Hi Diane, Degas is sort of a light cranberry shade of dark pink. The Optimara description calls it red but their descriptions are basic, generalized, not detailed. The same florist also had Gaugin. Very pretty but had a thrips. It is from a local Calif grower. I emailed Optimara that violets here from 3 local growers have thrips. I ordered a leaf set of Ingrid, one of the new varieties on their website. Jo This post was edited by fortyseven on Wed, Mar 5, 14 at 23:38

I'm so sorry. But this too shall pass and your home will ultimately be wonderful. Ditto what others have said. I would add to that, going forward DOCUMENT EVERYTHING IN WRITING: the ridiculous explanation ("Joe Installer explained to me that the framers should have built the base 1/2" less than specified in the specs but also noted that the framers would have had no way of knowing this..."), and every further conversation and discussion with the framers, installer, etc. Visibly take notes during your next meeting with Joe Installer and write down your questions and his answers and explanations. Ask him to read, date and countersign said notes when your discussion is over. If you are concerned about how a discussion will go, ask a neighbor or friend to be with you during the discussion. The purpose of this friend or neighbor is not just moral support and watching the kiddos, but he/she will stay within earshot and you will also ask her/him to sign your notes as a witness, in front of Joe Installer. This is particularly important if, for example, Joe Installer declines to sign himself. If nothing else, seeing this the subcontractors will begin to take you more seriously and pay extra attention. If needed, these documents will be extremely helpful if you do have to take legal action to get this resolved without paying for a re-do. Been there, done that (not in my current remodel, thank goodness), it works. IMHO, no b-ness is required. You have the facts and logic in your favor. Combined with a calm, no-nonsense, professional manner you will make him see that the only acceptable choice is for him/his firm to eat the cost of redoing it correctly. Looking forward to hearing about your successful resolution of this!

I really enjoyed this. I think it would be quite interesting to do this experiment in different places with different cultures. For example, here in TX, people are (generally speaking) happy to hug when you first meet them, and now I am used to it, it's fine. But I am curious how such an experiment would go in a place where the culture is very not touchy-feely. For example, my town in England or even London.. (or NYC for that matter.) If the people offering the free hugs had obviously good intentions, I would give them a hug, but not if they looked creepy or something... Or would the creepy people need the hugs more? :-)

Lisa, When I've had eastern tigers sit for a number of days, it did not end well. :( I always suspected some virus or bacteria because I never saw any evidence of a parasitoid. Iris, I'm bummed that first link does not work anymore. Wish I had made a copy. I love the book because of all the life cycle history it gives for each species plus the pics of each instar. But my memory is it took the authors 10 years to do everything necessary to put it together. I've floated the idea a few times of doing the same thing in Ohio with more people involved but no traction. Once you get past the well known species, very few people have ever raised these butterflies. Reading the Cascadia book gives you an idea of how much work it takes to do this, how much you have to learn/try to successfully get eggs and get them to adults. Anyway, the short answer is I know of no other book like the Cascadia book.