Peppers love heat and truthfully...I don't live that far from you and my peppers last year just kicked in and never stopped...At frost I was still picking peppers. They like plenty of water but my suggestion would be...water them well ...nice and deep and make them work for water ...the roots will start digging in and you won't have to water every day....I really don't think you need to shade peppers. .I just believe that one good solid watering is way better than surface watering every day. I live in Kerrville and my garden is doing well. I got a late start because of some health issues but it's going good now.. I picked my first mess of green beans yesterday...

I am also debating between the DCS and the Bluestar. (30" AG for either) I had a DCS in the house I just sold and found that I often used the simmer feature on several burners simultaneously since I find timing to be my biggest challenge in cooking. It looks like the Bluestar only has one burner with the simmer feature. Is it possible to turn the rest of the burners way down low to "hold" a dish or two while I finish up cooking the others? I found the grates on the 30" DCS unwieldy -- impossible to put in my Bosch mid-level DW. That is one of the great appeals of the Bluestar...easier to keep clean. I found the sealed burners on the DCS to be real gook magnets! Love the idea of pulling all the parts and popping them in the DW. I will be getting a fancier Bosch since I want fully integrated panels...maybe it will take the DCS grates?? Last issue is that my DCS (LPG) did not bake evenly. I had to turn things half way through and the muffins in the back of the oven were always trying to be popovers! That was even using the convection feature. This oven was a pre-Fisher-Paykel model and I kind of hope a newer one will deliver a better baking experience. That is, if I don't go for the Bluestar. Any thoughts on my pros and cons? Thx!!

Thanks everyone for the kind words and comments. Trying to clean some boxes out as my camera decided to die when everything was clean before move-in. We really are enjoying the house more than we imagined-its just GREAT! sandy-I thought the same thing about kats/kygirl/demifloyd/allison/sandyponder and on and on when I first got here. Wanted to throw the dang plans out the door and start over. Your house will be great for you too but sometimes man do the others look good! Oh and riddick's I think-man I drooled over that house! So good to see everyone that has moved this month-man we need a BIG PARTAY! I'll try to get inside soon!

worthy! how did you get that photo in here?! Yes, the lovely metal pipes that are my stair railing and an overhang with corrugated plastic roofing...sigh. So I was thinking to remove the stucco just on the porch facade-add craftsman style pillars, and railings a new garage door and stone work instead of those concrete covered - there is brick underneath - planters. The current porch has terracotta tiles over goodness knows what. The porch is the reason for the face lift. the tiles are cracking and pulling away from the house-don't want any water damage. downspouts are being replaced with rain chains so i can catch the water for our garden. Thanks for posting, worthy!