I am over here in Southeast Montana and have sandy soil that melons love. When I started raising melons in the 1970's, my Burpee Hybrid muskmelons were simply delicious, now I cannot get hardly anything good out of a muskmelon. The exception was the Sunder which was superb, but Willhite quit selling. I can get good-tasting Savors in the early part of the season, but the later ones rot before they taste good. As for watermelons, some do not do well for me (Desert King). I have had only two watermelons that had a "perfume" when eaten. The one I remember the most was a White Seeded Simpson. I used to grow lots of watermelons, did not rotate and eventually my field got too diseased. Now, years later, I start on new ground, till in lots of leaves and I have vines all over the place. I really like the Sweet Favorite. They ripen early (around a month after setting on), and I can turn around and get two crops off the same vine. Some Sweet Favorites do not get the sweetness of the others, I wonder if one should withhold the water for a few weeks before ripening. To tell when a melon is ripe: I used to scratch the melon with the date it set on. For example, if a melon set on July 19, I would take a knife or nail and scratch "J19 on the skin and the resulting scar would remain. Then, since it takes six weeks for most watermelons to ripen, I would harvest the melon six weeks later (September 1st for the above J19 melon. Now, I think I will take an ear tag (that they use in a calf's ear), and if a watermelon sets on July 19 th, write that on the ear tag and set it beside the melon. I actually would go out July 23 d, see a watermelon the size of a chicken egg, and subtract a few days and write J19 on the tag. But I do agree that the Orange Glo is a very delicious watermelon. And it has a taste that is more than sweet. This year my Orange Glos tailed off in sweetness at the end of the season. I tried the Moon and Stars a few years ago and was impressed with their earliness. But I ran into problems this past year as I picked the first ones too early. I think that in excellent soil, they ripen later than if they are on just average soil. And they do taste very good. This year, I will plant around 50% Sweet Favorite and 50% Moon and Stars. With a few new ones. I finally found a source for the Tiger Baby (Anderson Seed and Garden Logan Utah.) The Tiger Baby is a small melon, short vines and ripens in 30 days from setting on for me. The flesh is only pink, but I am going to try plastic tunnels, underground heating to try and get very early melons. I like to take a heat lamp (put in a 100 watt bulb), and set it next to the watermelon plants in the plastic hot kap for overnight heating of the soil (heat lamp is face down on the dirt). Sometimes the bulb breaks due to moisture on the bulb. But the plants really thrive and grow fast if it is 100 degrees in the hot kap at night. I like the Tiger Baby's short vines because I have to cover all my watermelons with wire with small holes due to the hail we seem to get every year. Is that called hardware cloth?

I have a dual fuel range with the two ovens. For something like cookie baking where the tendency is for the bottoms to get too brown, I use fan bake. The cookies will usually take a few extra minutes. For vegetables or meat I use convection bake, and just plain bake for bread or cakes. I also use convection bake for when I need the oven at its hottest, such as for pizza. I've never had a digital temperature display on any oven, so I'm comfortable with the. dials. I tend to be moderately casual about temperature, and I never bother to decrease the temperature if I'm using convection, but I will watch the time.

Oh, and here I thought you were off restoring the Chambers. ;-) With two functions in one appliance, if one goes out, both do. That's true for the range and the double oven. A gas cooking surface is pretty simple, and even if one burner has an issue, often it won't affect the other burners. If you're talking all gas range and electric wall oven, obviously there's the different environment made by either, though in current ovens, the dichotomy is supposed to be flipped, and it's the gas that's the drier one, and electric that's moister. If you like starting something on the stovetop and finishing in the oven, or browning on the burner, braising in the oven, and reducing on the burner, there's a marginal convenience to having the oven right there. With a range oven, you have to get out of the way, while making your sauce, if someone else is tending something in the oven. With a wall oven, you can just order your minions to take it out, and they don't have to disturb you. If you have double ovens, theoretically, they'll handle the same way. With two different ovens, you have to remember which recipe does what in which oven. I grew up that way, with two different wall ovens which cooked quite differently. It's really not a biggie, once you know your ovens, to know which needs more time to brown, vs. which retains heat better, vs. which does X better whereas the other does Y. There's a learning curve with any oven. With two different ones, there are two, and you have to keep them straight. That's all I can think of. I'm sure others will have more. Which do you want?

My suggestion is to wait to pick a tile until your granite has been installed. The reason for that, and some other suggestions can be found below. I wrote this as a New to Kitchens backsplash FAQ. To the age old question, "Do I need a backsplash?" the short answer is yes. You need some sort of backsplash in wet zones to protect your walls, cabinets floors and subfloors from deterioration due to water infiltration, and in your cooking zone to protect your drywall from cooking oils, spills, odors, and cleaning chemicals. That said, plenty of houzzers have chosen not to have a backsplash, or to delay the choice for budgetary or other reasons. Search for threads with ABB (all but backsplash) in the titles to check those out. How does one choose a backsplash? First, like every other process here, we encourage you to do some research on your own, then post your particulars and ask for feedback. One fundamental question you must consider before all others is whether your counter material or your backsplash will be the focus of your space. Consider images of kitchens with busy counters, and those with commanding backsplashes, and decide which you prefer. Bold counters and tile rarely work well together. To Wait or Not To Wait Buying your bs material when you buy your other finishes might prevent delays down the road and could help with electrical outlet placement. Drawbacks include that you are making decisions on colors and finishes based on samples, sample cabinet fishes, sample counter swatches, etc... and that samples don't always represent the final product accurately. Waiting to buy your bs materials until you have had your counters installed allows you to see sample tiles in your space in your light throughout the day with your actual installed materials. If your cabinets are warmer than you expected, or your counter cooler, you are free to search for a bs material that can pull things together. The only drawback to waiting is that you may have to wait for tiles to be fabricated or to arrive, causing possible delays in the completion of your space. The majority wisdom on this site favors waiting if that is possible. Regardless of which approach you choose, you should consider your bs as one part of a whole picture of your beautiful new space. Inspiration Images These really help you to focus on what your kitchen as a whole will look like. They also give the folks responding to your queries an idea of what looks you like, so they won't recommend white subway tiles if all your inspiration images feature handpainted Mexican tile. Google images of kitchens with your other materials (white cabinets, walnut floors, etc...) and select which ones you like the look of. What type of bs do they use? The idea is not to copy the look, but to get a feel for looks you like, and communicate those looks to others. Budget Finally, we'll need an idea of a materials budget. Installation can account for half of the budget for a backsplash, so take that into consideration in your planning, and deduct accordingly, and let us know how much you want to spend in $/sf for your materials? It's not very helpful falling in love with a handmade tile in a custom glaze if it costs $100/square foot and your budget for tile is $10/sf, but houzz members are fantastic at finding similar (and occasionally the same) tiles for less money. Without budget numbers it is very difficult for us to truly be of help to you. How we can help. The way it works is that we can recommend a surface (usually tile, sheet glass, metal, slab stone or laminate), advise against a choice (color, or busy-ness are the usual reasons), provide you with layout and pattern feedback, and images you might have missed of materials that have worked for us or caught our eye. "How can I find a bs tile to go with my green floors, counters, and purple cabinets" The answer might be that you have to paint your cabinets or change your floors to make it right, or maybe some houzzer somewhere will show you an image of a kitchen with a painted tin backsplash that pulls it all together. It has happened before. Some houzz members are great at photoshopping images together to give you an idea of what a small sample of tile might look like in your space. It is time and effort on their part that can be truly helpful. Remember to say thanks.