This time of year, some of the suppliers have stopped shipping for the season, but you can shop. Horn Canna Farm has the basics, & their prices are right. Karchesky has gorgeous cannas, & a huge variety, but expensive. If you want to add cannas to your garden now, you might post on this forum's exchange page & on the Georgia or Southern Gardening Exchange pages. I don't know if "the system" will allow you to post on the Texas Exchange forum, but if it doesn't, email me, & I'll post a link to this thread: lots of us have cannas that we can send for postage. I'll be happy to send some Wyoming later in the year, it's blooming right now: green leaves with a dark edge, brilliant orange flowers on a purplish bloomstalk. I have lemon yellow (Conestoga) & coral red species type ones (Canna Indica Indian Shot) as well. If interested, just keep my email address for late October: sylviaboardwalk@aol.com

I've been doing WS off & on in zone 5 & 6 since '94 & my best advice is Go For It! Until you get a feeling for your own microclimate I wouldn't use all of my most pricey or treasured seeds-experiment with just a few or start with inexpensive seeds (think $ store!) Normally I'd have started before now, but OH that snow! I can't get through the entire yard yet but can see the outline of the raised beds again. I usually start jugs in a somewhat shaded area (like UNDER the picnic table) & move them on top after they sprout. I always leave the cap off-it lets out heat if you get a warm sunny day & lets some rain get in. They can do just fine even under the snow, but make sure you have enough drainage so it's not an ice cube. Have fun!

Furnaces: pretty much any brand will do when looking at 95% efficiency models and above. The various brands all have there strengths and weaknesses in terms of breakage. You will be looking at major brand names as generic furnace names typically do not make higher end furnaces. Higher end furnaces come with more things. More things eventually wear and break. You won't find a 95% efficiency furnace with "less" things. All brands break... some of which can be tied to improper / lack of maintenance / improper installation (often blamed on brand), or a combination of all 3. The notion that you just put it in and forget about it? I think that came from the thought that if it's not broke don't fix it. But if you stopped maintaining your body (taking a shower etc) well? You'd start smelling like a goat. People want to be told what they want to hear... it's called sales 101. Everyone has a shiny new mouse trap to sell you. Humidifier: this is where you'll likely spend, spend, spend and spend some more. Because maintenance and how these appliances operate. Running water thru something and keeping it operational has it's challenges. (it won't work without water and water creates maintenance issues faster than you can say "osmosis".

recorderas- It feels different from a regular drill, but there's simply a noticeable vibration from the hammering...it doesn't jump around like a mini-jackhammer. I've found the handle mainly useful when drilling into hard concrete and it's easier to maintain the drill orientation with one hand on the drill and one on the handle, rather than both hands on the drill since it takes a bit longer to drill into concrete/masonry.