What a tranquil, lovely spot you found to make home, dulcimerduo! Your totem is very pretty. I love how you incorporated the round pieces. I always think it is fun when people put a figurine underneath a bigger glass piece. Definitely gives the totems more character! Like the rest of the folks, I just love George! I'm glad he managed to fit in your Honda Civic! Only a Garden Junker would be so determined to fit something that size in a small car. he-he I can't wait to see pictures of your new and improved pond too! Here's a funny observation ... I was looking at the picture of your pond and I was wondering about the little gnome standing on the branch of the tree ... that was until I realized it was your DH pushing a wheelbarrow in the background! lol! Years ago, in one of my magazines, they had an article of how someone totally enclosed a mobile home to make it look like a cute cabin. It was located on a lake and they made a screened porch along the whole front of it. Looking at the finished enclosure, you would never know there was a mobile home under it! I could kick myself for not keeping the article. It looks like you have a similar idea! Please keep the pictures coming!

Thanks, Henry

sshrivastava: I always enjoy reading your posts as you have gone into great detail about your own situations in the past and I've totally enjoyed reading about them and have taken some of your advice in the past, particularly about using less detergent; I have cut back but then went back up when things weren't coming out clean or smelling too fresh. I've been all over the scale as far as detergent dosage but it didn't seem to make much difference. ArliVie: I read the post the other day about using a hairbrush to soften/fluff up the towels. I was curious about that one, so I got out a clean hairbrush that's I found had never been used and tried it on a hand towel which was rough and stiff and all and was shocked as how fluffy/soft it became. Very interesting idea and most unique. I don't know if I could do it for 8 full size towels as my arm might fall off - LOL Anyway, it was a fun experience; I must have been bored or something ;-)

I made these two batches last weekend as appetizers for a friend's birthday dinner. They were baked, not fried, and were gone in a heartbeat!!! Batch # 1--basic recipe that you'll use for Batch #2, too Maple Teriyaki Chicken Wings (from Food Network) 3 lbs of chicken wings 1/3 cup teryaki sauce 1/4 cup soy sauce 1/4 cup maple syrup 2 t garlic powder or 2 cloves garlic (minced) 1 large aluminum pan (disposable) Pre-heat oven to 350 Spray aluminum pan with cooking spray Set pan on a solid cookie sheet for support Cut the tips off the wings and save for stock, then separate the other sections of the wings. Put the edible wings in a disposable aluminum pan. In a bowl, whisk together the other ingredients. Pour over the wings, making sure each wing gets a coating of the marinade. I let them marinade overnight, but it isn't necessary. Get ready to bake! Do not cover. Place the pan (on cookie sheet) in the oven and let bake for 45 min. Remove from oven and stir the wings around. There will be a fair amount of liquid in the pan and that's fine. Turn the oven up to 425. Put the wings back into the oven and let bake about 45 minutes to an hour, moving the wings around every 15 minutes. When most of the marinade is gone and the wings have a good coating on them, you are ready to eat. This makes a nice sticky mess so you'll be glad you used a disposable aluminum pan. Batch #2 Gently heat 1/2 to 3/4 C of Frank's RedHot Original hot sauce. Take half the wings that you just made as Maple Teriyaki Chicken Wings and then pour Frank's Hot Sauce over them. Yum!