Carol, I'm glad, too, that y'all were home when it happened. I wonder what it is about y'all's little neck of the woods that keeps attracting the lightning? I put in my muskmelons a couple of weeks ago when I pulled the snap peas. They have not grown very much in the endless heat, drought and hot, dry wind that plagued us for so much of May, so I am hoping they will perk up now with the abundant rainfall, slightly cooler temperatures and (hooray, hooray!) lack of strong winds. I'm growing Carole, Super 45 and Hale's Best Jumbo. I planted the watermelons to grow as a sort of ground cover under and between okra plants since that worked out so well last year. If I remember them all correctly, I planted Blacktail Mountain, Yellow Doll, Yellow Baby, New Orchid and Tiger Baby. They're all small refrigerator-sized melons since I was afraid we wouldn't have enough rainfall to grow the big melons and I didn't want to irrigate endlessly all summer. Actually, I try to avoid watering watermelons at all after the fruit is sizing up for fear I'll water too much and ruin their flavor. I may have planted Sugar Baby. I no longer remember for sure if I actually planted it or just intended to plant it. For winter squash, I planted carefully-selected varieties that should withstand the onslaught of SVBs: Old-Timey Cornfield Pumpkin. Long Island Cheese, Seminole, Tahitian Melon and Waltham Butternut. I might plant some winter melons if the SVBs take out the excessive number of zucchini plants I planted. We're getting far too much zucchini (who in American doesn't get too much zucchini, at least until the SVBs arrive?) but I wanted to shred and freeze a lot for zucchini bread, cake, and cookies before the SVBs took it out. Now, with it all producing so well all month, I am tired of it. Where are the SVBs when you need them? (Note to SVBs: if you arrive, feel free to attack the zucchinis but please leave my yellow summer squash alone. Thank you.) Larry, I take watermelon (and all other)DTMs with a grain of salt. For me, and I think it likely is because of our heat and our intense sunlight, many melons produce a couple of weeks earlier than the DTMs, which are just estimates anyway. I'd think any watermelon planted now should have lots of time to produce well. Our first frost, at the very earliest, should be at least 120 days way. My soil is not watermelon soil either, but I've always had really good luck with melons in well-amended clay. Even last year with all that incredible heat, the melons did really well. Hi Ezzirah, I think it is likely too hot for brussels spouts to make their sprouts now, unless this week's brief cool spell helps them out a bit. When I grow them, I usually grow them in the fall because the cooler fall temps as they mature are more conducive to flowering than the hotter temperatures they encounter as spring warms up and summer arrive. In a perfect world, Brussels Sprouts mature and produce the most tasty, highest-quality sprouts when the air temperatures are in the 55-65 degree range, or even a bit cooler. When's the last time your daytime highs were in that range? If your weather has been like mine, it was a long time ago. If you plant them for fall, start them from seed indoors and set them out about 10 weeks before your average fall frost. To give your fall transplants the best chance of producing, you would want for your brussels sprouts plants to be about 6 weeks old (and 7 or 8 weeks likely would be okay too), and have at least 6-8 true leaves and be healthy. Starting with plants that old in summer should put your plants at the right age and size to be forming flowers (the sprouts we eat are flower buds) in fall's cooler temperatures. You have to keep summer-transplanted brussels sprouts moist for the first couple of weeks, and may even need to shade them to get them through the hot summer weather and to allow them to quickly become well established. After the pampering that first week or two, they usually can hold their own against the elements. However, you'll need to keep them moist at all times because they are not terribly deep rooted so can dry out quickly. For me, cabbage does just fine even in the hot weather. Some years I don't even harvest it until June or July, but in other years it is harvest-sized by May. I think it is likely your cabbage still will produce just fine for you, but not so sure about the brussels sprouts. This has been a hard spring for cool-season crops since the cool season was not very cool for very long. I still have potatoes and carrots in the ground but likely not for too much longer. I think some of my potatoes have begun to die back this week, and based on their planting date and DTMs, I think it is time for them because they are a pretty early variety. I've planted southern peas in the raised bed in the Peter Rabbit Garden where the onions were growing until I harvested them a wee bit early to get them out of the ground before the hail fell. Then, even though it hailed within a couple of miles of our house, no hail fell here. With the onions though, I think it was better to be safe than sorry, so I'm glad I went ahead and harvested them. Dawn

Hi Bmh4796, I have no idea if you would be interested in a different option, but solid stone steps can be had from some quarries at a reasonable cost. They are very durable and beautiful. We were going to do the thin stone clad look, and Renovator8 from GW suggested we go for full stone steps. We had to drive 3 hours to an area noted for beautiful stone and made a deal with the quarry to cut down the slab and steps we needed. I have seen places that sell stone steps that are semi-circles too (probably more the landscape yards). Here is one link, but probably not your cheapest option unless you are far from a stone quarry. Carol Here is a link that might be useful: possible granite steps

Lhylcn- sealing should ideally be done both by the fabricator in his shop, and again in your kitchen once installed. Most sealer manufacturers I've spoken to say there's no exact number or times it should be done, but it usually takes several applications until every part of the marble is sufficiently sealed. This is tested by letting water sit on the surface of the marble and making sure it beads up well rather than soaking right in. Honing is just a process that makes the marble "dull" rather than shiny. It's a personal preference. My Vermont Danby marble is very honed, very little sheen. Red- two things that have etched my marble instantly are tomatoes and lemon juice. I'd think ketchup would etch, too, being tomato-based. Etching, though, seems not to bother most marble owners, myself included. You can only see it in certain lights, and it's a part of the patina of the living stone. As far as staining, my counters are sealed with Porous Plus 511, and could easily handle ketchup sitting on them for awhile with no stains. I've had coffee droplets that splashed from the Keurig sit overnight and just wipe up the next morning. I have no stains at all. The counter have only been in for about 2 months or a little less, but I've cooked a lot in these months, have had house guests and hosted Easter at the house, no stains! That said, the Vermont Danby marbles are known for being less porous--and therefore a bit more stain-resistant--than many other marbles.

cpartist why would you want to run all the way to the garage to get a step stool Thank you, Claire. The door to the garage is right next to my kitchen so no running. And I live in FL so it's not like it's a problem with cold air. Heat yes. Cold no. There is a space right next to the steps that lead down for a hook on the wall for the step stool. It's really not an issue as I had thought it might be. cpartist does this tall cabinet actually exist in the kitchen where you are able to add a bar above cabinets and have the ladder tucked away when it’s not in use. Yes it does but as noted in the drawing that is a wall up against it. Plus there is no room. Also my kitchen is mostly finished. The cabinet peeking out on the left below is the cabinet you circled. The wall next to it juts out 24" to frame in the nook with the buffet. To the right of the buffet is the door to the garage.