Mabel, when I try those huckleberries, I will report on the taste. I already know that I am going to like them, I am a fruity kind of person.:) Cathy, I have a very small and sharp knife that I use for peeling the loquats, I saw the knife recommended in one of those Cooking Light magazines. It can also chop herbs very fine. One day's picking is a lot of fruit, tomorrow I will be making an almond crust loquat pie. Later in the season I will be making jam and maybe chutney. And I hope to share the fruit with my friends also... Here is the recipe that I used. Loquat Crisp Fruit Mixture: 6 cups loquats, seeded, peeled and cut in quarters 1/2 cup granulated sugar 2 TB all-purpose flour 1 TB fresh lime juice 1 pinch salt Streusel (keep in fridge cold if making ahead): 1/4 light brown sugar 4 TB butter 1/8 tsp salt 1/2 cup flour 1 TB grated orange zest To make Fruit Mixture: In a stainless steel bowl, combine the loquats, sugar, flour, lime juice and salt, mixing well. Place the mixture in an oven-proof 2 qt. baking dish. To make Streusel: Using a food processor fitted with the metal blade, pulse together the light brown sugar, butter, salt, flour and orange zest. Pulse only until it is combined and looks like the texture of small pebbles. Preheat oven to 350. Cover the loquat mixture loosely with the streusel. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the fruit is bubbling and the top is golden brown. Remove from the oven and serve hot. Makes about 6 servings. Silvia

Mid 60's is the price of the pool/spa/waterfall/cave/and slide. The price of the slide/cave/waterfall is 10plus on new construction and a minimum of 15 to add to an existing pool. The slide/cave/waterfall is a monolithic pneaumatically applied concrete (gunite) structure shot at the same time as the pool. I tie steel on the 4 and build up the cavern inside with CMU blocks leaving an 8" wall with a footer beam beneath, this saves on my yardage. Before picking a builder your best served seeing some of their work and watching them shoot another customers prior to entering into an agreement with them. There are many more incorrect ways to construct one of these than correct ways. I've ran a bunch of calls behind other builders a couple of years later where the demo and replacement was double the initial cost. A lot of guys will bend steel, tie metal lath to it, and shoot over the mesh. This is good for faux boulders but doesn't cut the mustard when your placing 10 tons of moss rock boulders on top of it. I'm at the shop right now and can't download my camera to this computer. Today I ran a service call on a project I built 4 year ago (pool/spa/slide/waterfallshade-arbor/summer-kitchen) and shot some pic's. When I get home this evening I'll have my daughter get them into my computer at home and post them for you to look at. Slide's are COOL!!!, and not just for children. I love going down mine and will do it at least once everytime I swim. My big joke with my buddy's is that if I placed a nickel slot at the top I could have paid off my pool with the toll slide, LOL!!! See ya, Kelly

DGS (8) spent the night and is staying again tonight. Today we went to his soccer game. They lost terribly, but he always has positive things to say afterwards. He's encourages his teammates and always tells them "good job" even if they're lousy players. (And most of them are, but they are improving!) We're getting ready to play a rousing round of checkers. And then who knows? Maybe Crazy 8's. He's fun to be with!

I'm sorry Kim and Moni. I'm sure at some point I would get lonely too. Kim (and Jen), I would have loved for y'all to come over last night to can tomatoes, but things were a little crazy around here with the chick situations as well as other things. Even before Rick came over, I got the tomatoes peeled and diced and ready to can. I needed it to be done in a very neat and tidy way and wanted to do it alone. I did not want to mop the floors or wipe cabinets at midnight. Too tired for that. Next 'round, y'all should come over. Our beans have been a flop, so no canning those. Hopefully the fall beans will produce enough for a few canning sessions. We got 15 pints of diced tomatoes and they are so pretty. Very red. They were mostly Jet Setter and Jet Star. Peeling larger tomatoes is much nicer too! Those little ones like Roma and Juliet, we'll use for sauce and they'll go through the tomato press. The chicks and moms are doing well. Stormy and chick got to leave the dog crate that was in the storage area of the coop, and go to her broody box that has a nice little outside area. It's in a dog kennel that is divided in two. Blossom was on the other side. But we moved her into the chick brooder with her little wounded chick. The chick seems okay. Maybe a little stressed. I brought it in tonight and put more ointment on it's wound and sorta force fed it some plain yogurt. I removed the upper part of the divider in the old coop, which is the brooder for Dolly and Peg. They can see each other clearly and haven't been too upset. I'm SO hoping I can take the divider out altogether and they'll be able to raise their chicks together. Our chicken yard looks like a homeless camp. I don't mean for that to sound snotty or mean....but it does look like one. I've delivered food and other items enough to know that it does. I have dreams for a tidy broody hen apartment complex. We got a nice rain. SO happy. A few minutes before, a wonderful cool breeze came it. It was HOT before that. I had rigged up fans for all of the chicken areas, but then took them down before the rain started. You know, our gardens do not look great. BUT, other than the beans (and the beans were a big chunk of the SG) , everything has done very well! The kitchen garden is so weedy, though. Has anyone started cauliflower from seed? It's been nearly 2 weeks and the seed is a no show.