I have a small pair of painted wooden shoes from the Netherlands, several small ceramic pieces (tiles and bas relief) from different parts of Italy, and small wooden boxes from Italy and Russia. I also have a few pieces of English china I bought in the Reject China Shop in London, as well as my preferred decorating option for souvenirs--Christmas ornaments. I have dozens of them, for all over the world. Packable, easy to rotate, and easy to share. I also have a lot of pen and ink sketches, and a few water colors from all over the world. My all time favorite, though, is the pair of sketches of my son and daugther that we had done in Saltzburg, Austria. They are a decent size, so they were a bit of a nuisance to carry home, even though we put them in mailing tubes. I never wanted to ship anything home, so there were some nice pieces of furniture I passed up along the way.

Keitha, that cruel joke above sort of happened to a friend of ours. No, he didn't fall off, thank God. What happened to him was the result of his decision to put up Christmas lights while his wife and daughters were out shopping. Ladder fell down and he was stuck on the roof for 45 minutes! Moral: At least have your cell phone with you!

As the holidays approach, we are reminded of the past – of endearing traditions passed down from one generation to the next. Stockings hung from a fireplace, the faint glow of Christmas tree lights lighting up the living room, the presents beneath a promise of things to come. Looking back on these traditions, we can’t help but be bombarded with a lifetime of memories – time spent with family, friends, and loved ones. If you look a little deeper into those memories, past the people in them, you might notice that they tend to occur in certain places within your home. In fact, I would say the majority of them occur in one place in particular: your kitchen. From that vital space, many memories can be made. The warm smell of turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie. The chatter of daughters, mothers, and grandmothers passing down recipes and stories. The delighted laughter of children stealing a bite of dessert before rushing into the backyard to watch cousins and brothers enjoy a game of football in the crisp, winter air. But what if you did not have a kitchen or dining room large enough to host your family and friends for the holidays? Maybe this is your starter home and your kitchen is not quite up to par or perhaps your family has grown over the years and you now find yourself shoving for space in your ill planned dinette. Remodeling Tips for the Holidays As always, remodels come in all shapes and sizes. From simple, budget-friendly touch ups and DIY projects to full-blown renovations requiring a remodeling consultant and months of work. With that in mind, here are some tips to help you decide how to get the most out of your holiday makeover. Conduct a walk-thru of your home, envisioning it as your family might. Put yourself in their shoes – what things might make their visit more comfortable? Get a head count of how many visitors you anticipate having in your home. Do you see this number expanding in the next few years? Are any family members expecting children? Are you? Do you have any disabled or elderly friends or relatives? If so, how accessible is your house? Are the doorways to your restroom and kitchen wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs? Do you have railings in your shower or room for a seat in the bath area? Make note of your appliances. Do they function properly? How old are they? Will you be able to cook a dinner for 6 guests? 10? 20? Do you have enough living space? If people will be staying with you, where will everyone sleep? Are there enough places to sit? Nothing is worse than going to a party and playing musical chairs! See the full article with more great tips here: http://hammercontractors.com/making-holiday-memories-by-remaking-your-kitchen/ or visit Hammer Contractors at http://hammercontractors.com/ Wishing you a happy and blessed holiday season!

At our last place we had an apple that cross pollinated with our ornamental crab, two cherry trees and a self pollinating plum. I never did a drip line and they always did well. They were dwarf varieties. I never did get cherries or plums because the bird would always get them before they rippened. I'm in zone 5 though. What zone are you in that you need a drip system? I just mulched mine and watered really well. Young trees don't have far spreading roots. As they mature though the roots do spread very far and that is usually why a drip line works best in hot climate or dead of summer. Roots sit at about 3 or 4 feet deep. Here we have ferral and wild fruit trees on the property and most do very well that are healthy trees and I don't even water them since they're out in the pastures. Just water the tree deeply, not close to the trunk though and make sure water is getting at least 2 feet into the ground around the perimeter. I'm not sure 5 gallons will be enough if you live in a warmer climate. Of course it depends on the age of your trees or how many you have. When you do the basin method you don't have to water as frequently but it gets a deep watering. You can usually get away with once a week and the tree will do well and won't be stressed (or course depends on climate and variety).