What I've been busy with. My water feature.

Your water feature looks great & I'll bet you're enjoying sitting out next to it. Last year, I had a plastic 'popup pond' w/ a pump. I replaced it this year w/ an Asian glazed ceramic pot (10" high & 25" diameter), I put the pump in it & have an acorus & a LA iris in planting baskets in it. The cats really like to drink out of it.

OkKKKKK, I'm here sorry I was late to the party.
Miatablu, I really like that deck, boy do those containers look good. I see some Bonsai in there. Nice water feature I really like that. Ric just walked up behind me as I was looking at the picture that shows all the plants on the deck and said how nice that looks, too. I still haven't started the staining yet. But it's got to get done soon. I have a bathtub water feature planed and haven't started that either. So many projects so little time.
Wrightie, I've been wanting to make those leaves, too. And the only reason I haven't is that I don't have the leaves to make one. I heard that rhubarb leaves are large enough and work well. I may have to grow some just to get leaves.

Somehow, I never got around to starting any castor bean plants this year... those leaves would be great! Unfortunately, the older leaves on my banana plants are pretty tattered (and the plants only have a single new leaf apiece -- so they need those!)... hmm... I do have this weed with really huge leaves, but I'm not sure they're very interesting looking.

I think it would be hard to transport newly-formed 'tufa leaves, however, so that's probably not a good project for next weekend... I don't want to be responsible for unmolding half a dozen leaves and curing them under the deck until the fall swap! That's definitely a project I want to try, however... I guess there's always next year!

Guess what, Holly, I've got some little Rhubarb seedlings started, so remind me to pass some to you - provided that I don't kill them beforehand, heh heh. Critter, I want to make a birdbath - is that practical with hypertufa or not so much? Maybe I need to save that for concrete?

I've been thinking along the lines of doing a fountain, but we will have to do some research on the best approach, as I am pretty sure hypertufa on its own is too permeable. There might be a way to seal it (maybe with a thin layer of concrete) or maybe a way to add something to make it watertight.... or possibly we could embed a plastic liner somehow... I have to go back over to the concrete forum; I know I was finding some answers there shortly after I took that seminar!

You're not necessarily wanting to do the birdbath next weekend, are you? I was thinking a smaller intro project would be more portable.... but I'm easily swayed... :-)

I'm flexible.

On a related note, here is a book that I actually do own and am eager to put to use, "Creative Concrete Ornaments for the Garden" - http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Concrete-Ornaments-Garden-Birdbaths/dp/1579905854

Miata, will you be playing on the 14th as well?

Definitely! Concrete under the nails instead of dirt. Gosh that's gonna be hard to get out!

Well, my deck staining project is nearly complete. Yuck, what an annoying job! I'm ready to put my feet up.

I need to find a wrought iron candelabra that I can hang over this table. Know any good places to find one?

Frederick has a lot of antique stores.... ;-)

The deck looks gorgeous!!!

You'll have to give me tips -- sprayer, roller, brushes, all of the above? You'll see that we had our deck stained a couple of years ago in a really unfortunate color (grey, but a shade that was much too light)... it's wearing off (hooray!), and I think this fall will be the time to pressure-wash and remove the remainder and then stain again... or maybe this time we'll just go with a clear sealer!

I was too chicken to attempt a sprayer because I recognize my limitations and don't trust that I could have contained all of the "spray." Also, we've read that they can be wasteful with the stain - don't know if that's true or not. I would recommend *not* using rollers or brushes, but using the staining pads that you can find at HD, etc. - get them in varying widths and be sure to get a few spares.

I didn't even know about staining pads -- thanks! That does sound like a good way to control the application. I might try a light coat with the sprayer first (I figure if I'm doing it myself, I can afford to buy a little extra stain/sealer), hmmm, better test that in an inconspicuous location! Of course, none of this will happen while half the deck (maybe more LOL) is covered in plants, so that's why I'm thinking it's a fall project. (We didn't quite get to it this spring.)

Oh, you don't have to tell me about 'not getting to it' -- took us 4 yrs! For the sprayer, I was told that you *must* keep a piece of cardboard behind it to stop the spray from drifting.

Yes, the cardboard is definitely needed up near the house (the guys who sealed our little townhouse deck used a sprayer and got it all over the siding through carelessness)... it can drift all it wants to under the deck; there's nothing there except some groundhog trying to muscle in to our space!

Wrightie, that looks terrific. Try local flea markets and junk shops for old electric light fixtures. Just remove the wiring and lightbulb holders and paint them whatever color/texture you want.

