Hooray, its raining , and a real live Northern California rain it is too, with water running in the gutters and the snails waiting in the wings. Lookin like rain and showers through Monday. I can put away the hose, and get out the Sluggo. What a nice bunch of posts today..perfect for a rainy evening with NO baseball, nor is there baseball in the foreseeable future. I have one big pile of books waiting for me. Since I will be forced indoors over the weekend I shall ponder the chores needed in that venue..I think some heavy duty cleaning will be in order, and maybe a bit of cooking . Ill be heading into another one of my ten day work week gigs starting Monday so a couple of dishes laid by will be helpful . Martie, how very uncomfortable to have the lay-off victims still around. In our company they get their checks and a packet and are walked to their car, even if they are rehireable. It seems a bit cold ( and not pleasant if you are helping them pack and providing the escort service ) but it does limit the exposure of people who might be bitter, angry ,crying etc to the employees who still have their jobs and are also nervous and upset. I am in active finger crossing for Rich what tough times it is out there for those in his line of work. I LOVE your cool Thanksgiving arrangement ! Chelone, for your goulish pleasure : The Ghost Map , by Steven Johnson, the 1854 London cholera epidemic Deanne, I only prune back the begonias if they are too ungainly for the location I have to put them in. It rarely gets below 55 degrees in the house over the winter and the biggest issue is the light. Our winters can be quite grey and the begonias tend to get tatty looking if they are not getting bright light. Im going to put the smaller ones upstairs in my boudoir this winter (i.e. those in 6 or 8" pots) because I have a western exposure there. I have never had problems with insects at all. My plants will be in the house from the first frost (still to come here) and I usually put them back out in March or early April. We Catholic kids know that Halloween is All Hallows Eve aka the eve of All Saints Day on Nov 1st . The 31st is All Souls Day ..ergo the feast of ghosts, spirits etc. PM, I love the pic you posted today do you know where it was taken ? The photo yesterday was my BILS house in Portland. I wish I had b-4 pics to show you; it was in quite a state when they moved in. The photo below is from last Christmas, and the pic I took last weekend is to the right. This will give you an idea of the front of the house. It does have a modern look. Woody, thanks for posting the b-4 house view , wow , what a difference. The bow front window is recognizable but thats about it. Wonderful transformation. Marian, thats a neat little coat on your DS too-bet it was wool. I dont remember you living in Nevada ? Were you in the mountains or at lower elevations ? Michelle, our street sweepers only manage to get to each neighborhood about once a month. This is a city revenue issue and since we have actual street quality problems (potholes etc) the budget tends to go in that direction. Jerri, Im glad you are researching and seeking various methods of control for your health problems. Though diseases are real and often serious, it always amazes me what a positive and pro-active attitude can do to help people improve quality of life and enjoyment of life. I have seen so many people just give up in the face of such things, many of them minor. Though the things happening in our bodies are sometimes out of our control, the things in our mind are not. Stay strong and hang tough ! ..Oh and I am reassured to know that somewhere , someone is actually buying a house ! V, I love that chair. Sort of a contempo-looking wicker..very nice ! Following the drift of the Tuesday night gathering..very exciting. The last gathering I went to like that was at the Ambassador Hotel in LA in June of 1964 . We could not get inside. That evening did not end well. Looks like this is number 100, and since you guys are probably all in bed, I may start the next Kathy in Napa Christmas Day 2007 From 2007_12_25

After my adventure with landscape fabric, I must say I'm not a big fan. I had mulched my shade bed with wood chips over 2 layers of landscape fabric. Over about 5 years, with all the leaves that fall, and the wood chips decomposing, I had all sorts of plants growing on top of the fabric, and the soil underneath, which was pretty bad to start with, was rock hard. The biggest part of the mess was my hops. They were planted at the back to cover the bull fence, and had crawled out underneath the fabric four or five feet, coming up wherever they found a hole. I removed as much of the landscape fabric as possible, without completely ripping out all my plants, and put in lawn edging to contain the hops. My Stella D'oro, which hadn't bloomed for years, had grown to the exact size of the hole in the fabric - I had a square plant, which has turned into about 15 little ones. With a little manure compost added the flowers were much happier, if weedier this year. I actually use chopped up straw for mulch in most of my beds and my garden, about 4 inches thick. It stops most weeds but does bring in more dandelions and some grain, of course. All I have left out now are some carrots, the potatoes which could use a couple more weeks to toughen their skins, and the parsnips which are waiting for a good frost. Everything else will wait until later. One thing about all this rain and BRRRR, I may not be able to finish cleaning my windows this weekend - darn :). Maybe I'll have to do something tough like bake or sew. Connie

