You might want to rethink 18" rue. Try putting cardboard or some other material where you would build up. See if 12-14' would look better. Stand back and visualizehow each size would look. You want to go for the right balance between height and the overall size of the garden. Twelve inches should give you plenty of root space unless you put some large plants in. Hope you have a lot of fun doing it, as it sounds like a very interesting project. Keep us posted, Jim

My house is not finished yet. Possibly by next week. We plan to start moving some things in this weekend if the locks are on the doors. The edge pieces of the granite bumped up the cost. I think the mason said the corners were $11.00 each. He searched for the largest ones he could find. The other option was to have the mason cut the stone for corners. Then you add the labor cost so it would probably equal. The basic stone price was close to the Owens Corning price. I believe the price for the chimney and interior wall for wood stove came to $7,000. including labor which was a bit higher than our contractor expected. This was the first time the mason had used this product and he was very pleased with the results. He is working with a contractor who builds log homes and he stated he would offer this product. We are all happy with this project.

Natesgram, I've worked in a NICU for 15 years and I can't tell you how much we appreciate those fleece blankets for our babies. We also have local volunteers who make isolette covers to keep the environment dark for our babies because it is developmentally appropriate (they shouldn't be born yet). Have you ever seen one? And when my late grandmother was getting chemo for pancreatic cancer, she was really appreciative of the person who made her a cozy fleece for when she got her weekly chemo infusions. I just want to send a big thank you to you for your work, because I know how much such those small things mean from the other side of the fence. Yes, I volunteer. I have volunteered in the medical tent for the NYC marathon for several years. This was before children. After 911 I volunteered making sandwiches for the rescue workers at ground zero. Before I started my career as a PA I volunteered at my local hospital transporting specimens to the lab and escorting patients out of the hospital. Currently I volunteer as a girl scout leader for my 9 year old's girl scout troop. I was never a girl scout as a child, so I am learning as I go. Even though I rolled my eyes when I was asked, I truly enjoy the girls and having a positive influence on them. We are currently involved in a project in building butterfly gardens in our community to restore monarch butterfly habitats. It is so much fun seeing these girls get involved. My mom is getting ready for retirement, she has been volunteering at our local animal shelter. I think she has always been involved in some sort of volunteer project for as long as I can remember. I guess the apple didn't fall far from the tree. :)

quote" Why did the buyer bail on bluestone? "quote Because I'm a Wussy and let them change to Oklahoma multicolor. Most of my competitors won't let a buyer out of his choices. I have buyer compassion when it comes to changes. If I'm told before the work starts on tile and coping they can make a change without additional charges as long as the product is of equal or lesser value. At any given time I have lots of pallets of rocks behind the shop so I really don't lose any sleep over it. I'm not sure if it's select or full color, heck I couldn't even tell you if it's from Pennsylvania. I'll be going to the shop this afternoon and will take a digital camera to snap some shots of the pallets. See ya, Kelly