You can also get pads and rollers that automatically feed the stain and sealer (or paint.) Our Home Depot had a kit that had one of each on clearance in their paint department last week. I never had quite understood the advantage myself. I never minded dipping into a paint tray. I guess if you're working on a ladder, though, it would make it a lot easier.

I agree with Wrightie about the pads. They're a cinch to use. Just like with a brush, you only have to make sure you don't agitate the pad in the stain and create air bubbles.

SO has taken his vacation time to paint the house and he's been busy scraping all week. So far, bless his heart, he hasn't managed to stomp anything in the flower beds.

Wrightie, The deck looks great. I um haven't gotten um around to um doing the house yet?????
Critter, You watch out for those ground hogs. I have a mother and 2 young ones living under my barn and I'm getting pretty tired of them eating my flowers. Oh make that a mother and just 1 young one. I have a humane trap and have relocated one of the smaller ones back to the power line where she can eat all she wants.
I've been out all morning sitting under the gazebo Ric put up the other week. You remember the excuse I used "not" to go to help stain deck. Well it sits right next to the hummer feeder and they don't pay any attention to me at all.

Groundhogs can do a lot of damage, digging under the foundations of buildings and so on. Holly, we trap and relocate them too but you have to take them very far away or they'll come right back.

They don't eat my plants, they pull them up by the roots and leave them lying on the ground to die. Darned groundhogs.

We've relocated 4 so far this year (or is it 5? I'm losing count)... they are a pain! I've only been taking them about 3 miles away, same as bunnies... I don't think they have that large of a range. ? Now, squirrels you have to take at least 5 miles away, or you'll see them again!

I take them a couple of miles away and on the other side of the creek.
Oh Critter, I was suppost to tell you that Ric was out cutting basil this morning. LOL

I was taking a few snips at the basil plants on the deck just this noon -- adding some fresh minced basil to pasta salad for lunch. I'm glad Ric is enjoying the basil. The more you pinch and harvest it, the more it grows and the bushier it gets! I picked about 5 cups of basil last week (that measure is the leaves only, fairly well packed into the cup), because it was threatening to bloom. I didn't have an immediate use for it, so I minced and froze it... enough for 3 huge batches of spaghetti sauce (which we now make in the Nesco roaster!).

Jill -- why do you use a Nesco roaster for spaghetti sauce rather than just a big pan on the stovetop? What is a Nesco roaster, anyway, and why would one want one?

A Nesco roaster is big enough to cook a 20 pound turkey, and it holds 16 quarts or so of spaghetti sauce...

We really like spaghetti sauce! :-)

We have a huge stainless steel pot -- must be about 16 quarts -- that we use. I bet the Nesco would provide more even heat, though, and wouldn't take up the whole stove. Might help out at Thanksgiving when so much else is going on. Hmm. I don't think I'd roast a turkey in it though; we like turkeys to be oven roasted. Hmmmm.

The volume of the Nesco we have is 18 quarts, but if you want to be able to stir, it's max is more like 16. It definitely provides more even heat -- like using a really large crockpot. We got the one with a convection fan that you can put into the lid, and we've put "extra" things like potatoes and casserole dishes into it for Thanksgiving dinner... but we generally end up buying the biggest turkey we can find and stuffing it into our oven, because we like leftover turkey a lot too!

When I was playing with the kitchen design for this house, I *really* wanted to work in a double wall oven, but Jim and I couldn't quite get eye to eye on that one... so the compromise was that I got a nice convection oven -- and a Nesco! We also chose not to go up one more level to the oven with the built-in temperature probe... instead, we got a remote thermometer that I just love for turkeys and roasts.

Hmmm, somehow we drifted from water features to decks to roasting turkeys.... LOL!

My mom has a wall oven and it's great, but it is smaller than a regular oven and not great for things like 25 lb turkeys.

In my old house, when I bought a new stove the one I got had a second oven above the cooktop. That was the best of both worlds because I didn't have to heat up the larger oven for smaller things or I could have both ovens going for big family dinners. And I didn't have to pay to have a wall oven installed. It was attached all in one unit.

When I bought my new stove here, I couldn't find a stove made like that any more. I now have my microwave above the stove anyway. But I did manage to find a stove that has a second, smaller oven beside the regular oven. I use it quite a bit. This is a wider unit and wouldn't fit into a regular range space but that was fine since I was moving old cabinets around anyway.

My folks have a stove like that, with an upper oven... however, they'll be replacing it soon, since the lower oven quit working a few months ago (they've been making do, LOL). I decided I didn't want any sort of oven over my cooktop because I really needed to have a very good exhaust fan. We do a lot of high heat cooking with spices that include hot peppers, and the smoke can get downright caustic. The hood over our stove has squirrel-cage blowers rather than fan ones, and it's very efficient and remarkably quiet to boot!

