Ditto on George's comments. 2009 bean seed should still be good, and "Emerite" has good cool-soil germination. If the soil has been cool or wet, it may have delayed germination... so I would give them a few more days yet before writing them off. As previously mentioned, exposure to heat, sunlight, or humidity can destroy seeds very quickly. When planting, I take out only as much seed of a given variety as I intend to plant, and keep it cool & dark in a small plastic cooler until I'm ready to use it. Even so, it was very muggy here yesterday, and my seeds are kept in an air conditioned room. As soon as I exposed the seeds I was planting (soybeans) to the air, they became shiny with condensation. Had I not planted them, the seed would likely have died very quickly.

That is too funny. Interesting after market "upgrade" for the range top. Hmmm . . . maybe I should try the same thing with my waffle iron.

@lithigin... It would be ok to vent through the roof and that is within our Residential Building Code. But, ours was never vented through the roof. The duct just ended inside the attic, near an existing attic vent to the outside. @lithigin and @artemis78... Well, I did not get to take a look at it in the attic. And, I would like to believe that it was a miscommunication, but they told me they ran the new vent duct into the attic next to but separate from existing ductwork so that it ended behind the attic vent to the outside. They said they also fastened a screen over the end of the duct. So, the unfortunate truth is that the cooktop vent ductwork was simply never truly vented to code. Whether or not it was vented to the outside, I guess, is in the semantics. The contractor and carpenter stand by their original work insisting that having the duct near the attic vent is appropriate as the attic vent goes to the outside. The dishonest part is that they led us to believe the cooktop duct had been vented to the outside TO CODE, when they knew it wasn't, even after my questioning them about it on several occasions. We did end up allowing them to correct the situation the way they suggested, through the outside wall. (At the time, I had asked them if a roof vent would be better, but they said it wasn't due to possible leak problems and my husband agreed with that.) So, now there is a separate grill vent directly below the existing attic vent. It works (the flaps lift up when the vent is turned on) and isn't particularly obvious or ugly from the street. I suppose once the new custom decorative chimney is up on the cooktop wall this won't seem nearly as bad as it does right now. (I have already found a fabricator and someone else to put it up --a recommendation from my real estate agent friend.) It's just that my trust was violated and it stings a lot right now. Instead of sitting around feeling sorry for myself, I am going to have to spend some time learning how to post pics (thank goodness for the instructions!) so everyone can see the finished results. Thank you for taking time to respond to my post.

Yes, It was me. I had a source for a tightly woven heavy silk burlap, but they are gone, and I don't have a current source, since I'm not in practice any more. I haven't seen any of it lately, except for the open, lightweight ones. It's soft, has a subtle sheen, is not fibrous like jute burlap, and it doesn't shed, but I can't recommend a source I haven't tried. If you are considering it for drapery, make sure to get a sample yard to check the stability of the weave. Meanwhile, if you are thinking of upholstery, High Fashion Home in Houston has a woven hemp fabric you might want to look at...I've linked it below. Here is a link that might be useful: Montego Hemp