HOUSE WORK: INSIDE AND OUT

Inside, outside, all around the house -- the 21st annual Southeast Missouri Home Builders Association Home and Garden Show has it all, and then some.

From a "safe room" for protection against tornadoes to raising a garden in water, from landscaping outside to fixing damaged furniture to raising a sinking home, the thousands of visitors who filed through the turnstiles at the Show Me Center this weekend viewed the latest in techniques.

"This show has something for everybody," said Patty Spitzmiller, secretary of the SEMO Home Builders.

In addition to the more than 100 exhibits in the Show Me Center, seminars were taking place throughout the three-day event.

As many as 10,000 visitors are expected to attend the home show. With great weather the first two days of the show, more than 5,500 visitors arrived by 3 p.m. Saturday, said spokeswoman Susan Elayer, with many more expected Saturday night.

Craftsmen are on hand at the show, showing their wares.

Johnny Franks had a crowd at the "Rusty Garden" display of "iron yard and home art," featuring iron and metal crafts."

His "hose guide" attracted a lot of attention.

The three-foot long iron peg, with a decorative top, is placed in the ground around flowers.

"When you drag your hose around the area, it won't go into the flower bed and damage plants,' said Franks.

This is the big season for The Rusty Garden, located in Poplar Bluff, Mo.

"We work all winter in our welding shop on various creations," said Franks. "Then we spend the summer months selling them."

Other crowd attractions were a number of landscaping businesses at the show.

Decorative rocks, plants, flowers, and other landscaping objects were on hand, along with landscaping seminars by master gardener Joe Sherinski, who shares his ideas on local television; Tom Warren, of Garden Hill Nursery near Jackson; and Michael McLain of Lotus Naturescapes in Southern Illinois.

Another booth attracting a crowd was the SEMO Mudjacking & Piering display. The "piering" operation involves driving piers into the crowd to raise sinking structures.

Drought and other weather conditions cause some buildings to list, oftentimes resulted in cracked bricks and mortar. Piers are used to restore and stabilize homes and other structures whose settlement has resulted from a wide variety of soil problems.

The American Red Cross "tornado closet" attracted many questions.

The specially constructed room, which can be installed in basements of existing houses, can serve a number of purpose, as well a storm shelter, for which it was designed.

WANT TO GO?

WHAT: Home and Garden Show

WHERE: Show Me Center

FEE: $3

TODAY'S SCHEDULE: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 11 a.m. Hydroponics, Octavia Scharenborg, Cooking tips, Carol Clayton; 1 p.m., Herbs, Don and Carol Koehler; 2 p.m., Butterfly Gardening, Debbie Naeter, Pan-Fried Memories, Angie Holtzhouser; 3 p.m., Demystefying Landscaping, Joe Sherinski; 4 p.m., Easy Care for Home Fruit Trees, David Diebolde.