I use both the gardening by moon phase site and FA together. So, take tomatoes.. According to the FA, planting dates in my zone are favorable from April 7th - 30th. Makes sense.. Also in FA, the moon is favorable from April 7th to 9th and then from the 24th to 30th. Boogie over to the Gardening by Moon Phase site and for toms, it is suggested that they be planted while the moon is in Scorpio, Cancer, Pisces and Libra. Back to FA.. April 4th - Cancer April 11th and 12th - Libra April 13th - Scorpio April 22nd through 24th - Pisces Ok, so it looks like these don't jive HOWEVER they say to set seed during the waxing of the moon a couple days before the full moon which would be the 7th - 9th (9th being the full moon). New moon is the 24th in case you were curious. It may sound like hogwash to a lot of people but I set seed some days before the full moon and got nothing. Figured I screwed up. A couple days before the Full Moon.. BAM. Holy Seedlings. Coincidence? Perhaps.. So bottom line, I am shooting for the weekend of the 11th of April to transplant outside. This is a school of thought that I have started getting into and I'm transplanting anyway so I figure, pay attention to what the moon is doing and take notes. Did that make sense? I got side tracked with visitors .. Try it and :) Happy Spring! Erin

ODB or plywood have been the standard exterior wall sheathing materials for more years than you or I have been on this earth! They are the simplest and best way to resist seismic and wind shear forces in framed walls (when constructed with proper connections). In Oklahoma, tornados can create a lot of uplift forces and, thus, you will want a foundation, wall and roof design and connection that are resistant to thise forces. That means continuous rigid sheathing such as OSB or plywood. important. If it was my house I would use: 1) 2X6 studs with dense pack cellouse insulation; 2) house wrap; 3) minimum of 1" XPS rigid insulation with taped joints (or 2-1" insulation panels with overlapping joints; 4) brick and masonry ties; 5) drainage space; 6) brick or stone masonry finish materials. Proper sealing at all plate lines, corners and openings is essential. Your footing will need to have a brick ledge formed in it to receive and carry the brick/stone masonry. There's lot of good details on how to do this, such as: http://www.buildingscience.com/documents/profiles/etw-charlotte-profile?topic=doctypes/enclosures-that-work/etw-building-profiles This is an article from "Enclosures That Work" from buildingscience.com which is a good resource to bookmark and study. Good luck with your project.

NC - thanks again for the offer. Way above and beyond - you are a very nice guy. I should have said something before, but I had hoped you would not offer again and let me off the hook. The thing is, this website offers a certian level of anonymity, and I wish to remain anonymous. When I first appeared on this site, I had just recovered from a real estate horror story, and I had a lot of really nasty things to say about my first agent. None of that needs to get back to anyone around here. I am not suggesting that you will reveal my identity to anyone (I don't think you would do that), but I still can't take any chances. I hope you understand my reasoning and do not take offense to my turning down your offer. Again, I really appreciated it, you have proven to be a really decent guy. Thanks again.

Pay at the pump often asks for it. It's common sense. If the card is stolen the perp probably won't know the zip code. Wildchild put it aptly. This is a scare tactic by an outfit trying to raise money and scare people into signing up. Shame on them. No way will I ever support that scam outfit now. They *did* admit that there's marketing reasons to ask for a zip code. But really, identity theft from a zip code is approaching laughable. There may be some outfits with ulterior motives but not all as that scam outfit suggests. If you're that paranoid, just give a different zip. But if it's a verification, you might not be able to make the purchase or worse, have to explain to the cops when they question whether you stole the card! LOL Even those who go so crazy over phone numbers need to think a bit. When I make online purchases they need the phone number registered to the credit card to verify the card is good. And I've had random checks to be sure that I was making a purchase too. As far as junk mail, credit card outfits already sell your name, theoretically you can opt-out but I'm not sure about that with some of them. Isn't it ironic that AARP should talk about *junk* mail? LOL I get more junk mail from cAARP than from any other outfit. The way they cull public records to gain mailing lists and prey on the vulnerable and now this? That outfit has had little respect from me in the past and now exploiting the vulnerable even more. They're disgusting.