Cool picture Lilo. I totally understand. I too try hard to sustain whatever wildlife I like to see by natural means, e.g. plant life and vegetation for housing. I remember yellow jackets in California, they seemed monstrous! Yikes. That's probably the best part of bird watching anneliese, one thing you do might attract many birds. Too many cool birds to see. Speaking of which, we just had two students visit from Germany. As I was walking them over to get identification cards for work, S shouted "Look J!" and pointed at our highly ubiquitous male Cardinal. I realized Cardinalis cardinalis are probably only here, and promptly gave her my Eastern region (of the US) bird book. She only gave it back on the last day. She could've kept it. It turns out, it's very specific to where I live... Eastern side of the US, well, and into Mexico some. I love to observe flora and fauna wherever I go, and cannot imagine what birds they must have in Germany. What was either of your favorites there?

John - are you passing on the $200 labor savings to the customer? I doubt it as you'd still be working for wages and it'd be unusual for someone with that mentality to garner the knowledge you have. Most setters are going to charge a set "fee" for a shower pan or per sq. foot of tile. If they do it faster they pocket more, if slower they make less. Just the business. Not a lot of TQM studies in the trades. So for the consumer, it's just not a selling point. Cheaper material cost is something they get behind frequently. Another problem I have , more of a reservation with these products is they are not "time tested" like 20 years real world tested like a mud job over tar paper. Don't get me wrong , I like these things, spec and use them all ( except the Laticrete) , just have that little feeling in the back of the mind like: Am I going to be the guy that touted polybutylene or GP siding. Those were "the latest and greatest" until they weren't 20 years later. Another thing consumers need to be aware of with the liquid applied membranes is that strict thickness guidelines need to be followed for them to work and I rarely see enough of the stuff applied in the field by mechanics. Another issue of concern is with hybrid methods. I'm sure you guys are all upstanding and care about you rep, but you are providing the warranty in these systems as the manuf. will only step up if you use the complete system. That's fine as long as the end user is aware of this.

dedtired, My God, how extreme can people get? I know things are organised differently here in the UK ie money for libraries etc coming from the local County/City Council using funds from both central Govt. and the 'rates' though money has been drastically cut-back in recent years . . . but no citizen of whatever political persuasion would actively seek to down-grade a town's library services, nor would they dare suggest handicapped folk be denied access, especially in these PC days. If your library is run by a Board of Trustees, there must be some legal agreement from when it was first set up. Worth reading the small print to check the wording. Look out for "to benefit the whole population of the town" or "for the education and enjoyment of future generations" etc. Then tell them to stick it in their cauldron and give it a good stir.

I like dogs, too. We have two rat terriers, friendly with people but not other dogs, and very excitable and energetic. We do not travel with them, or nor do we inflict them on people who do not say they want us to do so. I can get them to do Sit and Down, but have never been able to get them to walk nicely on a leash. Every time I tried, I kept tripping and nearly falling. It felt dangerous, and eventually I decided it was not worth the risk. W have a large fenced yard, and they get plenty of exercise within its confines. It makes cleaning up after them easy, too. Currently reading, and so far liking, a book from my TBR pile, River of Stars by Guy Gabriel Kay. He is a Canadian writer of heavily historically influenced fantasy. His fantasy elements are more an imaginary but realistic version of an era and culture, rather than a magical one. I read one of his books every year or so and am not quite halfway through his works. River of Stars (Song Dynasty) takes place in not-China, as did his earlier book Under Heaven (Tang Dynasty). I read and liked that one two or three years ago. Rosefolly