10 pounds of coal per kwh! Wonder what the ratio is today, as I sit here with 300 watt reading lamp, plus other lamps, dishwasher swishing away. No heat needed as it's still in 60's here. Great quote. Glad you weathered your bad weather...josh

Mimi, Loved the pictures,Your very good at posting and taking pictures. Didn't know my hair was so grey till I saw my picture.I didn't even recognize me.LOL I will have to tame it down a bit. Mimi and Beverly you two took a great picture together.And Beverly you have such an Angelic face and the pictures taken of you captures that. I was wondering if anyone took me and Abbie Jan serious about posting our recipes?I think it would be great to share our recipes with each other. Anyway,Thanks for the wonderful pictures Mimi,I love what you did with the broken bird bath and the gazabo Rocks!!! I especially love the photo of the little boy on the porch.Is he one of your boys?If he is which one is he?Give them all big HUGS from me!!! Enjoy the Holiday!! Granny57

We are currently working with Nassau and Suffolk County on getting a minimum 5 Acre location for a nursery. We have a 3 acre location being developed in Old Brookville. While there is a trade off between the full root system of an easily shipped 3-5 footer(Trachy), our feeling is that customers will want a legit looking palm asap so the minimum 8 footers make sense. I'm hoping that the palm's maturity will spark quicker regrowth of its root system within a max 2-year period. So during those two years, at least the customer will have a palm of substance to look at and brag about. We will be offering a 1-year guarantee on all palms provided the customer uses our winter wrapping service. We feel the crucial months for protection (before establishment of the palm) will be Dec-Feb...Possibly first 2 weeks in March. Hey, the way I see it, covering a palm in NY for 3 months-to have palms isn't that bad. Our targeted market is pool owners-who are used to officially closing/covering their pools, BBQ, deck chairs....OK, so now include your palms. A ritual they are already used too. Shipping will be choreographed to spend as little time in transit as possible. We are currently speaking with different nurseries in GA & NC. Obviously, dealing with NC would provide us with the closest and most cold hardy of the species. Our goal is to get our nursery up and running ASAP so we can get our 1st generation of NY'ers followed by future generations-hopefully winding up with "New York Tough" lines of different palms species. We will also be test planting Dates, Sabals, Washingtonias, Yuccas and Agaves this spring to see how they cope with the next winter. I'm also going to be getting some Jubaea and Butia Hybrids. We will be experimenting with chemicals, sprays...trying to stay away from anything requiring electrical. One thing we will be working with is Beet Juice. Believe it or not, there is a company that has a patent pending on beet juice as an ice melt. In STL they use it instead of salt to melt the roadways as it is all natural and not corrosive. Can beet juice lower the core water temp freezing point inside a palm? Maybe, wont know until this winter. I just hope it doesn't dye the darn palm red :). Also, purely by accident, I discovered that I have seepage form a broken line in my leaching field where cesspool water is coming up. The grass in contact with that water is lush, growing and green as can be while the grass around it is frozen, brown and lifeless. A fertilizer rich in potassium and nitrogen may do a NY palm well in helping survive a winter. Each area in the US is different, even if they are listed in the same zone. There are Fortuneis on Long Island that are 20+ tall over 45 years old living on Long Island-no protection(Not having anything to do with me...www.nypalms.com. Our goal is to get them through the first 2-3 winters and then they should be able to cope. Butias may require winter protect for 5-10 years or until they are at least 15 feet high. I'm really looking forward to experimenting with other species and sharing the finding with all of you.

Oh Daisy I wish you could visit the city in December when it's decorated for the holidays. If you're lucky you'd get a dusting of snow which makes all the lights twinkle. The holiday crowds can be infectious and it always puts me in the mood for Christmas. My other favorite time to visit NY is on a crisp fall day. Every now and then I'll catch an early train by myself and be in the city in time for coffee and croissants and then I'll just spend the day walking around, poking into some of the little shops, stopping into a gallery or the best yet - afternoon tea at the Plaza. My girlfriend and I used to sign up for tickets for The View, Regis and Kelly, Rachel Ray and once I even managed to get tickets to David Letterman, although we haven't made it to Saturday Night Live. I feel fortunate to live where we are since NYC, the mountains or the ocean are all within a short drive.