You're welcome. Thanks again, for being so kind. Some thoughts I offered in another, older threads on this forum. They should pretty much answer your question, and may even be quoted in the text somewhere up this thread (if so, I apologize for the redundancy): In my estimation, the only case to be made for reusing container soils is one of economics, and you'll never find me argue against making that decision. If you can't afford, you can't afford it. That said and setting economics aside, you might decide to reuse soil for reasons other than economical. Perhaps the effort involved with acquiring (or making your own) soil is something you might not wish to go through or be bothered with. In any case, it would be difficult to show that soils in a more advanced state of structural collapse can somehow be preferred to a soil that can be counted on to maintain its structure for the entire growth cycle. So, if the economic aspect is set aside, at some point you must decide that "my used soil is good enough" and that you're willing to accept whatever the results of that decision are. All soils are not created equal. The soils I grow in are usually pine bark based & collapse structurally at a much slower rate that peat based soils, yet I usually choose to turn them into the garden or give them over to a compost pile where they serve a better purpose than as a container soil after a year of service. Some plantings (like woody materials and some perennials) do pretty well the second year in the same bark-based soil, and with careful watering, I'm usually able to get them through a third year w/o root issues. Watering habits are an extremely important part of container gardening. Well structured soils that drain well are much more forgiving and certainly favor success on the part of the more inexperienced gardeners. As soils age, water retention increases and growing becomes increasingly difficult. If your (anyone's) excellence in watering skills allows you to grow in an aging medium, or if your decision that "good enough" is good enough for you, then it's (your decision) is good enough for me, too. The phrases "it works for me" or "I've done it this way for years w/o problems" is often offered up as good reason to continue the status quo, but there's not much substance there. I'm being called away now, but I'll leave with something I offered in reply on a recent thread: "... First, plants really aren't particular about what soil is made of. As long as you're willing to stand over your plant & water every 10 minutes, you can grow most plants perfectly well in a bucket of marbles. Mix a little of the proper fertilizers in the water & you're good to go. The plant has all it needs - water, nutrients, air in the root zone, and something to hold it in place. So, if we can grow in marbles, how can a soil fail? Our growing skills fail us more often than our soils fail. We often lack the experience or knowledge to recognize the shortcomings of our soils and to adjust for them. The lower our experience/knowledge levels are, the more nearly perfect should be the soils we grow in, but this is a catch 22 situation because hidden in the inexperience is the inability to even recognize differences between good and bad soil(s). Container soils fail when their structure fails. When we select soils with components that break down quickly or that are so small they find their way into and clog macro-pores, we begin our growing attempts under a handicap. I see anecdotes about reusing soils, even recommendations to do it all over these forums. I don't argue with the practice, but I (very) rarely do it, even when growing flowery annuals, meant only for a single season. Soils don't break down at an even rate. If you assign a soil a life of two years and imagine that the soil goes from perfect to unusable in that time, it's likely it would be fine for the first year, lose about 25% of its suitability in the first half of the second year, and lose the other 75% in the last half of the second year. This is an approximation & is only meant to illustrate the exponential rate at which soils collapse. Soils that are suitable for only a growing season show a similar rate of decline, but at an accelerated rate. When a used soil is mixed with fresh soil after a growing season, the old soil particles are in or about to begin a period of accelerated decay. I choose to turn them into the garden or they find their way to a compost pile. Unless the reasons are economical, I find it difficult to imagine why anyone would add garden soils to container soils. It destroys aeration and usually causes soils to retain too much water for too long. Sand (unless approaching the size of BB's), has the same effect. I don't use compost in soils because of the negative effect on aeration/drainage. The small amount of micro-nutrients provided by compost can be more efficiently added, organically or inorganically, via other vehicles. To boil this all down, a container soil fails when the inverse relationship between aeration/drainage goes awry. When aeration is reduced, soggy soil is the result, and trouble is in the making. I've mentioned before that I don't post here to get people to convert to a particular mix or blend of soil. I post what I know will work very well for anyone who can get appropriate ingredients & modify the mix to suit their climate & other cultural conditions. If you use a mix that guarantees good aeration for the expected life of the planting - you're in good shape. Most peat based mixes will not work well in extended life plantings. Conifer bark based mixes, on the other hand, retain structure for much longer periods. If you still have questions, please don't hesitate .... Al

