Wetland Gardens

Written by Sandra Lawton


Continued from page 1

Remove any large or sharp stones.

Spreadrepparttar polythene overrepparttar 111526 hole and gently press it intorepparttar 111527 bottom.

Holdrepparttar 111528 edges down with bricks or heavy stones.

Pulling fromrepparttar 111529 edge work aroundrepparttar 111530 liner flatteningrepparttar 111531 creases torepparttar 111532 sides.

Using your fork, puncturerepparttar 111533 liner, creating drainage holes overrepparttar 111534 whole area.

Spreadrepparttar 111535 shingle overrepparttar 111536 bottom to a depth of 5cm (2"), usingrepparttar 111537 rake. This will now form a draninage zone to prevent stagnation.

Refillrepparttar 111538 hole withrepparttar 111539 soil you removed, to about 5cm fromrepparttar 111540 top.

Trimrepparttar 111541 edges ofrepparttar 111542 liner and continue filling, making sure thatrepparttar 111543 edges ofrepparttar 111544 liner are concealed belowrepparttar 111545 surface.

Firmrepparttar 111546 soil down, using your heels and rake over.

How did it go? Ok I hope!

You must keep your wetland garden well watered during dry periods, which can be done more attractively with a seeping hose (a hose with lots of holes in it). You can make your own from a piece of 2" pipe and drilling holes in it,repparttar 111547 sort of pipe used for sink outlets is ideal.

This then gets pushed intorepparttar 111548 gravel, withrepparttar 111549 buried end blocked off. Insert your garden hose intorepparttar 111550 pipe and allowrepparttar 111551 water to trickle slowly throughrepparttar 111552 holes. This method prevents puddling onrepparttar 111553 surface.

You are now ready for planting!

Usingrepparttar 111554 suggestions of types of plants listed above, be sure to visit a nursery that have a good selction of marginals to choose from.

If you would like to send a photo of your completed project (or any other completed, related project), we will be more than happy to present it on our web site. We would very much like to get a readers page up and running. Email them in JPG (jpeg) if possible to:

sandra@ezine-info.co.uk

Don't forget you can also use garden lighting to enhance your plants and shrubs within this area. Take a trip to our lighting web site.

http://www.absolutelylights.co.uk -----------------------------------------------------

Sandra Lawton - MSc Helping Small Business' inrepparttar 111555 UK get successfully online

You may contact Sandra via e-mail at: mailto:sandra@sandradesign.co.uk or visit her at http://www.sandradesign.co.uk

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Sandra Lawton - MSc Helping the UK Small Business population get online successfully. Visit her site to find out how she can help you. http://www.sandradesign.co.uk mailto:sandra@sandradesign.co.uk


Brothers in Arms

Written by William E. Paterson


Continued from page 1

Naturally, Ben considered himself extremely fortunate. But, while he was sparedrepparttar danger ofrepparttar 111525 war raging overseas, Ben was left to contemplaterepparttar 111526 question, "Why me?" that plagues many survivors. The experience clearly impactedrepparttar 111527 way Ben approached life from that day forward. He was determined to take advantage of his second chance and to makerepparttar 111528 most of his time.

To that end, Ben began working tirelessly atrepparttar 111529 age of 18 – in fact becoming something of a workaholic, putting in full time hours at his printing business right up untilrepparttar 111530 week he passed away.

Staff Sergeant Louis DeBiase – 1924-1994 In 1943, Lou was drafted and assigned to go to Europe withrepparttar 111531 7th Army. He served inrepparttar 111532 Quarter Master Corp., handling supplies in France and Germany. When he was drafted, his parents were positively distraught. Losing a fourth son torepparttar 111533 war effort was simply more than they could bear. Lou’s father, in particular, just couldn’t understand whyrepparttar 111534 country was taking another son from him.

Nonetheless, James dutifully delivered his son to report at Fort Niagara. Within days, a heart attack claimedrepparttar 111535 life ofrepparttar 111536 DeBiase patriarch – ironically,repparttar 111537 family’s only casualty of war. To this day, his sons and daughters refer torepparttar 111538 cause of death as a broken heart. All ofrepparttar 111539 sons came home forrepparttar 111540 funeral, one ofrepparttar 111541 few times all seven would be together. The fact that Lou never saw frontline action inrepparttar 111542 Army was overshadowed byrepparttar 111543 fact that his draft notice may have played a role in his father’s passing. In 1946, Lou received an honorable discharge.

Army Private First Class Joseph DeBiase – 1925-present The last DeBiase brother to go to war, Joe’s experience was by farrepparttar 111544 most traumatic. He joinedrepparttar 111545 423rd Infantry Regiment, seeing duty in England, France and Belgium. The early days of Joe’s tour were uneventful, as evidenced by a note he sent home in early 1944 saying that, "The worst is over."

