I have a small list, it was a lot longer until Mother Nature did enough "thinning" in the orchard. I am in USDA zone 9b, Sunset zone 15/16. I have a long growing season but not enough heat units due to the proximity to an ocean whose coastal waters remains stubbornly below 60F. The ocean moderates temps so that most of the time we are freeze free but we get the occasional freeze. We are mild yet chilly, with anywhere from 600 hours of chill on an unusually warm year to as much as 1200 hours on those unusually cold years. I push the hardiness envelope with cherimoya, ice cream bean, tree tomatoes, lucumas, passion fruit and mountain papayas. These are all so called "Lost Crops of the Incas", they do well here except when we get temperatures that dip below freezing. Most of these trees are growing next to the house under the eaves or under big evergreen coastal oaks that provide overhead protection. I push both the hardiness and the lack of heat envelope with bananas and tropical guavas. I've only managed to get bananas to fruit here once, but the tropical guavas produce every year, they seem a bit more reliable. Most things that require chill seem happy here, including pretty much all cherries. Out of the 450 or so varieties of apples I grow, I have three varieties that aren't happy due to lack of chiil, they are French cider apples: "Bedans des pars", "Noel des Champs" and "Reinette D'armorique". I'm pretty stubborn, so I will re-graft these onto trees that are fully shaded for the Winter months, which significantly increases the chill accumulation. The bottom line is that there are lots of things one can do to push the envelope. The right spot on the south side of the house can give a full zone addition. THe right spot on the north side of the house can do the opposite and simulate a colder zone. In our transition climate, such things make a really big difference. My southwest facing patio can often reach the 70's on a sunny Winter day when the rest of the garden is barely peaking above 55F. Areas in full sun might top around 600 hours of chill when the fully shaded areas get up to 1200 hours. Lack of Summer heat can be overcome with an inexpensive impermanent plastic tunnel. In Northern zones that could make the difference in ripening figs for example. Things that have failed here and that I won't be attempting anymore include a plethora of tropical fruits like mangos, starfruit, longans and lychees, all of which don't even put on growth in our cool Summers even though they don't freeze here in the Winter. (I have a jackfruit in the ground that has suived 10 years without ever freezing but it put on a total of three leaves in that time.) A number of table grapes don't get enough heat to ripen well here, such as "Muscat of Alexandria". The bottom line is that it's possible to push the envelope with the right location in the garden, but it's also helpful to know one's limitations, because some things aren't worth the frustration and trouble required to get fruit. Of course, one can always get a heated greenhouse.

Thank you everyone for all the prayers, good thoughts and kind words. The hearing went well but the ALJ (administrative law judge) did not give me his final decision, I'll have to wait for that, 6 weeks to 6 months. After nearly three years of waiting, what's another six months eh? Pfft..yeah right! LOL!! My son and his girlfriend are doing better. GF is going back to work on Monday and is feeling so much better. My son is up and using crutches some, I have heard. I've not been able to speak to him because his cell phone is shut off at the moment. Why do kids procrastinate such things?? His employer told him to heal well and not to come back to work until he is 100 %. He saw the film of the accident on the news so he knew it was bad already when DS called in. Anyway, I saw his father yesterday and he did not know if appointments for the specialist have been made or not. He was going to stop by and check in on them but I have not heard anything yet. I'll let you know when I know anything. Day two and still no lower back pain!! It's a miracle, I am just in awe over it. I always thought acupuncture was probably all in the mind but I was very wrong. I don't know how it works but I love what it has done for me in just two treatments!! I know it will be short lived but I am going to enjoy every second of it while I have it. My yard is calling to me but I am resisting so far. Actually I feel completely exhausted and I'm wondering if it is a reaction of my body because it has suddenly been relieved of the burden it has been under for so long. All day I just wanted to go in and lay down. Tomorrow, I think I'll give in to that feeling, if it is there again. Thanks for all the support. You all are the very best and I mean that from the bottom of my heart! Hugs, MeMo

How's it goin' jcrowley? Glad to hear your Cabrio is performing well for you! :o) My grandmother has the Maytag Bravos washer also w/ glass lid so one can look inside the machine while in operation. It's pretty much the same machine as jcrowley99's Whirlpool Cabrio, but with the Maytag name on it. It also has the impeller at the bottom of the tub as opposed to an agitator and she says when she wants to open the lid, she presses the pause button and the lid unlocks immediately so she can access the inside of the tub for whatever reason she may need to (as jcrowley99 also mentions). I should also mention that I have heard very good things about the GE Harmony, also another agitatorless washer with a glass lid. My grandmother's previous Kenmore TL lid could be opened during the wash/deep rinse portion of the cycle and would still agitate. My aunt's Maytag, however, is the opposite, same as your MIL's. Oh.......by the way.......my grandmother loves her Bravos. But as you'll see by the reviews of the Bravos with the link I provided, these washers seem to be a love it or hate it type of appliance. HTH. Keep us posted and best of luck with whatever washer you end up choosing!! :o) Kevin Here is a link that might be useful: Maytag Bravos at Home Depot

Hi, Again - First, I do like my KitchenAid dishwasher - especially the cool blue lights. It works well, even though I'm afraid to put in truly dirty dishes! I can't recall which model it is, but I can look it up if you want the info. Second, Etc. - Here are the photos I promised: More photos of White Fantasy Quartzite than you probably wanted (Is it wrong to be obsessed with this countertop?): Photos of Lutron Switchplates and Dimmers (I forget the color, but the line is Diva and Maestro - and I got samples and placed them against my backsplash to see if they matched. They did, perfectly - yay!) OK, I also included more photos of candy, because I'm also obsessed with that. Note that the kids are not allowed to touch the apothecary jars, but the penny candy jars are all theirs. Yes, I do laugh at myself:: I think the photo with the apothecary jars shows a good sample of the jet mist granite, too: Here are photos of the pendant lights and the Hickory Hardware American Diner pulls, knobs and cup pulls. They aren't great pics, unfortunately. The thing that ties the cabinet hardware, pendant lights and kitchen faucet/hot&cold water dispenser together are that they are all satin nickel and they all have "beading" - a row or two rows of banding - at the edges. I hope you can see that in the pics. I do occasionally catch my sweaters on the knobs and pulls, but as I haven't ruined anything yet, I don't mind: I just realized you can click on the photos to go to my album, where you can see larger version of them, which may be helpful for details. A few additional thoughts. I debated putting in the outlets on the horizontal, so they would blend in with the subway tile backsplash. Of course, as soon as I made up my mind, I went to tell my contractor, who was in the kitchen, installing the outlets upright. Oh, well. I can definitely live with it (although I had to work very hard to convince him to install the Lutron outlets/switchplates -he thought white was just fine. Silly man!) Also, although I thought I had thought everything through, using the great advice from everyone here, I'm not happy with my silverware drawers. There aren't enough - really because they are very shallow. I think I should have figured out how to put in at least one or two deeper drawers so I could have put in two layers of silverware, knives, etc. Also, I thought I was going to have three drawers underneath my cooktop, with the top drawer to be used for untensils. It turned out that I can't use the top drawer at all because of the depth of the cooktop. I'm not sure what I would have done differently, but I wish I could use that drawer! Anyway, I think that's it for now, until I show you the "before" and the bathroom. Thanks again!