Ciao Nicky- I received my parcel on American Thanksgiving, so that was extra super because Duane was home and got to share in the surprises! You really outdid yourself this year with the care and consideration you gave to the inventory list and the quality of the seeds. This is a smaller swap than some of the others that I participate in, but you managed to fill 11 wishes off of my edibles list! That's VERY impressive! The quality of the flowers was also better than ever before, so thank you very much and consider yourself hugged by me!

Thanks gourd and timbersmith. I had not really thought about them being late until I received a trade package of seeds from Canada last week that was mailed about 2 weeks later than the tomatoes were. Different POE's may have longer delays than others. Perhaps this will be our week! Alana

Got 3 nestings from my pair in W. MD. 5/5, 5/5, and a new nest of 4 eggs last checked this past Saturday. Hopefully, there will be 5 eggs in that nest as well. Frankly, I was shocked (holding my breath), with the success. This was a total surprise to me as the surrounding area is very heavily wooded. My other nest much further east only had two broods, 5/3 and 4/3 (due to fledge early next week). This is my first year closely monitoring my boxes. Never thought I could be so happy to sit at a window with my face glued to a pair of binoculars watching a bird stuff it's face with wiggling worms! It has a become a passion and I hope we can ALL make our skies a little bluer. Keith, I had tiny ants in my nestbox, too. I smeared Tanglefoot all over the pole and put a cork in the pole opening at the top. Will keep checking the box until day 13. Linda

Thanks arielitas_mom! yes,my plan is to make a nice, big, luxurious tiled shower along the same wall that the corner shower is now. Probably about 39" w x 6 feet long (unless that's TOO long...). I do feel like this is a compromise, since a 3BR/2BA (and lts face it, most people will use it as 2BR/2BA/office) feels like it's step down, as far as the target market, from the 3BR/3BA/office we'd planned when we bought it. But it's good to hear some positive feedback from you folks about the compromise, because it really would stretch us too far to do the addition. Thank you! So what do you all think about the fact that there's no proper dining room? The DR area is really more of a dining "nook" and there's no place to put a really big dining table. ?????