My name is Maggie and I'm a book addict. Welcome to the club.

Jane Austin, even though she's a great writer, is just not my style.

Gasp! Not your style! Have you read Pride and Prejudice? That's right up there with Jane Eyre as one of the best books ever written in the English language.

MAG, I have re-used fence supports in several ways in my yard. I'm not sure the type you have, but I have those large hollow tubes that you put brackets on. These in turn support the cross beams for the wood fence slats (they're referred to as "stockade fences" down here). A photo of the pole alone isn't coming up easily, but if you look at cyclone fencing you'll see hollow metal supports along the way. These are larger diameter and taller than those, but like cyclone fencing, the footer is concrete. Anyway, when we built the garage here several fence posts were removed. I kept them, and as needed, I knocked the concrete off and re-set them in new concrete. My new clothesline from last summer consists of two of those posts with new supports on top to hold the cedar cross beams for the lines to connect.

I've used the other metal posts, the type you hang chicken wire or other metal "woven" fencing on for things like surrounds for the garden and to contain the compost pile. So think about how you might reuse them before discarding. I still have one left, and consider it a resource, not a bother.

I'll take some bags of newspaper out to the pickup, along with bags of recycling to drop off at the recycling center tomorrow. That'll clear some floor space in the sun room. I sorted and filed bills and paper tonight, and I think this is a good time to issue a challenge:

Income tax.

How many of us agonize over getting it done at the last minute, or simply have to struggle to get all of the right paperwork together in order to do it. Let's see if we (at least, those of us in the U.S., where the deadline is April 15) can do it early. There are several benefits to this. It is processed more quickly if you're not in the rush at the end. And if you have a college student in your household, it benefits them. The earlier the FAFSA forms are completed, the more money left for your student to be considered for.

SRS