Slightly OT - Do I save the brick from old chimney for projects?
bloominwhereplanted
16 years ago
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todancewithwolves
16 years agomsmarion
16 years agoRelated Discussions
Slightly OT: Cat paw prints on my cabinets!
Comments (42)Dawn, you are liven' my dream. I would love to have that many cats, and room for outdoor cats. But I know it's a lot of work. Our four keep us slammed, and we insist on no cat smell in the house so that's constant box cleaning. Regarding pellets, you can use the commercial bagged kind like Feline Pine or you can use stove pellets. Some shelters have 'em dropped off half a ton at a time. My vet assures me there is nothing bad in the stove pellets; they are pure sawdust. I have not used them, but have used Feline Pine and liked it. There is another bargain option not mentioned here, which is chicken feed, or what the industry calls "layer crumbles." They are extremely safe and work like wood pellets in that the urine soaks the pellets and they fall to bits go to the bottom. Poop stays on top for scooping. Because they are cheap and safe, I keep them on hand, and use them routinely in my porch box. Indoors, they give off a sort of vitamin-supplement smell that I don't care for. The scent does not travel, however, and the feed does contain the urine odor. I would not call this a clumping litter, though some do. And you can, theoretically, flush it. Pros of using layer crumbs are -- very little dust, safe for your cats, safe for the dump, and as environmentally benign, I guess, as any litter. I don't live in an area where you can compost, but I guess with the poop scooped, they would be compostable? Look for them in 20 and 50 pound bags at places like Southern States or Tractor Supply. My last 50 pound bag ran around $15, IIRC, so that is an awesome bargain. For anyone interested in this, I will post a good link below. Here is a link that might be useful: Link from Cats Adored...See Moreold brick "chimney" behind wall in Kitchen
Comments (3)Before deciding to remove it, plan your kitchen, maybe you can safely leave it and ignore it.. It might turn out to be a very handy chase in which to run an exhaust vent through to your roof. If a roof replacement is due in the near future, I would delay removing it until then, so you wind up without a patch in the roof. If someone you know has a small video camera, you can drop it down from the roof and see what's what inside. Do not use it for anything without installing a liner first, unless you have it inspected and ruled OK by a pro. It likely was the exhaust stack for a wood- (or coal) fired cook stove when it was new. L....See MoreSlightly OT: in limbo, discouraged...what would you do?
Comments (14)Dear all--thank you so much for these responses. I knew I could count on GWers for wisdom. This situation is ripe for overthinking, something I am much prone to anyway...it is really fascinating to me how these issues of home, personified in the kitchen, are really so deep and wide. I want to respond to each individually but everything seems to be intersecting--so this is for all of you--an I'd love to keep the conversation going-- first things first--jaeedwards, you are absolutely right, and one thing that slows me down is this guilt I feel that I sometimes lose sight of what really matters. It is hard to tease apart materialism from practicality from real need sometimes. But something you said really made a practical point to me--one of the main things I want IS a table!!! Right now we usually sit crammed around the island with our knees squished, and everyone leaves too soon because we're uncomfortable--so that is in my top three--because that IS where memories are made. The more practical I can be, the better. I am trying to say to myself, we are so blessed, this is a wonderful house, life is good, a few changes would make things a little easier, and sooner or later we will move because it's practical and life will continue to be good. As a friend of mine said to me recently, we have privileged problems. Pbris--yay--okay, I think I'm going to use that copper hood, darn it! Seriously, after reading what you said I am fairly certain that most of the changes we want to make are really just for us. That's why the giant bids stopped us short. I think this house is just about maxed out in terms of value, and spending $220K (yes, that's what the bids were!) makes no sense. So--Bmore and cooksnsews--we need to figure out what we would spend on ourselves. (This is where DH and I might have some problems--he is an ascetic Yankee and I am a hedonistic southerner, LOL) Actually, when I think about it, if I just painted the cabinets white I would be so much happier! Farmhouse--what you say makes a lot of sense--unfortunately the two bids were quite close. That's why I got so discouraged--I assumed the first one was just insane and the second would be more realistic. What I am thinking is we should do minor things, and make sure that nothing we do precludes something bigger later, if we decided to really stay. It is weird though when you suddenly start thinking about moving...your heart isn't in the work as much. Mamadada, you understand these crazy MA prices!! We are lucky in that our home has basically held its value (down a little from the crazy inflated values of a year or two ago, but still a lot more than we paid for it). About yards, I am actually a fan of small gardens...they are much less overwhelming and I can be sort of OCD and pluck every stray blade of grass :). But my ever-larger sons really want room for the pitchback and a basketball hoop... I did go to some open houses on Sunday. It was educational. One of them was this lovely Victorian but walking into it just made me tired...I could just feel things breaking as I stood there! I think our next house (if there is one) might be of a more recent vintage. That or already COMPLETELY overhauled (dreaming...). Thank you all again. This forum is wonderful....See MoreSlightly OT: Favorite red cherry tomato variety?
Comments (47)KatieC, I might have agreed about our similar growing conditions until you said last year was bad for you... last year was the best gardening year EVER here! But I'm with you 100% on going with varieties I know will grow well (and mature) in my conditions!!! You should have great luck with King of the North! but I do think the strain isn't completely stable, and it produces many peppers that aren't bell shape.... I think I grew around 8 plants of KotN last year and at least 3 plants produced non-bells. (ETA: I bought that seed from High Mowing Seeds - Organic). Many years ago I did lots of seed-trading on GW and tried many different varieties of tomatoes and peppers like Jimmy Nardello's and Marconi-- but I got so many dud seeds that didn't even germinate, or they were incorrect varieties, so I gave up on trading with strangers. lol! Way back then I was looking for a specific and rare pepper from Italy and I found a guy there to trade with... he sent some fantastic Italian and Spanish pepper seed varieties, including paprikas, but my growing season wasn't quite long enough to get good production. There's one he sent that I do continue to grow, he called it LaCrime di Christo... tiny and VERY HOT! Otherwise, the peppers I grow every year are things like Portugal Long Hots, Hungarian Hot Wax, Balloon Peppers, Anaheims, an old unknown Italian sweet variety that's very early (not bell), etc. I've tried Poblanos a few times but my growing season isn't long enough. :(...See Moreaftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
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