One serious problem that I had in my zinnia breeding was that bees will grab any available zinnia pollen. I mentioned previously that I started using "hairnets" last year and they solved the bee problem. I used to have to race the bees to get at the pollen on my selected breeder zinnias, but the nets let me relax and get the pollen over a period of many hours. The nets insured a good supply of breeder pollen and they can also keep the bees from randomly pollinating female breeder flowers. I make the "hair nets" from mesh fabric. I got mesh fabric from the fabric department of Wal-Mart. The material is inexpensive and has an open mesh that allows easy air circulation and sun exposure, while keeping bees from getting at the zinnia flowers. The nets are reusable. The nets don't harm the flowers or plants at all. I have seen butterflies sipping nectar from zinnias through the mesh of a net, but they don't go after the zinnia pollen, so I don't mind if the butterflies do feed through the mesh. The nets are simply approximately square "sacks". I fold over a rectangular piece of the mesh and secure the top seam and side seem by weaving a piece of black yarn through the mesh. I alternate sides with the yarn about every ½" to ¾". The seam doesn't need to be really closely stitched. Obviously I leave the bottom open to allow the "hairnet" to fit down over the flower. I use black mesh and yarn because the black nets are less conspicuous in the zinnia patch. I make the nets in several sizes to accommodate different sized flowers. You shouldn't have any trouble making these nets to your own specifications and designs from needles, yarn, and mesh fabric from a local fabric store. Deeper nets are more wind resistant, but shallower nets are easier to remove and replace for access to the zinnia. MM

I have tons of tulip and daffodil bulbs to trade for some scrapbooking materials. I have a 3 and 1 yr old little girls and am working on scrapbooks with/for both of the girls. I also have iris and some herbs if you are interested. Also have some interesting hens and chicks and sedums. Stacie

I understand the why's of what you've designed, but there's a lot to be desired in this plan in terms of how the house will look and live. For example, having the foyer come into a long wall along one side is not comfortable. The dining room is too far from the kitchen. The shape of the rooms seems long and narrow. (I can't see the dimension on the drawing.) I think it would benefit by putting some furniture in the space like sofas and tables so you get a better sense of how the space will live. For example, in the living room, where would you put the sofa so you could enjoy the fireplace and how would the conversation cluster work around it? I like the orientation and the walk out. I'd consider putting 9' finished ceilings in the basement...we did and it's critical to making the lower level feel like livable space. However, if you cover up the windowed part of the basement with a deck above, you will lose all your light and sense of openness. Consider putting the deck behind the garage and leave as much light available to the lower level as possible.

Hi, I see that it's been a little while since you posted this, but I wanted to share the info I have in case you still need it. I discovered Creative Memories Digital Scrapping software around 6 months ago and haven't looked back. I packed up all my traditional stuff, (and I had lots and lots of it...) and I'm now trying to decide who to give it to. Creative Memories is great, I had tried scrapping with Adobe Photoshop Elements since I already used it to manipulate my photos, but I could never get the hang of it, (I've since discovered that many other people say the same thing, you have to have a good working knowledge of it to scrap with it.) CM does all the major things that PSE does, you can lasso an area and turn a photo into sepia or b/w while leaving that one spot in color just for one example. There are bunches of free paper collections that you can download, along with a free version of the scrapping software, Storybook Creator. The free version is very limited in what it will do though, you can basically only use it to drag and drop photos into all the pre-designed pages available. It's not terribly expensive, and if you buy the beginners collection you get a 39.95 coupon toward a storybook, (an 8x8 is around 40.00.) With it you also get a large kit of paper/embellishments/overlays, (which you can fill with color, gradients, paper, etc.)/and word art. You can do things like change the look of a piece of paper or embellishment simply by changing the hue or color of it. You can change it to match your photos or just to get several different looks from the same paper or embellishment. CM collections that are available to purchase, (in addition to the free ones) are very inexpensive. They range from 3.95 to 9.95 for a very large collection. There are also freebies added daily to my website that you can download, or you can use products that are not CM although I rarely need to because they have so much to choose from. I know some people like to use the freebies you find online though and most of those are compatible with it. I was so impressed with the company that I signed up as a consultant a few weeks ago and I'm loving it. I have a Facebook group called Tamela's Scrapbooking Divas where you can check out some of my work along with a few other people who have posted there. The software is extrememly user friendly and what I do is teach people how to use it, in addition to the free web claasses that CM offers covering beginning to advanced techniques. If you would like more info just e-mail me at Tgillespie67@aol.com and put CM in the subject line so I know to open it. I will be happy to tell you how to download the free software and papers if you contact me. Sorry, I didn't mean for this to be so long... Have a great evening! Tamela (Tammy) Gillespie