Hi all, Tsugajunkie, thanks for doing this easier connection to the picture of the top . Resin, This plant's foliage is not as soft as that of the Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Boulevard', and the individual needles at 'Boulevard' lie closer to the stem of a branchlet. So I dug through a ft of snow and ice and retrieved a branchlet of Juniperus squamata 'Blue Star', and found that the foliage of that is inbetween the other two, interesting. Probably it is a juniper. Ken, at that new place it is sandy with little humus, and I thought to mix into the hole peat moss, available leave compost and some bark to provide some acidity and humus. Soil tests have shown it is about neutral PH. In respect to that plant's value, I agree it is of little value when compared to all those shown elsewhere on this forum. But it is mature and movable! I do not have a 3-6" or 6-12" baby plant which will be attractive in a rock garden and to rabbits and dogs passing by and which I may never see fully mature. On the other hand, adding another spring-blooming understory tree in its place in the back should let me fight off winter easier. Thanks for all your comments! Bernd

Carol, Re your peach example. You are talking about mixing the leftover peaches in with the next batch then canning all together right? NOT taking the leftover full jar from the fridge and just processing with the next batch. NOT going from fridge straight to canner, rather go from fridge to mix with the new stuff to canner. Going down in size... for gifts or something, is ok then? It's only up that may cause problems. I do hate to waste as well. For the dilly beans, I put the parts I cut to make them fit in the jar in a seperate jar. It doesn't look nearly as pretty, but I think it will pickle fine and taste the same, you'll just have to pick them out with a fork. =0) Teenage boys do not seem to mind things like that! *LOL* When you are canning, does it seem like you are making an awful lot of stuff and there's no way you're going to use it up in the next year? Like right now I have 6-7 jars of 5 different kinds of jam and while making them didn't seem like a lot, looking at them all in one place does. Then when I consider that those are only the strawberry recipes..... Do ya'll keep a notebook or something that tells you how much of what you canned this year, so you can make adjustments next year? I'm thinking I want some kind of way to keep track of that. Maybe with the recipe or page number on it. The books I already have are the Big Ball Book, the Blue Ball Book, Small Batch preserving (NOT exactally what I thought it was) and Blue Ribbon Preserves. Then there are the recipies copied from here. =0) Right now, any that I look for online, I'm running against the basic recipes in those books to see if there is a great difference in acid (Does the TYPE matter? Vinegar vs: Lemon or Lime juice?) or amounts of fresh products. I'm kind of using this year as my "learning year". As in I'm not going to get too upset over something that doesn't work for us, and I'm trying lots of new stuff.... like chutney. =0) Learning things like yes, you DO want to take the seeds out of the peppers if you like your tonsils, even if the recipe does not specify. Peppers get hotter the longer they are in, and Chutney taste terrible if you forget to add the sugar. And I did not make nearly enough Strawberry Lemonade. Anyhow, thank you for your answers and taking the time out of your day. =0) It's a little frustrating to hear "I don't know" from my mom, and what I know to be unsafe things from the other ladies I asked about it. And since I only know a little, it's kinda scary. Can I ask about a specific recipe or should I do another post? The recipe is Strawberry Lemonade. It calls for half fruit (6c hulled, which turns out to be about 4c pureed), half lemon juice (4c), and half sugar (6c). It it canned in pints, and I'd like to do quarts. I'd also like to change the lemon juice to lime juice.... and maybe decrease the sugar by a cup or two. You heat it to 190 degrees, then put in pint jars and BWB for 15 minutes. (Pg 192 in the Big Ball Book) I'm thinking that there shouldn't be a problem with changing the lemon and lime juice as they would both serve as the acid, and I'm not looking to change the amounts. Other than sweetening, not sure what the "preserving" quality of the sugar is. And of course going from pints to quarts. Thanks again. Mil

I painted my kitchen cabinets a few years ago...Kilz primer, two coats of SW hi-gloss latex enamel. Over time the paint has cracked along the (mostly bottom) edges where the molding on the doors meet the flat part. Not to mention all the chipped off paint from the tops of doors that get opened from the top instead of the handles! It didn't even occur to me to need to use a poly coat of something. (This same paint has cracked on baseboards where I've used it elsewhere also.) I absolutely cannot physically repaint all that again...My thought is to "stain" over them in their present state. As in 'antiquing' I guess! Like a rub or brush on, rub it off kind of thing. If anyone can make heads or tails of my description, how would I go about this? Thanks so much for any input!

Your proposal about how to solve (by raising grade at garage) sounds at first hearing as if on the wrong trail. With grade and drainage issues, it's important to know how water flows onto the property and how it exits the property. Knowing what it does in a small area is not enough. You would need to show what grade is doing all around the area, and how it exits onto the neighbor's property. I suggest you sketch out a plan of how the house, garage and drive are situated and then post some photos (not close-ups) that SHOW the grade. You might include some arrows on the plan to show the down-slope and where the water is running. In order to show the grade, the camera must view transverse to the slope and be held level. If it is held viewing parallel, in-line with the slope, it will not show what the slope is doing. In all cases, grade must slope away from buildings for a few feet (10' is considered the usual minimum but is not always possible.) It sounds like this is not occurring around the garage. Be sure to show what IS happening there.