~ The Gardener ~
 
In this Issue:
        Publishers Notes
        Annoying Your Co-Workers
        Level Water Gardens
        Windows Tip
       
 
            ~ Publisher's Notes ~

 

Can you believe it?  Six inches of snow last night!  I'm writing this

letter early, because I can't do anything else!  Those beautiful dog-

wood buds I spoke of last week are in great peril.  They're predicting

low 20's tonight.   I could cry.  That's Michigan weather for you. 

How we loved the 80's of last week...  Back to the 60's for

tomorrow, but it will be too late.   About 10 years ago, we got

killing frost every month of the summer.  Dare I wonder????

 

I received an interesting email this week.  I was asked for any

tips on planning landscaping.  (We get a lot of folks telling us that

they just got a new house, and they're going to landscape it, and

any info we have would be useful.) I think the most common term

used to find us in a search engine is "do-it-yourself-landscaping".
Does this sounds familiar to a lot of you?

 

Well, you all know me well enough to know what I replied- I gave

my usual response to plan everything at first, right down to the

main features, water garden, planting beds, walkways, lighting,

etc., so the landscaping would come together with some cohesion,

even if it took a few years.  The response I got was wild!   They

were livid that I would suggest all these things that we sell on our

website!  I guess it takes all kinds.

  

Today's gardening tip has to be on installing water gardens.  That

has to be this week's most asked question.  But first, here's a 'funny'

that daughter Stacy forwarded to me:

            ~ How To Annoy Your Co-Workers ~  

1) Page yourself over the intercom.  Don't disguise your voice.

2) Find out where your boss shops and buy exactly the same
outfits. Wear them one day after your boss does. This is especially
effective if your boss is a different gender than you.

3) Make up nicknames for all your co-workers and refer to them
only by these names.  "That's a good point, Sparky." "No, I'm sorry,
but I'm going to have to disagree with you there, Chachie."

4) Send e-mail to the rest of the company telling them exactly what
you're doing.  For example: "If anyone needs me, I'll be in the bathroom."

5) Hi-Lite your shoes.  Tell people you haven't lost them as often
since you did this.

6) While sitting at your desk, soak your fingers in Palmolive.
Call everyone Madge.

7) Hang mosquito netting around your cubicle.  When you emerge
to get coffee, a printout, or whatever, slap yourself at random
the whole way.

8) Put a chair facing a printer.  Sit there all day and tell people
you're waiting for your document.

9) Every time someone asks you to do something, anything,
ask him or her if they want fries with that.

10) Send e-mail back and forth to yourself, engaging yourself in
an intellectual debate. Forward the mail to a co-worker and ask
her to settle the disagreement.

11) Encourage your colleagues to join you in a little synchronized
chair-dancing.

12) Put your trash can on your desk.  Label it "IN".

13) Feign an unnatural and hysterical fear of staplers.

14) Send e-mail messages saying there's free pizza, donuts,
or cake in the lunchroom.  When people drift back to work
complaining that they found none, lean back, pat your stomach,
and say, "Oh you've got to be faster than THAT!"

15) Put decaf in the coffeemaker for three weeks. Once everyone
has withdrawn from caffeine addiction, switch to espresso.
 
            ~ Quick Water Garden Installation Tip ~
 
"Quick", because I'm not going into every detail.  But there is
one detail that everyone should know.  Use a level.

The obvious fear one has is that when you fill your new pond with
water, the water will be spilling over one side before it is filled up
at the other end...

While digging out the center of your pond (24" deep) be sliding
a 3-4 foot level along the bottom.  Make sure your hole is level
with the world.  Your water certainly will be!  Then, as you move out
to the edges, to about a 12" depth, sloping up to the edge, use
a string level to locate the TOP or water level of your pond.  (A string
level is a $3. level you can get at a hardware store.)  Have your friend
or significant other hold the string tightly against the shore where you
want the top of your pond to be. The string level will dangle from the
string. 

Take the other end of the string, with the level on it, and move around
the pond, keeping the string tight, and check that your "shoreline" is at
the same level all the way around the pond.  Make a series of marks
in the shore, that are all level with the starting point, where your friend
is.   You can then adjust the shoreline as you see fit.   Perhaps you
need to build it up somewhere, or perhaps you need to dig it a little
deeper somewhere.   If the bottom is flat and level, and the shoreline
is level, then the pond will fill up nicely, right where you want it to!
Take a watergarden "tour" starting at this link:
http://www.greatlakeslandscaping.net/aqua1.htm

            ~ Windows Tip:  Shortcut To Printing ~

Did you know that you don't really have to actually open a document
to print it?  Just right click on it and select "Print" and it will print without
you having to actually open the document, or the program that it is in.  
Earlier versions of Windows may not support this, but here's a neater
trick, yet.   Make a short cut to your printer on your desk top!  In your
start menu, select printers, then in your printers folder, right click on
your default printer. Select "create short-cut".  Window will tell you
that it can't make a short cut here, and would you like it on your
desktop instead?   Select yes.   A short cut to your printer is placed
on your desktop.  How is this handy?  In our office, we make hard
copies of all orders to send to suppliers, to send to the customers,
and to file ourselves.  Each one is saved temporarily on the desktop,
and when we find we need another copy of a document, we just
drag and drop it onto the printer short cut, and the printer shoots
out another copy! 
 
See you next week,
Spike
 
Contact me here ~ 
http://www.greatlakeslandscaping.net/question.htm 
 
I enjoy hearing from you!
 

Web Site:  http://www.greatlakeslandscaping.net
 
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