Glenda, I am sorry to hear about the loss of your animals, especially Willie the house cat. We have a house cat named Willie too, and she was named after Willie Nelson. When we had our house built in 1998, the guys who did the foundation work, who were from Oregon, said that they saw bobcats here on our property that were so big that they thought they were mountain lions. I've never seen a huge bobcat but have seen some medium-sized ones and a lot of smallish ones. One of our neighbors has a very large one living on his property and it has atypical coloring. Since your calves aren't being cached/buried in brush, I'd tend to think it isn't a mountain lion and likely is a bobcat, but don't forget that coyotes and feral dogs kill calves (and cats) too. We've only lost 1 chicken this year, and I think a fox got it, but you know what it was like around here last year. Our friends who live a couple of miles north of us have two Great Pyrenees dogs that protect their goats, and those dogs are fiercely protective. However, the mama cats and kittens who live in the barn with the goats have disappeared all year long, so whatever is getting them is able to get by the Great Pyrenees. When they got down to only 1 remaining barn kitten (out of about 20), they brought it inside and turned it into a house cat. I can't imagine what would be able to sneak into the barn and take out that many cats week in and week out without the dogs raising a ruckus. Lots of people here have donkeys as herd guardians, and those donkeys are fierce! Dawn

I've decided to go with Prestige 54" to go over new 48" Capital Culinarian. That will be paired with a 1600CFM remote (roof mounted) blower). That's a bit over powered but I'd rather go over than under since I do a lot of stir-fry and saute. Also plan to do some grilling on the new range.

-Prep sink. This may be useful in a multi-cook household or a huge kitchen, but I hardly ever used the one I had and it was just once more thing to clean. -Garbage disposal. My worms do a much better job, don't take up electricity and never smell or require cleaning. -Fancy multi-function toaster, oven, rotisserie, pizza, etc. Does nothing well. -Trash can with a motion sensor. Everyone I know who has one has them break in under a year. Mine only took 4 months to break. A foot pedal is much more reliable and a lot cheaper to replace. -Stainless steel sink. What a pain to clean. You can call it patina, butafter a while they don't look clean no matter what you do. (The one in my apartment right now looks positively foul no matter how much Barkeeper's Friend you use.) Of course cast iron will eventually chip and I don't know if the granite composite sinks will stand the test of time -Range-top grill. Only pay for these if you have a bodacious vent system and no way to have an outdoor grill. They are better than the George Foreman-like grills but not a patch on a decent outdoor gas grill or charcoal. ---- As for sink tip-outs... since discovering them I have knocked the front panel off every sink in every home I've rented or owned and installed these. In the bathroom they are perfect for the tweezers and nail files and such. In the kitchen, the sponges, scrubbers, stoppers and the toothbrush you use for cleaning around the faucet plate are neatly hidden away but close at hand. Love 'em!

They look fantastic. We have at least two more months before there's a chance of seeing sprouts like that, are yours early for having been in pots? (that and a much milder climate) I have some cyclamen coum in bloom under lights, it's the only thing anywhere close to being alive at this time of year for me!