Oh Carol, in a way I am sad, only because you mentioned recently how you felt about it, and later said that you would not be going to Calgary after all. Now it has come so quickly. One thing for sure is, that it really is not too far away from Edmonton, I have stayed in both cities over the past year or so. But I did not see too much of Calgary as we stayed with friends for two nights and we drove to Lake Louise, Then met up with a group of our friends and travelled on the Rockymountaineer back to Vancouver. It was wonderful. I have been to Edmonton more times though. Early summer I stayed with my grandson's foster family. We have become good friends with them and I just put my grandson back on the plane to Edmonton this week after he was with us for a whole month. Which was wonderful. I think being in Calgary you will have to do extra winter protection for your roses. Do you plant them all in the ground or will some be in moveable pots? How long have you had Paul Shirville. I am very fond of that one, but of course I do not know it's winter hardiness. That is one that I would probably want to take with me. It is so floriforous and fragrant. I believe having some of your own roses with you will make you feel at home very soon. Hope you and your family meet some great new people and you settle down really quickly to your new lives. Please remember to send us some pics of the before and afters in your new garden when your own roses are getting established. I wish you good luck with your move and hope you, your family and your roses will be very happy there. Hugs! Pauline - Vancouver Island

jessica, I agree with your idea about taking your cabinets all the way to the ceiling and not staggering them since you have 8' ceilings (mine are even lower -- only 7 1/2 feet). I also agree that stainless appliances can look great in a white kitchen and help to break up all the white. The second layout is much better than the first. It sounds to me that you'd be happy with all stained or a combo of stained and white. I originally planned on all stained, but over and over I was drawn to pictures of white kitchens. In the end I went with a mostly white kitchen with an island in a beautiful russet stain. Since you love both stained and painted, maybe you could do a stained perimeter with light colored laminate and a white island with Ikea butcher block? Are you getting a gas stove? Do you cook a lot? I agree with others who have recommended a real hood instead of a microwave hood, especially since this is your dream home. Unless you live in a flood zone and your budget will permit, I think you should go for the hardwood flooring. Good luck with your project ... I can't wait to see how it unfolds! Erika

Nina, In most parts of Oklahoma the summer weather, particularly the heat but the sunshine as well, is brutally hard on raspberries, especially in the hotter and drier years. They'll do best in afternoon shade, and you're going to be growing them in afternoon sun, which is even more challenging. First, to address the zone 7 issue. Many plants that are said to be hardy in zone 7 may be cold hardy in zone 7 in some parts of the country---but zone 7 is not the same everywhere. All that being in zone 7 tells you is what the range of your average minimum temperatures is----so zone 7 in Oregon could be quite different from zone 7 in Oklahoma or Texas or Long Island, NY. Even though all those diverse areas have minimum low temperatures in the same range (0-10 degrees Fahrenheit), they have different climates overall. The zone maps commonly used are only reliable as a reference for cold hardiness, not hot hardiness. So, keep that in mind when choosing plants. In our climate, the AHS Heat Zone Map is a more reliable indicator of whether a given type of plant can thrive here, but even it is based on the plants being kept in moist soil at all times, which is incredibly hard to do in our heat, particularly in containers. Even letting a plant get too dry once can make it underperform compared to its AHS Heat Zone rating. Blackberries are more commonly grown in Oklahoma because they tolerate our erratic weather better than raspberry plants do. Often, with raspberries, a little warm spell in winter or late spring causes them to break dormancy and leaf out, and then when we have a return to colder spring weather, the new foliage and canes can indeed suffer freeze damage. That may be what happened with your plants. Since the damage isn't spreading, that's my best guess about what happened. If it were spreading and if you are in an area that has received plentiful spring rainfall, I'd be thinking it might be a fungal disease. Since it seems more likely that it is cold damage, you have two choices: you can go ahead and prune off the damaged canes since it is likely the scorched leaves aren't conducting photosynthesis and therefore aren't helping the plant, or you can wait a couple of weeks and see if the old leaves fall off and are replaced by new ones. With regard to the soil-less mix being well-draining, that may be an issue as well. In Oklahoma, it can be really hard to keep containerized plants moist enough in July's and August's extreme heat. In our hottest, driest summers I have had to water tomato plants grown in 10-20 gallon containers up to 4 times a day to keep the soil evenly moist. It is hard to keep plants moist on summer days when the high temperature exceeds 100-110 degrees, especially if that weather goes on for many weeks. I find it easiest to keep them on a drip irrigation system with a timer, but you still have to adjust your timer as the summer weather can fluctuate from flooding rains to no rain at all for long periods. I'll link the OSU Fact Sheet on Growing Blackberries and Raspberries in Oklahoma for you, but be advised it mostly is about how to grow blackberries since growing raspberries in our state is not recommended by OSU. Some people do grow raspberries here but it takes an extraordinary amount of effort and attention to detail, as well as some luck and cooperation from the weather, and raspberry production tends to be lower than blackberry production. Dawn Growing Blackberries & Raspberries In Oklahoma

The distance behind the stools and to the couch is about 4 feet, same on the other side that backs up to the door path. I am new to the program and haven't figured out how to make a bar overhang so had to just make a big tall table and can't show the stools tucked up under the counter. I have a 16" overhand and will be doing backless stools so they will be out of the way most of the time. Seriously, this cabin is really remote and it won't be like people are coming and going, especially during meal times. If someone were to show up when we are sitting there eating with the stools pulled out I'd be really surprised. On the occasions when we will be entertaining the island will be a buffet for hor d'oeuvres or for setting out food and we would eat on the screened porch or out in the big grill kitchen which looks like it could host 12+ easily. This is really just a 2 person house almost all the time. I am going from a 5000sf house on 12 acres to a 1350sf house on 10 acres. The hint to our kids being to come for very short visits, or camp out LOL.