If an award were ever given for the most underappreciated “tool” in the workshop or garage, it would probably go to the common tarpaulin.

Serving as a drop cloth during interior home painting projects, or as a dust cover during periods when your home is vacant, the tarp will just as easily adapt to an outside existence, as a car or swimming pool cover, or protection for the cordwood that keeps the family fireplace merrily alight on winter nights, or as an instant shade provider or groundcover on picnics and camping trips. When the elements turn nasty, a well-constructed tarp can be your best friend.

But how do you know what kind of tarp is best for your specific needs? Tarps come in a variety of materials, which may have been treated in a variety of ways, depending on the use for which they were manufactured. Here are some of the basic choices:

You’ve found a great picture, and you have a wall that is crying out for a focal point. All you need is a picture frame. You can’t wait to break out the mat board, framing nails, picture hanging wire, and wait for the “ooh’s” and ”aahs” to begin.

But no matter how perfect your picture, and how empty that wall is right now, it’s not as simple as heading to the nearest art supply or home decorating store, grabbing the least expensive picture frame of the correct dimensions-the picture, after all, is what’s important, right?-and getting to work with the mat cutter and hammer.

The first thing you should do is make sure your picture is the right size for your wall, and the right picture for your room. But if you are sure the charming miniature floral pastel is just perfect finishing touch for the wall alcove in the powder room, then you are ready to go on your picture frame hunt.

Your hands cradle a cool glass of lemonade, while a green canopy rustles overhead. You have nothing to do but sit back and watch the play of light and shadow on the July grass, and reach for a snack from your picnic basket.

Or you relax on smooth golden sand, hearing the ocean waves gently rise and fall, as you leaf through a magazine or summer romance novel, while a bottle of your favorite wine is only an arm’s length away.

There is no more effective way to regroup from the sometimes frantic pace of 21st century life than to stop, take a deep breath, pack a picnic basket, and find a quiet spot for a few hours of companionship, contemplation, or simple conversation. And in the coldest darkest days of winter, a picnic basket can be a gift which promises brighter, warmer times ahead.

With the increasing number of new home developments in which square footage is at a premium, many U.S. home buyers have turned to patio or deck construction as a way of maximizing their living space and yard enjoyment.

If you are thinking about joining them, when designing your deck or patio, you’ll need to consider the doors through which you’ll be accessing it.  They will be both letting you out, and letting a view of the outdoors in, and you’ll want to be sure that, while being solid, climate-appropriate, and secure, they blend with your existing architecture.

Ready-made deck or patio doors usually come in two varieties, French and sliding patio doors.  Your choice of which will work best in your situation will depend on whether you have the space on your patio, or in the room through which you access it, for a French door to swing open.  Deck designers like to plan for French patio doors to swing outward onto the deck.

When the Midwestern U.S, was slammed with a major snow and ice storm in late November 2006, widespread power failures affecting half-a-million homes remained in its wake for over a week.  And many of those outages were the result of downed tree limbs taking out power lines.

Those same limbs blocked driveways and roads.  Many homeowners could have saved themselves, with a chain saw, considerable grief, and some hefty cleanup fees, by doing some pre-emptive tree trimming, and by cutting the broken limbs up into removable size.

So, even if you don’t have acres of yard to tend, a chain saw has its uses.

If you’ve decided to get a chain saw, but don’t know what to look for, be sure you familiarize yourself with the available safety features before making your purchase.

The bar, or “blade”, of the chain saw should be protected with a metal bar-tip guard.  This will prevent the bar, should the tip of the saw strike against a hard surface, from ”kicking”, or snapping back towards you.  Kickback is the most common cause of injury among chain saw operators.

Fruit baskets.  They have come to be, along with the fruit cakes which many of them contain, a symbol of holiday gift-giving.

And, while they may provide an easy solution to the “what-should-you-get-for-someone-you-don’t-really-know’ dilemma, there are some thing you should consider before ordering a fruit basket.

Because fruit is available all year long, you can consider fruit baskets as all-occasion gifts.  We have all seen the movies with the fruit basket waiting in the honeymoon suite or,as a Bon Voyage gift, in the stateroom.
But think about a fruit basket for someone who, recuperating from surgery, or an illness, might be under dietary restrictions which limit their intake of sweets.  A crisp cold apple or juicy pear might, in that case, have extra appeal.

Parents trying to raise their kids without giving into the constant bombardment of ads for sugary cereals, candy, and fast food might really appreciate a fruit basket with, in addition to fresh fruit, whole-fruit jams and jellies, natural nut butters, and cheeses.