Toad, I'm sorry to be so blunt, but you need a little attitude correction here. You do not come onto an internet forum where participants are sharing their knowledge and experience with you for free, and yell at them for not telling you what you want to hear. You also do not denigrate them by telling them they live in the wrong area, nor by waving your "professional" in their faces. Nor can you by demand conjure up a person with the right opinion located exactly where you want them. For what it's worth, you have heard from some very accomplished professionals above, and also from some knowledgeable do-it-yourselfers, as you might have known had you researched the forum a bit before posting. Furthermore, some professionals that you find on the ground are idiots, or brown-nosers who will tell you anything you want to hear so you'll hire them. If you want people to help you on the internet, then politely answer the questions you're asked, and try to open your mind to the answers. Also, don't forget to say thank you, even if the advice isn't quite what you expected. Participants come here to have fun, and being insulted and talking to someone who has a brick wall for a brain is no fun at all. So such posts are usually left to sink without further responses down the forum into oblivion... which is what was starting to happen to your thread before you bumped it up again this morning. Now, I'll try one more time to frame IB's question so that you'll understand its importance: Is it really necessary to raise this patio and if so why? The patio may in the end be nice and practical, but if it is raised it will look like a sore thumb and if surrounded by concrete blocks it will be butt-ugly, no matter where you live or what you plant around it. KarinL

Regarding pears in white wine --- I did some two years ago, half in red wine and half in white, according to a "recipe" suggested by Victrola (a gentleman in Montreal who was posting here regularly then --- apparently he's gotten very busy with athletic pursuits recently) and expanded on by Mrs. Bartholomew (a Toronto forum member who had time to post then before she had her baby). Mrs. B. suggested a Gewurtztraminer with vanilla, cinnamon, and star anise. I used a Vidal for my white wine, and not having any star anise I think I used cinnamon, vanilla, and a few allspice berries. The red I spiced much as Victrola suggests. Both came out just delicious. It's not a cold pack as described here (though the key is that you can cook the WINE etc. for a lot longer FIRST till it thickens, then just heat the pears in it and cook them briefly); like Victrola suggested, I used a firm, Flemish Beauty pear. I don't know if there's any reason you could not pack the pears cold and pour hot syrup over them, though, is there? Anyway, sounds like you did something wonderful already. But I thought I'd post this because it's such fun to read Victrola's "recipes." One thing I noticed was that I was surprised at how mildly spiced the syrup & pears were when I opened the jars. The flavour was definitely less than when it was first made (I remember drinking the leftover wine syrup --- it had been a bad day, LOL --- and it was much spicier than the eventual pears were.) So if I did them again I would go even heavier on the spices without fear of overdoing it. Z Canning poached pears: a Victrola Adventure Since Zabby recently suggested, tongue in cheek, that I've been hoarding my recipes, here is something I made today. Okay, so it's not quite a "recipe" but I don't think it lacks for details (other than measurements, but I don't measure things, so don't ask for 'em!). Today at the market, my favourite vendors had some beautiful firm Flemish Beauty pears. This is one of my favourite variety of pears; I find they have a distinctive and pleasant vanilla note. I think there were about 8 pears. Their firmness meant that, although not ready for eating, they were perfect for cooking. I peeled them with my old-fashioned apple peeler device, which worked (for most of the length of most of the pears) because they were firm and fat. After peeling, I cut them vertically into wedges of eighths, and dipped them in lemon juice to keep them from browning. (Perhaps that was superfluous, since they were to be poached in red wine anyway?) I bought a litre of the Hungarian red wine Szeksardi Voros, which friends of mine, not knowing how to pronounce Hungarian, would call Sex and Divorce. As their English name implies, it's not a fancy wine, but it's fine (and cheap) for these purposes. I brought it to boil with some cloves, a cinnamon stick, a whole allspice, a few peppercorns, one whole cardamom, two slices of lemon, one slice of orange, sugar to taste, and the "pearings" (couldn't resist the pun... sorry... pear parings, in English). I boiled this until greatly reduced. Then I fished out the solids, added the pears, boiled for about two minutes, stirring gingerly. Once again, I must praise the firmness of these pears. They didn't go to mushiness. I removed them from the heat, fished out the pears, packed the slices into jars (500ml and 250ml jars... pints and half-pints, if you prefer), and covered with the reduced wine syrup. Whoops, I had reduced it too much, and there wasn't enough to cover all the pears, so I boiled up some sugar and water (1:4 ratio) very quickly to cover the pears. Silly me, I now realise, after the fact! I had meant to top them up with brandy before sealing, not more syrup! After 20 minutes processing in BWB, I pulled out two beautiful 500ml jars and three lovely 250ml jars. And to my great pleasure, one of them did not seal, so I had no reason not to sample my wares: yum yum. I can't wait to have the occasion to bring these out for a dinner party or give them as host/hostess gifts. One last time, let me emphasise the firmness of the pears! I couldn't imagine this turning out well with Bartlett pears (which I love for eating out of hand), for example. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: MrsBartholomew 6a Canada (My Page) on Mon, Sep 20, 04 at 16:11 I love poached pears in red wine. I often make them for dessert when we have guests. Once I did them in white wine instead, just for a change - it was a Gewurtztraminer, and the seasonings were just a vanilla pod, a couple of star anise, and a cinnamon stick. Oh, it was beautiful. I serve one pear with about a half-cup of syrup and a dollop of whipped cream, and the syrup always gets eaten up! I've never tried canning them but maybe I should. It was the firmness I was afraid would be lost, but I didn't think of buying a harder pear. Good thinking.

http://www.pacificcoastnurseryman.com/wholesale.htm this link might be helpful :) .... i have found some good ones in florida but not sure if they would ship that far ... ill make a list and email them to you ... SKY ... happy planting !!!

I haven't purchased anything from them but looked at the website. They are in Canada but have a commercial presence in New York. It looks like they sell high-quality down products. The info page on down has a lot of good information. Here is a link that might be useful: Down bedding