I don't have any gardenias Mike but I am trying to get a large system of raised garden beds into vegetable production. I'm also planting flowers. Not to mention planting a great deal of my potted trees in the ground and giving away what I don't have room for. Someone is coming over today to pick up a mature Algerian Clementine Mandarin in a 25 gallon pot. I'm hoping he will also take a 15 gallon Dancy Mandarin off my hands. I'm so far behind at this point that a lot of vegetables I was planning on planting will have to wait till the Fall. Yesterday I finished planting the onions that should have been planted in Oct-Nov. I still have many trees to plant that I have been trying to get into the ground since last summer. So far I have planted roughly thirty trees in the ground since last summer. All that said my trees are in bloom and beautiful and the bees are in the air, the sun is shining. Its seams like its taking forever but I still enjoy my garden and backyard orchard. My son will be helping me all day today. I would say the chances are good that 2-3 more trees will be planted today. I picked up a good sized Oro Blanco Grapefruit and some Numex Big Jim pepper plants last Friday. I'm broke and I'm feeling twice my age but life is good.

Down.

Wow. Any explanation as to why that happens? Ron

Our house is a late 1970s ranch. It is 1675 sq ft and has 7 windows. One per room - except the family room that has a 6 ft slider instead. In the kitchen, which is right next to the family room, there was a cloth valance when we moved in. Last fall, as the days got shorter, I realized that the valence was blocking a lot of light that I needed. I went online and found a stained glass panel that was made with mostly uncolored, obscured glass. I put it at the top of the kitchen window where the valence had been. The obscured glass gives us privacy so that the house next door does not look into the kitchen so much, but lets the light into the room. I have de-cluttered a the request of the cleaning lady. She wanted to dust fewer things, so some things went down into the basement. I recently purchased a big leather couch from Craig's List. It replaced a chair and a love seat that were in the family room. The love seat was always covered with a slipcover. Between DH and the dogs, the slipcover was always askew, so it looked frumpy and cluttered. Now, the family room is neater with the couch and two chairs, instead of the love seat and three chairs. Everyone comments at how much more comfortable and neater it looks. Sometimes few big pieces of furniture make a small space work better than many smaller ones. When we moved the TV, CDs, tapes, and stereo components into a big 5 ft x 2 ft x 5 ft high cabinet, the loss of clutter made our tiny living room in our last house feel bigger. When I was shopping for furniture, I discovered a new pet peave - big rolled furniture arms that doubled the size of a chair. I don't know whose house they were made for, but those furniture sets with the huge arms made huge wasted space in a family room the size of mine. I settled on a couch with medium sized rolled arms, as I like the comfortable feel, but did not want to waste so much space.