Hey Mike.. The day is dark..where's the sun? lol..Wonder if it's going to snow..Has it snowed up east yet, or too early? One thing about snow...it brightens up a home..ever notice? Snow reflects off walls (I only use Semi-Gloss White paint) and other bright objects.. Mike, the things we do for our plants! I've placed aluminum foil behind plants so when we do have sun, it reflects off the foil..lol.. One time, I tried collecting snow for plants..lol...Don't bother. One year, I placed containers outside while it was snowing, blizard-like. The containers collected snow, filled, 'which took forever,' then brought inside to melt..I wanted to cry. There was about 2" of water..lol..All that work for nothing.. Here's another thing I do, but am not recommending. When snow is fresh, I grab a handful and place directly on soil. Most of you reading this are shaking your head, thinking, she's NUTS, lol, but fresh snow, although cold, is pure. The problem doing this is it can chill roots..So, when I add snow, it has to be sunny and early in the morning. Never at night. So far, Thank God, snow has never harmed a plant. Again, I'm NOT telling anyone to do this.. BTW, I don't add snow to cactus and succulents. I agree about caring for our plants like children, with one exception..What's the number one plant killer? OVERWATERING. Sometimes, people kill plants because they're too caring, and continue adding more and more water..Leaves droop, so they think, oh oh it needs more water or fertilizer..then the plant dies.. So, yes, I agree, we need to be alert, (especially when a plant shows signs of distress,) inspect, mist, shower, water when needed, fertilize at the proper time, etc, but never in excess.. BTW, if I'm not mistaken, the number 2 killer is over-fertiliizing. 3 is underwatering. Then there's the INSECT problem..sheesh..in some cases, insects are beyond our control. Especially for those starting out..they go shopping, find a pretty plant, unaware it's loaded with mites, bring home, and a wk later the plant is dead. But never neglect plants either. Heck, I talk and sing to them..lol..you should see my birds when they see me talking, especially singing to a plant..lol..it's hilarious. I found the variegated CC on Ebay..Ebay is the BEST..I wouldnt have half the plants I do if it wasn't for Ebay or the internet in general. Most stores and nurseries here sell the same, old, common plants. When they get something they deem rare, prices are hiked up 100%. Terrible. Oh, I agree, 'playing' with plants is more 'funner' than cooking or cleaning..lol. Oh you do have a MOO??? GReat..Flowers don't last long like you say, similar to tropical Hibiscus. Speaking of which, my Hib tree had several buds and one opened flower..it opened 3 days ago and still going, but starting to look crinkly..I snapped a pic last night, but haven't put it on Flickr yet.. What I'd love to find is a variegated MOO..lol..now that be sometehing..I'd also like to find a variegated Stephanotis..ohhh, wonder if any exist..lol.. Have a wonderful day..hugs, Toni

florantha- we touched on this on another thread. I think it is so important to look at the home, the style of the home inside and out, and the setting of that home; or at least how one integrates all of that. We are in a wooded setting, and the house is a colonial with a gorgeous brick fireplace. Things are in good shape, but definitely worn- not bad, just have more of rustic vs shiny and newly built look. As I had mentioned, golden oak is not my first choice for cabinets, however, they really seem to fit the house, the setting and the design. It's hard to actually imagine them different and I have some concerns about changing them, color or stain, that they will not blend so seamlessly with the rest of the house! I even think those darn arched doors seem to fit in! As for the sink- it was my first choice. I love the look of white cast iron sinks (so freakin heavy to get home by myself!!). In some ways, I regret it practically as it is marred by my anodized pots, and the bottom needs bleach once a week to look white. It's only 4 years old! Although the house was built in the 50's, it has the feel of a house from the 20-30's (I previously had a dutch colonial that age, and it really had the same feel to it). I hope whatever I end up with when I am all finished will be timeless. I know, high hopes. Thanks for the positive thoughts!! Also, BillV? or someone had posted a link on wall color that I thought was so interesting (on another thread). Basically trying to make a dark space light did not happen with white or light paint necessarily! It was reassuring that my instinct to embrace the dark room with a deep color vs trying to lighten it with a white was not so crazy!