Helen, I see you have a good mix of colors in the petunias. I finally see a few plants and I found some old seeds I will be scattering around. You should see the holes my dog digs! I bought 50 foot of 24 inch green fencing to fence the back porch corner bed and this morning I counted 4 or 5 new holes he dug right at the edge of the fence where I exposed some soft new ground!

I disagree with the factory paint job on a car anaglogy. Cars have their parts painted on all sides, sealing the metal with the paint in ideal conditions. The most durable finshing possible. But wood flooring is finished only on one side. While the wood factory finish will be more even, more consistent and tougher than on site, it still has some drawbacks. Factory finished floors are more prone to water damage because the joints between boards, on-site finishing gives you more protection because the urethane coating is protecting those joints (don't mistake that for a perfect seal, you still need to wipe up spills in a reasonable time). And dogs are where factory finished floors lose out big time. Their claws catch on those joints between boards, and delaminate the finish from the wood underneath. They don't wear down the finish, they pull it up at the edges. On site doesn't have that issue, but the claws will wear the on-site finish down faster and require re-finishing. If you don't have animals, the pre-finished is a really good choice, it stands up to non-animal traffic better than pre-finished, releases less off gassing into your house and no sanding.

Sorry about the entry porch photo delay - I got busy with work yesterday and didn't have a chance. You can see that I mix styles freely here! The birdhouse here was made by an eBay seller years ago, working from pictures of my shed. I had it outside, well used by birds til it started to suffer from the weather. The shed - same age as the house, built in 1937. I've had to fix it up over the years, including putting in the new windows on this side when the originals rotted. This is the CL Hitchcock bench that I bought a few years ago for $40! I had to do some touch up painting on the arms, but the day after I bought this one, an identical one was listed for $400. The Waverly wallpaper is from eBay, and the antique quilt pillow is made from an old 'cutter quilt' I also got on eBay. 'Cutters' are ones that have areas so damaged that they can't be repaired.

Chisue, the vet/rescue I got her from said she is all Schnauzer. Since they had to shave her mats off, she does not have the beard that she will have later when her fur grows out. Her ears are cropped, which is indicative of Schnauzer. She reminds me of the Westie a friend had.