What a buncha braggertz! Well, I can play that game, too ... I've got a 24" wide double wall oven by Kitchen Maid, in avocado green (obviously) and original to the house, circa 1940. So there. Who needs a 25lb turkey when you can have a five lb turkey?

And of course you do drive out to Maple Lawn Farms (http://www.maplelawn.com/) for their really very good very fresh turkeys to cook in your oven -- of course smaller birds have better flavor -- and you can buy extra giblets for a really good gravy.

LOL, I really was bragging on that exhaust hood, wasn't I? It was just such a good solution for us... much more efficient than the downdraft vent the builder wanted to install if we'd kept the cooktop on the island, and a ton cheaper than one of those big, luscious, custom hoods that hang down from the ceiling (you know, the ones that are generally clad in hammered copper, LOL).

Wrightie, your oven sounds wonderful! I think you need to come up here to bake Christmas cookies, though...

That web site makes me want to have bunches of folks over for Thanksgiving so I have an excuse to see just how large a turkey I can cram into my oven... I can't even imagine what a 50 pound tom looks like! I think our largest so far was a little over 24 pounds.... For a turkey twice that size, I believe I might need a larger roasting pan... or maybe I should just take my big pan along and get the largest turkey that actually fits, LOL.

See, that's just another reason why I shouldn't have chiddren - my oven's too small. Yep. My oven's too small for a litter of my own.

But seriously, the only way that I'm going to get normal sized kitchen gadgets is to bump the house out and make some room that way.

LOL... my great grandmother had a passel of kids, and she was baking in a tiny oven in a wood stove!

Seriously, the kitchen here is set up well for Christmas cookie baking... I think that should be our Nov/Dec activity, LOL. The friend I've baked with the past couple of years is moving to the west coast!

Now if you want some good food, get you a wood cooking stove. LOL Really - everything tastes better. But most of them have pretty large ovens and warming ovens and all kinds of nifty things we now pay a premium price for, Critter. LOL

In case you're wondering, all my great aunts and other relatives who lived up here had wood stoves until well into the '60s and I've eaten many a meal cooked on a wood stove. My mom also has an antique one in the outdoor pavilion my father built years ago and she's cooked out there from time to time.

I'm afraid neither of my fancy ranges were expensive. The first one I got scratch and dent and it was about half price. The one I have now was a special order someone took one look at and returned and was also about half price.

Wrightie, those vintage kitchen appliances, especially ranges and ovens, are quite the rage right now. You're right in style.

My granny had a wood burning oven as well (in upstate NY).

Actually, the ovens work just fine. They're ugly and narrow, but they work and I'm not going to upgrade any time soon.

You just don't want to commit to baking holiday cookies with me until you see if I make a hash of the hypertufa recipe!

LOL ... If you move Frederick about 30 miles closer to me, I will be more likely to be Betty Baker widja!

I suppose if I were to host a cookie *tasting* event rather than a cookie *baking* event.... ;-)

Cookies? Me love cookies.

ROFLOL... Hart's "Cookie Monster accent" came through loud & clear in that post!

No promises, but I'll try to work in a baking day before the plant swap... meanwhile, if anyone has a hankering for some really fabulous chocolate chip cookies, here are my two favorite recipes from a B&B in Ashville, NC... http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/561548/

I've done huge platters of the those cookies for a couple of charity auctions, because I figure that everyone loves chocolate chip cookies!

Miatablu,
May I make a suggestion? I studied your Jul 2, 2007, Post #3688080. Your barrel is BEAUTIFUL and your overall visual impact might be improved even more by a few changes in the arrangements of the pots. Consider slipping the pot of tall plant that is currently on the far right, behind and between the barrel and the next pot. Place the tall plant on about 6 inches of block to get it the right height. Then slide the small pot in front, between barrel and next pot. Add a little ceramic frog (about the size of your fist or slightly bigger) or other nonsense art piece to the deck on the right side of smallest pot.

Of course my opinion is worth what you paid for it... NOTHING! LOL.. Still you might love it, you might hate it. You'll never know until you try it! I do want you know I LOVE the barrel arrangement, it is BEAUTIFUL!
Pat

Pat, what a compliment that you studied the layout so much. I was basically thinking about the 2 planters for some symmetry on each side and the other plants to the right were placed there because this is where I get the most sun. I never really thought about incorporating them into the whole picture. But, no ceramic little frogs. As Critter can tell you, I've often said I'm not much for garden "whimsy". Not that I'm opposed for others. I asked my nieces to count how many garden sculptures there were in my father-in-law's garden and I'm sure they came up with at least 30 or more. If something moved in his garden, I was always surprised!