I read your thread way back.... I guess about a year or so ago and just today decided to come back to this forum to check and see what's going on. Lot's have gone on in the time past. I am glad to hear you got your SSDI. I am at the hearing point on mine, I have a lawyer but not sure he's any good.... he has not called and talked to me once and when I've called the office I never get to talk to him it's always his assistance. she tell me it takes about three months once the appeal has been turned in. It's been over three months...I called the SS office to check and make sure it was at the hearing office and it checked out. The wait is awful. I'm so thankful for this forum it is so helpful, One of the members stated to write everything down how life was before and how life is now and that is something I must do for the impending hearing. There is no medication I can take other then pain medication and my doctor will not proscribe anything for more then a month at a time. I don't agree with the doctor that I was being seen for my back so I did not go back to him. The 4th and 5 th lower lumbar is fused together and I have scoilosis curving of the spine. I've had problems with my back off and on but in my younger years it never was that bad. It wasn't until it seem all of a sudden it hit me, Well I guess not really all of a sudden but the worst part is. I now cannot sit for long drives after an hour of sitting in the car I may or I may not be able to get up out of the car seat and at times when I do get up and put my foot down to get up my back may not be able to support me, I have a pain that will run through me as I put my foot down on the ground. Now that the scoilosis has started giving me problems it is hindering the use of arms and moving my neck, when it acts up I can't turn my head to look around when driving I have to use the mirrors. I've also started having problems with my hands and arms. So off I went to the doctor and after some test found corporal tunnel to be the problem but the nerve is don't damaged to the point of being able to do surgery weather that is good or not I don't know but it has changed my life 100% where I use to be very active do what I wanted when I wanted. It's only been 5 years ago that I was working and come home to clean house, cook dinner, do a load of laundry all in a days time now I'm lucky to get through doing a couple of loads of laundry in a day, I can't lift the clothes basket I have to push it with my foot from the bedroom to the laundry room, if I had to go out and do laundry I guess I'd be in a world of hurt. I clean house one room at a time one day at a time just when ever I'm able to. I started to oil the cabinets down but hands and arms can't take it so I stopped. I have started carrying the cell phone with me outside just in case I fall and can't get up. I can't do the thing's I use to do with the grandkids any longer if it's not something simple then forget it. I can no longer walk around the mall. I haven't gotten to the point of asking for a wheel chair ... not wanting to go there. Although I have told my family that I cannot walk around much. I know long find my bed a comfort anymore, for me it is hard cause of pain or discomfort laying down. At times I give up trying to get comfortable and get back up. It is not visible to ones eye of my problems. Just to look at me you would not know I had anything wrong. Wishing you well with your surgery and happy gardening come spring time.

If someone gets the veggie oil for free, how is that too expensive? Your "raw material" may be free, but it still costs you to collect it, filter it, treat it to create biodiesel, store it, and pump it. You will have nowhere near the economy of scale of a larger producer. And, theoretically, your time is worth something, too. Most folks will not be in a position to produce their own biodiesel. They'll roll up to a fuel pump just as they do now. Do not be surprised if, whatever alternative fuel becomes popular, the big oil companies have a lock on delivering it to you.

Ok let's talk about codes. I have found the CABO/ICC building codes to cover the critical design elements of a house very well with only a few exceptions because the minimum is often the optimum for such a lightly loaded short structure. If you designed joists using the formulas you were taught in school they would be the same as you would get using the code tables except in borderline cases the code always rounds upward and doesn't adjust for poorly graded lumber, etc. The IRC requires LVL's and I-joists to be designed by an engineer but in Maine the state law allows a builder to do that if he/she submits the manufacturer's sizing tables and the loading conditions with the drawings for the building permit. The state law was changed to exempt a builder from the prohibition of practicing engineering for a house in 07, so you can imagine what an architect's license means in Maine. I don't think Vermont even has a residential building code yet and there are other states that are similar or where the code is adopted or not adopted by each county and enforcement is not consistent due to lack of staff. Anyway, the biggest deficiency to the codes that I know of is the flexibility of floor joists. The deflection limit at maximum loading is intended to prevent ceiling plaster from cracking and is not very helpful. Many long span joists are legal but excessively bouncy and there are no simple rules of thumb that eliminate this problem. I tried to write one and a week later I couldn't understand it. Unfortunately bridging and blocking have been found to do little to stiffen typical joist sizes. I also find the ICC foundation section to be inadequate but the code allows the option to use ACI318 which is an excellent standard and design guide but any code standard must be limited to a maximum amount of unbalanced fill; an engineer would be needed to design a cantilevered retaining wall. The code deals with typical regional wind and snow loads pretty well but not high wind, drifted snow and earthquake loads. At any rate, I won't design anything without an engineer involved even if he isn't required to stamp the drawings. I like his insurance policy a lot. I think a contractor could use the building code as a defense in court but it would be of less use for a licensed design professional. For me the medical analogies are interesting but not realistic. It is still acceptable in certain parts of the US to build your own house without any oversight or control by anyone (except possibly the local electric coo-op) and this idea is considered a right to many. I think the practice of medicine has advanced considerably farther than the house building industry.