I used the Quickrete in the blue bag, it has 'fibers' in it for strenth. Also, pick up some chicken wire or hardware cloth to 'smoosh' into the leaf castings if making stepping stone. That will give it plenty of strength to walk on them. Just make sure you use rubber gloves when working with the stuff... it'll peel your hands really bad. Don't breathe in the dust either! I've since painted mine green and they look super. I made 3 more from my petesites leaves. Eventually, I'll swap out the tree slab stepping stones for the cast ones. I'm currently working on a new path to our walkway. I picked up a 'cobblestone' mold from lowes. I'm using the same fiber quickrete as mentioned earlier. Super, super easy!!!! Looks dam good, too!! I also made a couple bird baths using elephant ears. You'll need some sand. Lay out some plastic, dampen the sand and mound it up and lay your leave on it. This creates a 'bowl shape' to hold water. Don't have a photo yet of those, sorry. So don't be 'skeered'... just go for it! You'll amaze yourself at all the possibilities. DH will eat his heart out see you making mud pies!!! Good luck!! Nancy

Cookie8, I almost always end up rewriting recipes, so I can make them in the order I need to. (Starting with preheat the oven to...) The way some recipes are written, reading ahead is necessary, although not always an option. I find it makes the instructions much longer, which makes the recipe look more intimidating. The truth is, if I can follow it easily to the letter, I find my results are more successful. Sometimes, I'll rewrite a recipe several times before it's where I need it to be. You didn't really ask, but I always get out every ingredient, bowl, spatula measuring cup/spoons and mixer that I'm going to need before I even start. I measure it all, and set everything on a tray, so all I have to do is mix everything together. (If a recipe has multiple parts, I set up different trays.) That way, when you read through the recipe, it's all set up and easy to ''check off'' while you're baking. I hope you try again. Determination is a fine quality to possess! I have an easy one bowl chocolate cake recipe, if you need something to go to, that's tasty, easy and worthy of a birthday cake. I usually make it with a Cinnamon Buttercream Icing, and get requests for it often. Just let me know if you'd like the recipe. Deanna, I always use the recipe on the back of a bar of Bakers Sweet German Chocolate. It's no secret, but rather more time consuming to make as a cake, than anything else. It's our favorite as the buttermilk always makes it so moist, and it's a cake that only gets better with time. We always make it the day before, so the flavors have time to meld. It's also fun to anticipate eating it, when it looks so good sitting under a glass cake cover.

He is part border collie and not very energetic yet but seems to be very smart. He learns very quickly. When I got him he had a tooth abscess so he's on antibiotics and found out today he has hook worm. Not happy with the shelter from where I got him because they said he was wormed. Never ever had a dog with hookworm or any kind of worm before. He is on medication for that now, too. No wonder he is not energetic. I am sure once he gets well he will be running around. I called the shelter today and told him of his hookworm and they wanted to know if I was bringing him back. No way, he is my dog for better or worse. He is in his forever home.

Cookie8: Are you making a statement or asking a question? Not trying to be picky here, just curious. Personally, I wouldn't use the grease/oil I'd get from frying meat of any kind to make bird food but that's just me. The spices you mentioned probably wouldn't do any harm but on the other hand, probably won't do the birds any good either. If the argument is that purchased lard is just a refined/rendered fat from (in this case) pork and isn't any different than oil/fat rendered from home frying/cooking of some meat product, I'll have to disagree.