I hope EVERYONE had a very nice Thanksgiving. I wanted to get here yesterday, but was soo busy with the cooking .... and then our company forgot they had homes and staid until near 11:00, so I crashed as soon as they left. We had a rally good meal & a good time. I'm not used to all that noise though. I guess it's a sign of getting older. ;-) Technico - the physical characteristics of the products you asked about that make them suitable/unsuitable as a substitute for Turface are their size and structural stability. They need to be primarily in that 3/32-3/16 size range (preferably closer to 1/8"), and they need to retain their structure after you freeze them in water. You don't want something too large/small, or something that turns to mud after you incorporate it into a soil. JJ - You should name your turtle Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Sugar Ray, Tommy Hearns ...... after one of the famous boxers. ;-) Take care everyone. I hope that if you're out shopping, you're taking advantage of some great deals, and if you're not, you're having a relaxing day. I think I'm still full, and I didn't even have breakfast. Only in America would they legislate a day when gluttony becomes a patriotic duty. ;-) Al

I've had so many cats over the years I've lost count. All have been indoor/outdoor but live "in" in the winter. We have found leather furniture to be best for upkeep with animals in general be they cats, dogs, birds or children... Never really had an issue with furniture clawing. Years ago I found my oldest cat had developed a 'love' for an old wooden box, 24X18X18(antique ammunition box I kept magazines in) This became the scratching post. If this wasn't handy sometimes she would use the decorative logs in the fireplace. So I've kept it handy. If the cats scratch they go there. Original kitties passed away, current two have not developed the scratch thing yet. Cats scratch to mark their territory. Scent in their paws. I've hissed at cats all my life, everyone in my family does. Keeps em honest...

Cross handle faucets are the only ones I can think of. Cats are very good at stepping on things, pulling down levers and pushing ot pulling horizontally. Not so good at rotating knobs and pushing up. 2 of my cats love "faucet water", and one of them has learned to operate the push-down tap on the RO unit as well as the horizontal lever handles on the prep sink. We flipped the mechanism for RO water so it's a lift-up, and she lost interest in the other sink too. So far, the lift-up single levers in the bathroom sinks have not been conquered, nor has the lift-up lever in the kitchen sink.

Have you considered doors for at least some of the cabinets? I worry about the visual clutter of having everything sitting out there, especially when kids are doing much of the putting-away. I'm less worried about the crowded feeling by the door than many of the others, but I also live in a smallish house where space by the doors is at a premium. I thought you might find these photos helpful. They're of a small cabinet by our back door. The door is hemmed in by a wall on one side and this cabinet to the other. The cabinet is about 7.25 inches deep from the front of the doors to the back of the cabinet that runs into the dishwasher, providing an interior space that's about 5.25 inches deep. We live not far from you and share your weather, and this tiny cupboard is a lifesaver because it provides a space for wet shoes, bird seed, and assorted other things we use outside.You have a significantly deeper space, so it will be even more functional. It also doesn't feel claustrophobic or too tight to us, and the small loss of space by the door is far outweighed by not having things pile up on the counter and floor there! Here's the doorway with cabinet: Here's the interior, showing how shallow it is, but how much stuff we store there. It regularly gets crammed with much more stuff (all the more reason to have doors!), but I'd just cleaned it out when I snapped this photo. Please ignore the cardboard dividers in the cabinet--I didn't want to have permanent dividers put in, and I've been playing around with spacing before buying or making something for the space. As for the bench issue, I think that its utility may somewhat depend on if you're shoes-off or shoes-on people. If you leave shoes by the door, then it's helpful to have a place for the kids to sit down to put them on. I think you'll love having some sort of built-in cabinet there. It will make that space much more functional.