Good grief will someone turn off the artic blast machine???? Its 16 degrees out right now at 3:30PM with winds gusting to 35+. Wind chills are off the charts and hitting new records. The cats are driving me nuts. Luke must be feeling better because hes been crying for the door for the last four hours. Rahjii is wailing away and it is just too dangerously cold for him to be outside but there is no way to explain that to a cat. So I cant get a thing done because this cat keeps sticking his nose in everything Im trying to do. Hes already knocked the mouse on the floor and I only just turned on the computer. Grrrr Have I mentioned that I hate the wind??? So the other thing is that it is supposed to go down to -1F tonight. I can see the holly and English Ivy dying a bit more each day these cold temps keep up. I shudder to think what is going to be toast in the gardens when spring rolls around. I know, I know V. consider it a new opportunity. Winter doesnt normally get me down but this hideous cold and windy weather is beginning to really bug me. Holy moly. The side of the dining room just got slammed by a 12 foot pine branch!!!!!!! Came flying through the air from one of the trees next door. Glad it didnt get my duck blind. Have I mentioned I really hate the wind. So, Martie, I agree with Cindy 100% that kind of malicious, threatening and harassing email is unacceptable. Is there any way you can find out where that email came from? I think we need to find out who it is and do something about it. There is no excuse for anyone to get threatening emails from a gardening forum or on any forum for that matter. I know you want to take a break for a while and I dont blame you a bit but would you please forward that to me so I can get my computer gurus working on it and finding out who it is so it can be reported to the proper authorities. I know Eileen also got disturbing emails in the past and that kind of underhanded, vicious stuff makes my blood boil. T. how neat about the Elk but what a bummer that the boys are so out of sorts lately. Ive heard that isnt uncommon with twins but dont know why. ~~ Hope you find out whats wrong with the car. That would have me unsettled, not to have a reliable automobile when you aren't close to town. Babs, I LOL over the sandwiches. Too funny that Ryan ate both sandwiches. So what did AJ have for lunch? ~~ Sorry you are tired lately. Sounds like you are burning the candle at both ends. ~~ Yes, I did find Billy Greene again from WWF, thanks for asking. Next year I think Im going to keep them under the lights all winter so I dont lose them. It really is a wonderful variety. Eden, what a bummer you lost your fuchsias! I cant imagine what happened. I wonder if your basement is too warm to let them get truly dormant. Well, I cant winter over Rex Begonias to save my life. I lost two of the three I had and the third is looking pretty awful so I guess we are even. How about I raise fuchsias for you and you do begonias for me??? LOL So Sue, maybe when we TONAW next year we ought to do it on Key West???? Bug, that photo of your DD and DH is priceless!!!! I just love that. Flowers are lovely also. I forgot to tell you how much I like that red cable piece you are knitting now. Are you quite sure you dont want to knit something for me???? LOL Cindy, LOL about the snow having to melt on its own. My grandmother used to say "God put it there let him take it away". Yes, Im thinking that there must be people lurking here who glean this site for ideas. The chances are astronomical that a greenhouse would just happen to begin carrying those particular varieties out of the thousands that are available. I actually found one of my container combinations on the Proven Winners site last year. Could have been coincidence but who knows. Ok time to run, Martie please forward those emails to me if you dont mind. Time to get to the bottom of this. Later Deanne

Mindy, I was pretty busy up through the early days of December with fall cleanup and dormant pruning. And then I just sort of got wrapped up with the holidays and visiting relatives. I was really missing GW though. I will send your information on to her - Janet and Steven are really great about adding folks to their newsletter. I think sometime in the future they will be introducing a website as well. For your area, I think she makes twice a year pilgrimages to Massachusetts for very low cost work shops and does demonstration pruning on site at a client she visits twice a year up there. I do like Susan Harris - she is the only one of the quartet though. The other three I'm not keen on though. Susan kindly posted a picture of my front garden one year on her blog and on GR.

"nowhere in the installation or selling or sales training does there appear to be the sensible question for second floor installs, which is placement close to the bearing wall.. Actually almost all manufacturers have a statement regarding positioning the washer in a corner and possibly adding a sheet of plywood to the floor to increase rigidity. Frigidaire, GE, Bosch, LG, Maytag, and Whirlpool all make similar statements like the Miele but Whirlpool probably does the best job of explaining the "how and why". I've also seen toploaders have the same problems with vibration on second floor installs so it's not unique to just frontload machines. As to adding double stick tape. I have seen floors where the concrete or tile was very slick and no matter how well a machine was leveled the unit would scoot. I have actually started carrying tread tape in my truck which looks like heavy coarse sandpaper with a sticky back. I cut 2 in squares and stick it to the floor where the feet sit to give the feet something to grip.

Hi Carol Thank you for posting that newsletter, the insect traps look easy enough and inexpensive. I know a lot of people that like to use the cutworm collars. Silvia