I think I fell in love with the fan palm. It's too bad the bananas from the top tree aren't edible (but for fertile crossbreeds, they wouldn't be...) I don't really have anywhere to go with it, though. My garden tends toward English.

Read Lilyfinch's post...thought she had been sneaking around looking at my house. read everyone else's posts and wonder how you all managed to snoop around here without my seeing you! ;) I did repaint the kitchen walls Saybrook Sage and love it, but the crummy cabinets I painted a creamy white when we moved in need to be repainted-might need to board the dogs, though, or hair will be all over the new paint...and new paint all over the dogs probably! Would love hardwoods and new countertops and a new induction cooktop, but that goes beyond what I can do now. Do need to recaulk around the backsplash, too! The garage needs cleaning, but DH is a hoarder and we can't possibly get rid of anything! At least I can get my car in. His is parked outside. The basement is a nightmare, too-son's old bedroom stuffed with stuff cleaned out of my parents' home three years ago (or has it been 4 years?) *sigh* I should be doing something today, but school has been so busy with long hours and working on Saturdays that I may just be lazy today. Of course, one more cup of tea and maybe I will be energized! Thanks for the inspiration to get busy!!!!

I got up and hooked up my 33 gal trash can to my roof runoff drain and it stopped raining. Weather.com said it would rain all day but as usual they were completely wrong so I go no rain water. I have noticed that my 10 warmest established plants (along the south side of my house) have the most inflo development and my coldest plants are still totally dormant. These 10 also have the warmest night locations with the house radiating heat from the day. Plants with more day sun but are exposed to more cool at night, are still behind. Shows how complex the factors are for coming out of dormancy and inflo development. Also, i think the flower is a fluke (is almost open today) as most of my plants are on par for mid May to mid July for flowers, but these 10 should be flowering in April (Bali Whirl, Vera Cruz Rose, Cindy Moragne, Kimi Moragne, Cerise, My Valentine, Moragne 23, an unknown white, and a so called Bill Moragne which is more like an Eva Lani). Time will tell. Bill

When we finished our basement walls I glued 1" thick sheets of Dow Corning Foamular closed cell foam on the walls and taped the seams with Tyvek tape. I then framed my 2x4 walls as the next layer, and filled them with bats of mineral wool insulation. The walls of my basement are about 6-7 feet underground, and they never feel cold. I also put a thin layer of foam (1/8"?) under the sole plates on the walls, and used pressure treated wood. The rest of the framing was standard pine studs. We also insulated the rim joist, and then used spray foam for fire blocking at the top of the wall framing. By US building code, the wall stud cavities must be sealed off from the rim joist area so that fire cannot come up through the wall and easily spread out into the area between the joists, so the fire blocking was mandatory. In most areas, for flooring I just painted the cement floor gray, and then use area rugs and runners to provide a comfortable walking surface. We did initially use ceramic tile in the bath and laundry area, but then decided it was too expensive to use it everywhere. In the full bath I installed electric floor heating (under the tile) from a company called Warmly Yours, and it works well. When set to about 74-76 degrees it provides a moderately warm surface when you stand in front of the vanity or step out of the shower, but does not really feel like its hot. The electric floor heat is really nice, but would get very expensive for a large area. For the bathroom it cost about $500 for the cork underlayment, electric grid, heat sensor and programmable thermostat. Bruce