I was too busy to ramble much Friday, so I'll do a Saturday ramble. The DH is off on one of his little excursions today, so my doggie, the cats and I are holding the house down. The sky is darkening, and I hear a boom of thunder now and again on the horizon. At times like this, I think of blue body paint, and old times at the GW and the rain dance. We need it badly. I just finished off a leisurely brunch. The simple repast as John used to say. I cracked an egg I gathered yesterday into a ten inch cast iron griddle, and it filled the whole bottom. I had to fold it over to fit the spatula under it and put it on the plate. Doubtless left by one of the old biddie hens, who is smart enough to know that the pullet's legs are banded this year. That means it's culling time at the henhouse and she's smart enough to know an egg the size of a tennis ball buys her a presidential pardon. LOL. I made a potato pattie to go with the egg, and toasted a couple of slices of the bread I baked yesterday, sopped them in real butter, and drowned them in homemade strawberry jam. It doesn't get much simpler than that, but it also doesn't get much better. Last night, we had the first veggie soup from the garden. Cabbage, green beans, celery, baby carrots, tomatoes and probably a few things I've forgotten, simmered all day in the broth from a big beef knuckle and served with a loaf of bread so hot from the oven, you couldn't even slice it. The DH and I had a ceremony early last week, honoring the first ripe tomato. It was cleaved in half, still warm, and served up with the salt shaker. You have to grow tomatoes to appreciate what I mean. I still haven't been fishing or swimming yet. It's coming down the pike. Hopefully I can scoop up a g'kid or two for the occasion. I asked myself last night is my vanity worth giving up swimming? I said no. I hope that never changes as when I was a young woman, I used to really feel sorry for the older crowd who sat by the beaches, never bringing their swim gear, and having that 'look' in their eyes. It's a positively wonderful experience for an older person. Such gentle exercise, almost weightless. I starting to see some butterflies, finally......but not the wild orgy of them I used to see before the industrial park went in nearby. The dragonflies are abundant and venture away from the pond regularly. The crawdads are burrowed deep into the stream bed and the first good rain in months should bring them back out. Summer.

I called them and they said they had a wiring issue with one mower at one Lowes store. They are going to check all mowers in the supply chain before selling any. They thought they would be selling them again by Sat. The steel mower deck for the Raven and the blades are made in USA in Fountain Inn SC. Just down the road from me. This is very cool. I called a talked to them. The guy had been to the plant in NC a few times and was impressed with the Raven. He said he was buying a Raven for himself. He said it was a great product. Another guy said the plastic panels were made in the US at a plant he worked in. RATO motors makes the motor they make generators and ATV’s. They make Powermate generator motors. These are sold at home depot and other places. http://www.homedepot.com/Outdoors-Ou...specifications http://www.rato.cc/

Roflol, All the planning in the world isn't going to solve the problem. With WS you have so many seedlings that you have to just stuff them in somewhere and run away from them to get more. I think the best piece of advice I got about what to do with all my seedlings was from a 3 year old who was helping plant seedlings 2 years ago. He heard me moaning that I was running out of room in the garden beds to put all the seedlings. He looked at me with that puzzled look a 3 year old gets and said "no more room?" He kept looking at me and got up and walked all around the front yard, came back to me and said "dirt, dirt everywhere, dig a hole and drop them in." He then grabbed a container and my little shovel and started digging holes in the lawn, and all over, then he dropped seedlings in the holes. I was laughing and laughing, then realized how right he was. I had dirt all over the front yard, so where was the problem? I just started stuffing the garden beds with my seedlings. I dug up some of the lawn, who needs lawns right? Just stuff them in where ever there is dirt. Don't forget, there's always containers to put plants in too. Walmart has wonderful cheap pots that start at $.88 for an 8 inch container with a saucer. When you get desperate, as my hubby did last summer, when he had to help get the seedlings in for me, while I recouped from surgery, I found, even an engineer can be creative with his pot plantings. He just followed my lead and stuffed seedlings into pots. When I realized what he did, well it was too late to make changes. Some hubby creative planting pics different types of zinnias in one pot. he read zinnia only. balsam impatiens in the top of the strawberry jar, he put alyssum in the sides of one and my strawberry plants in the sides of another and portulacca in the third. the remaining 4 seedlings of 4'oclocks. he just stuffed them all in a 12 inch pot. They bloomed beautifully too. duck taped the leaking birdbath, filled it with miracle grow potting mix and put the drumonndi phlox and petunias in it. the last malva seedling, in a left over pot. 3 foot tall cactus zinnia in a 10 inch pot. He thought it would stay short cause it was so small. It grew quite well, with twisted and bent stems, but the flowers where full and normal and always facing up towards the sky. See, there's always a way to find more room, just dig a hole and put it in or fill a pot and put it in. Fran

IMHO .... topping is an endless, life changing job ... remove the terminal shoot ... and ALL PLANTS will regenerate new ones ... period ... ergo .. every few years.. you will be up there removing more .. and ... every one you remove.. will be replaced by 3 to 5 ... unless you go up the year after each pruning .. and remove them ... that said... how are you going to do this at 15 feet??? ... rent scaffolding???? .. even with an standard 8 foot ladder.. you will have to be 7 feet tall ... and wielding some type of very sharp tool to make the cuts ... so .. in my estimation ... maintaining them at 15 feet is going to be problematic .... now.. on the other hand .... waiting 25 years for emeralds to get to 15 feet is going to be the opposite problem ... you actually need at least 3 plans for what you want to accomplish .... first... what is the fastest to grow.. [ergo fastest to die] plant that will help you out in the first 5 years or so .... maybe. god forbid i say this ... poplars ... plant those on the property line .... they will be sacrificed in 5 to 10 years ... that last year that they are within your capability to take down yourself .... yes.. they are deciduous ... but they will provide a screen of sorts.. even bare ... second.. the 5 to 10 year plan ... plant the GGiants in 3 to 5 feet ... and by the time the poplars go down ... they will be of size to take over .... then .. in front of the plain green plants.. there are a whole slew of slower growing ... arbs and chams that vary color .. blues.. yellows.. variegated.... as well as growth rates and textures .... lol.. you dont mention the size of your lot .... so this might not work in suburbia .... also .... the closer to the windows you work .... the smaller the plant is ... i presume they need to be 15 feet... because the grade falls off toward the road .... if planted closer to the window.. perhaps you can get a much smaller plant for the same purpose .... how close to plant ... how much money do you have .... how big are they to start with .. below is a picture of my GG planted as 6 inch rootings in 2 inch peat pots in 4/2000 .... i think they are spaced 8 foot on center .... too cold to run out and verify that today ... they will never grow to growth rate claims .... i think i am getting about 3ft per year.. but it took 3 years for them to grow the roots to generate that rate ... BTW ... they root easily ... any chance you have some rooting hormone... milk jugs.. gal plastic bags.. and a very bright area ... along with some potting soil .. or even better perlite??? i know you have the other plants .... for a $15 investment... the cost of one plant.. you might be able to have a hundred more plants by next fall ... good luck ken PS: anyone have a better suggestion than a stinkin poplar???? maybe some white pines .... 3 to 5 feet per year