50's, and one from 1921. Even though they might seem like a strange gift to others, I knew he would love them. He has been reading that 1921 book non-stop since Christmas. He's so excited to see the difference between now and then in the field. He keeps saying, "they didn't even know about DNA yet!!!" very excitedly. hahahaha Last month we went to his family's lake cabin, that has been in the family since before he was born. We were making some drinks, and he accidentally broke this Tasmanian Devil drinking glass that was the very last one left at the cabin. Apparently there had been alot of them at one time. He was really bummed about it because the glasses reminded him of all the time spent out at the lake house growing up. Well, I happened to find two of those exact glasses on ebay also. They were promo glasses by Pepsi, sold only in 1973. He was pretty excited about those too. He got me a lovely necklace that I love. He picked out the perfect one.