Mia, You've already seen than your plastic panels offer virtually no heat retention and glass wouldn't give you any more than they do I don't think. If you go to a greenhouse supply store (one place to start online would be to google and find the greenhouse megastore) you can find the kind of bubble-wrap insulation manufactured for use as insulation in greenhouses, or go to the Greenhouse forum here at GW and you'll find many discussions there. Many of the folks there use a specific brand of swimming pool cover like John described, but I can't remember the brand they buy. So far this autumn, my greenhouse, which is only covered with 6 mm greenhouse plastic and Aluminet shadecloth, has stayed barely above freezing, but I consider that a victory because for the last 4 nights our overnight lows at our house have reached 28, 28, 26, and 36. Sadly, our forecast was for 33, 34, 36 and 44. lol With the forecasted temperatures, I didn't expect the greenhouse plants to freeze but with the actual temperatures I did. Last year, my greenhouse's overnight temperatures generally went exactly as low as the outdoor temperatures, but I didn't have the Aluminet shadecloth on the greenhouse at that point either. This year the greenhouse's overnight low temperatures are just a tiny bit higher than the outside air temps so far, and I give partial credit for that to the 18 molasses cattle feed tubs in the greenhouse that are filled with water. I put them in there hoping they would serve as solar heat collectors during the day and then would give the greenhouse a little warmer at night. So far, it seems like that is working. However, I am not fooled into thinking they will keep it warm for long. Right now, the daytime temperatures are high enough that if I close the greenhouse vents and doors around 4 p.m. on a warm, sunny day, then the heat inside can built up to about 85-90 degrees before the sun begins to set. If I closed the doors and vents earlier, it likely would get hotter, but I can't let the lettuce get too hot or it will bolt. Between the built-up heat, the warmish water in the molasses feed tubs, and the aluminet shade cloth, the greenhouse has stayed just warm enough to keep the plants in there from freezing at night. The plants mostly are tomato plants, peppers and herbs in containers and they are fine as long as the air inside the greenhouse stays above freezing. I don't have anything tropical in there that prefers warmer nighttime temperatures. I do have lettuce and cool-season greens that tolerate colder temperatures. If the tomatoes and peppers produce another week or two or three, I'll be happy. They would have frozen last week if they weren't in the greenhouse. My tropicals are either on the patio during the day and the garage at night, or in the house. I don't think it would be cost-effective to heat a greenhouse the size of mine throughout the winter. We built it as a season extender, expecting it would help us keep some things going a little later in fall and get some things growing a little earlier in spring. If I had intended to overwinter plants in it all winter, I would have used twinwall 6-mm or 8-mm poly panels. You can find them at most greenhouse supply stores or at Farm-Tek, and I still would have known I'd need a heater to overwinter plants in there. From the minute we finished building the greenhouse (in fact, before we even finished it), Tim and I both found ourselves describing things we'd do differently next time. One of the main purposes of this simple, hoophouse-style greenhouse was to learn from it so that when we build our "real" and larger greenhouse, we'll know more about what we want and how to achieve that objective. From that standpoint, I know that what I want in the next greenhouse is (a) good walls that hold heat in as well as possible, and (b) a heating system that is cost effective. Because we have a large woodland on our acreage, I think we'll likely go with a wood-burning greenhouse heater. Dawn

Yes, the corrugated box stuff would work. And believe me, they also love old WICKER. Oh dear yes, I had a problem with my cats clawing the arms of a wicker sofa. Never heard of the cat liking to claw rubber, but they have some pretty unusual cravings. Yes, OldGardener, the store bought posts do tip over, when you have an enthusiastic scratcher of any size at all. Marti, your cat sounds very independent, and phobic. Like my little boy maltese, he remembers which vet "did him in," and he growls at him every time. And my parrot knows that when I bring out the carrier he is headed to the vet, unless I've spent days packing. So yes, they are smart smart critters. Good luck with the tranquilizer. The one we were given for our cats, to calm them down for a 1500 mile trip, only made them drunk, and they meow-meow-meow like dripping water torture for the WHOLE TRIP, TWO DAYS. It was the LAST time I went anywhere with cats, and is the reason I have no cats these days. Good luck.

Timely subject. Our neighborhood just received our property tax assessments for 2016, payable in 2017. Our property taxes have gone up 45%. Our home values have not. We had a refi appraisal within the last year & our home value was less than the current property taxes, prior to this increase. A 45% increase & our taxes are already high. Illinois is number 50, of 50 states, in public pension debt. In the recent past, the federal government has given Illinois stimulus money for education. The majority of that money has NOT gone to schools & students - it has paid for pension debt. We're going to need another bailout from the states that have been fiscally responsible. Edit: We will be appealing - we do every year. The first time we used an attorney, whose fee was 50% of of the tax savings. Then we started doing it ourselves. We have the choice to appeal based on "uniformity" or "overvaluation." "Uniformity" involves collecting & submitting comps of other comparable homes. "Overvaluation" is submitting a home appraisal with a date of Jan 1, 2016 so we get tax credit for the entire year. We've had better results with the home appraisal, overvaluation method. Everyone in our neighborhood's home value has jumped up by between $200,000 - $400,000, according to the taxing authority. I'd have no problem with it if our home value had truly increased, but it hasn't.

2Many, my DH looooves mushrooms and eats them as one of his primary proteins. The dish I made is just something I conjured up by hap chance one night and it quickly became my DH’s favorite. I saute the sliced creminis along with a diced onion and garlic to taste. When browned, I set that aside in a bowl and toss a healthy portion of frozen stir fry veggies (from Costco again) in the pan. I toss them until they’re half way thawed, add the mushroom mix back along with some PF Changs Mongolian BBQ cooking sauce and a bit of water. Mix it up good and let it cook until the veggies are soft but not over cooked and serve it over rice. The mixed veggies have carrots, broccoli, summer squash, red bell pepper, green beans and a few other goodies. It’s a great healthy one dish meal, that I have no name for! LOL