If you were planting seeds right now, it could save you. It's like this ... as soon as your feet hit the floor in the morning, you grab a cup of coffee and run for the closeted bowl of soaking seed packets. You then eye each one carefully to search for sprouted seeds. Then the real fun begins ... punch holes in cups, write crosses on them with a Sharpie, stuff them full of seed starter mix, make marks around the rims where you plant the seeds, punch litte oval holes in the mix with the eraser end of a pencil, gently place the seeds on their sides, cover them barely, set them in a pan of water, and put a baggie over the cup. You then refill the seed packets with fresh solution, stuff them back in the closet, and by then it is 12 noon. It then takes awhile to clean up your mess. This goes on and on, ad infinitum. In the meanwhile, you peer at all the cups of planted seeds to search for GREEN - the signal to remove the baggies. This should help you deal with your addiction, once the flowers have quit blooming. You might spend the afternoons tilling up more ground and adding compost, sand, alfalfa pellets, or other interesting additions. And don't forget to pull off the yellowing leaves every day - and pull up any invading weeds while you are at it. If you'd come on and move down here to Texas, you could also fight our fire ants --- get them before they get you! All of the above will not cure your addiction, but it will take the edge off it. Nancy

just a thought. Why not contact the parks departments of both cities? They should have a list of w.wells if they have them. I can't recall seeing any but then I haven't really been looking here in St Paul. I don't think we rely on wishing, just doing?

I've got somewhat of a split personality when it comes to wishing wells. Most of the time I don't like them, but for some reason, usually at first glance they *always* catch my attention and make me catch my breath. Especially when they are on the grounds of an old house (100+ years). But once that initial "Oooh!" is over, I tend to think that I don't really like them after all. Weird, I guess. I also seem to like them - and this I guess ties into my liking them at old houses - I really like them when they are *real*. When you see a 200 year old house and there's a well in the front yard, you know it was once a working well. I looked at a house for sale recently, built in the early 1800's, and there was a well there, complete with the roof and all. Obviously it was sealed up, but had the pail hanging there, which was used as a planter. Looked really nice. Believe it or not, the well, like the house, was not in the best of shape, but that only added to the charm. Another thing that looks nice is when the open area between the wall of the well and the roof is filled in with lattice. There is an old farmhouse down the street, with its original well, that is like this, and they have annual vines grow up through it in the summers. I think since you have an old house, your well will look charming. I would definitely paint it to match the house, and personally think either the pail/planter thing or the lattice would look nice. Good luck, and let us know what you decide - and show us some "after" pictures! :) Dee

Big Lots had them a couple weeks ago.