But on December 14, 1944, that would all change. Joe, another soldier and their sergeant were sent to take a small farmhouse nearrepparttar 111546 Siegfried Line for use as an observation post. Joe and his companions cautiously neared what appeared to be an abandoned building. All at once, a sniper lurking inside shot Joe inrepparttar 111547 left leg – thoughrepparttar 111548 enemy quickly met his maker with a grenade hurled byrepparttar 111549 sergeant. Joe’s mates headed to Schonberg, Belgium to get help, expecting to returnrepparttar 111550 next day. Meanwhile, Joe lay wounded, shivering and hungry.

Unfortunately,repparttar 111551 following day came and went withoutrepparttar 111552 arrival of reinforcements. So Joe buriedrepparttar 111553 dead German soldier inrepparttar 111554 hay, fearing retribution should he be found byrepparttar 111555 enemy. Joe knew thatrepparttar 111556 delay signaled trouble, a premonition confirmed byrepparttar 111557 roar of jet engines and tanks onrepparttar 111558 morning of December 16. As artillery shells pepperedrepparttar 111559 farmhouse, Joe hid under a sofa and quietly prayed.

By December 19, Joe knew he’d soon be discovered by German troops, and decided to try his luck surrendering as a wounded soldier. So he gathered up his remaining strength, and set out onrepparttar 111560 rough, frigid road to Schonberg. Suddenly, an American jeep emerged fromrepparttar 111561 woods. They had been trying to get to him for days, but had been in hiding due torepparttar 111562 German onslaught.

The soldiers were under orders to surrender, but an unexpected shell saved themrepparttar 111563 trouble. The trailer overturned, and everyone onboard was injured, including Joe who was hit with shrapnel in his abdomen and leg. The enemy transported their new American prisoners to Schonberg. There, at a church hall,repparttar 111564 dead and wounded poured in, creating what Joe recalls as "a scene of mass confusion and chaos."

On December 22, finally warm and free of shrapnel, Joe joinedrepparttar 111565 exhausted walking wounded on a march to Prum. According to Joe, "We were loaded onto boxcars and taken to Linburg, Germany on Christmas Day, and then forced to walk three days to another train station." The journey continued until they reached Stalag 4-B on New Year’s Eve. "We were freezing cold and had nothing to eat but putrid soup," says Joe. After two weeks of paralyzing hunger, Joe and 35 others were sent to Gorlitz in Silesia where they were indentured to repair railroads and labor in a blanket factory.

In February, Joe got what could be considered a break only under those unimaginable conditions – he was assigned to work in a bakery, shoveling sawdust intorepparttar 111566 oven fireboxes. Each day, he hid loaves of bread in his overcoat in order to feed his starving friends. Joe says, "I’d tossrepparttar 111567 bread intorepparttar 111568 iron-barred window whenrepparttar 111569 guard wasn’t looking. Then one day, a French baker snitched on me." Joe was severely beaten for his actions and relieved of his post. But not before he traded two loaves of bread to a German soldier for a P-38 pistol that would later come in quite handy.

Byrepparttar 111570 end of February, Joe was shipped to a frigid camp atrepparttar 111571 Elbe River, where nearly everyone was suffering from dysentery. Here, Joe and others worked to repair bombed out railroads – until they were abruptly evacuated in late March.

Suddenly came a glimmer of hope. As one ofrepparttar 111572 horses keeled over inrepparttar 111573 frigid snow,repparttar 111574 starving Germans stopped to make a meal ofrepparttar 111575 fallen animal. Joe and five companions recognized their opportunity. Joe says, "We were sent intorepparttar 111576 woods to gather wood to cookrepparttar 111577 horsemeat. We decided to make a break for it." Using Joe’s bartered pistol, they stole a Studebaker truck and headed forrepparttar 111578 Czech border, where they eventually metrepparttar 111579 1st Division, 3rd Army.

Weeks later,repparttar 111580 war was over. But many ofrepparttar 111581 prisoners left behind were never heard from again. Were it not for his daring escape, Joe likely would have sufferedrepparttar 111582 same fate. However, he refuses to view his actions as heroic, insisting that his good fortune was a combination of "self-preservation, teamwork, street smarts andrepparttar 111583 goodwill of strangers."

Joe’s ordeal earned him a Purple Heart – an honor for which he paid dearly. He also received European Medals of Honor and a Combat Infantry Badge.

From Boys to Men Joe, John and Pat each landed on Omaha Beach at various times shortly after D-Day. All but Ben were involved in battles that saw friends and enemies alike draw their last breaths. Inrepparttar 111584 end, one of Vincenza’s sons would leave his leg inrepparttar 111585 European theatre – three others their innocence. Yet, each ofrepparttar 111586 DeBiase brothers understood that they could have lost so much more. Overrepparttar 111587 next fifty-plus years,repparttar 111588 brothers rarely spoke ofrepparttar 111589 war, to each other or to anyone else. To them,repparttar 111590 experience is best left unremembered. Forrepparttar 111591 rest of us, quiterepparttar 111592 contrary is true.

.

William E. Paterson is a business writer living in Niagara Falls.


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