Hi woodsidetrader, what leaves are you looking for? Maybe I can help you out when the weather warms. davioletman

Thank you so much for your responses. Everything is so much better now that our Christmas decorations are down, and we have carried out the coverings that we had on the doors and windows. Graywings, you are correct about the colds and allergies. I teach Spanish in a high school and feel like I have to talk, especially to prepare my students for finals. That means that I push a cough to its limits, then get upset when it won't go away in a couple of days. Graywings, jenathegreat, jcrowley, and lindac (I love your names), I thought I would give a try with the dog thing. I belong to three golden retriever sites, and that is a hot topic on each one. The dogs are about 80 pounds, and love to dig. They are loaded with fur even on their paws. I don't know why it is so hard to cut on the under side of the paws, but it is. That means that they dig, play, dig, play, run inside and track the mud on the tile. Our yard is fenced, and they come and go as they please. If I were a good housekeeper, there would be no problem, but I think that once a week is enough to clean the floors. Besides the dogs we humans also play with them in the yard, and walk with them. We all end up tracking in mud and dirt. After I sweep the floor, it is really dirty. I have stopped carrying big buckets, so I have gone to the towel thing. We do have a steam vac, but I have to pour water in it, and change it constantly. I just thought I would ask. Lindac, that is interesting about your white pan. I often chip off the black residue from our logs. Our fireplace is vented, and there is no problem with the gas line, but the artificial logs are black if I don't take off the residue. The candle wax was odor was on all the comforters and the flannel sheets we had over the windows and doors. I can still smell it, but it isn't as bad as it was. After I posted here, my daughter looked up candle soot, and told me how potent it is. We burned every candle we could find, and even bought some more. I kept setting votives in containers that had burned down, so I have no idea what I was burning. I was so angry and frustrated that it would never have occurred to me to cut a wick. I will remember that. I appreciate your taking the time to post, and you have given me some helpful information. Thanks. Sammy

We bought a Samsung French Door fridge from Costco 11/2019. So far every time we get a power outage it has to be manually reset. Last week we were out of town for a week during a power outage. fortunately my daughter was home and I walked her through the reset over the phone- it took 4 try before resetting. I agree with the comment earlier- this is the most idiotic problem for a "smart" fridge. We have a 15 yr old Kitchen Aid and a 20 yr old Amana- never this problem with either. We live in a neighborhood in Charlotte with 60+ foot trees and above ground power lines. big storms bring power outages. I never would have bought this dumb thing if I had known of this quirk. Calling Costco today to hopefully replace.

The blackened GFI outlet definitely needs to be replaced. Lights shouldn't be on a GFI circuit but it's possible. Do you know what is on which breaker in the main power panel? So you're sure power is getting to lights that aren't working? Some of those GFI out lets are pretty cheaply made and will go bad even in normal use. If there was a surge, they can easily fry, I would think. Note that a GFI outlet will protect other outlets downstream of it in the circuit, so you may have one bad GFI outlet and several downstream of it that also don't get power because it comes through the GFI. If you're not comfortable troubleshooting and replacing outlets and checking wiring, you'll need an electrician.