Hi Kurt, Welcome to the forum! Most citrus are self-fruitful (don't need to be pollinated), so that's likely not your problem here. Another thing that citrus do is self-thin their flowers and fruit based on how much the tree can support (also a factor of how dense the leaf canopy is). It sounds like your tree is of fruit-bearing age, and it's size would suggest it should be holding onto more fruit. So there are a couple other things you may want to consider: 1) You may want to change your fertilizer to one specifically formulated for Citrus with NPK ratio as close as you can find to 5-1-3 and containing micronutrients, namely Fe, Ca, S, Cu, Mn and Mg. I use GreenAll's Citrus & Avocado fertilizer with good results and apply 3 times a year on Valentine's Day, Memorial Day, and Labor Day (makes it really easy to remember). There are many here who have not had good success with fertilizer spikes... 2) I've lived in Santa Cruz, so I know how that the marine layer can really influence temperatures there. Where exactly do you live (do you get sufficient sun/warmth), and do you know if you have an orange that does well in your micro-climate? I've read in the Cloudforest Cafe forum of someone in the S.Cruz mountains having great success with Cara Cara, for example. Best of luck, and keep us updated! Tim

Check out the Moen Kingsley line. We just installed the hand shower on bar in two bathrooms (Moen 3869), and the cost for trim kit that contains the slider bar, hand held shower-head, hose was $133. The elbow was $25. We also bought the trim kit for Moen T3112 (Moentrol Shower) $80, and the valve for this was around $90. No diverter, as we only have the handheld, did not install the fixed mount shower head, just used the that trim to control the hand shower. This set-up works for a shower with no tub. Should keep you under $500. The hand shower is really nice, all metal and heavy, not the plastic stuff. I'm very impressed with the quality for a good price.

I live in Kansas, so we've been seeing low temps around 15F lately. Obviously this is much lower than our summers in the 90's, and has an effect on the incoming water temp. Our city water primarily comes from a reservoir. But I'm not convinced that incoming water temp is the issue. When the house was new, it didn't matter how cold it was - we could always run a load of laundry and have four people take showers back to back in two bathrooms simultaneously, and never run out of hot water. Now we can somehow go through 100 gallons of water in 30 minutes just with the two of us. To me it seems like something must have changed. I'll turn up the first tank to 120F and see if that helps. It'll cost a little more in gas to keep all 100 gallons at 120F, but probably not too much. I'm also going to flush both tanks this weekend to see if I've got some sediment building up. Any other suggestions?

Well, I went to talk with CPS yesterday morning. I still had DGS & the CPS worker told me that if DIL comes to get him, I should call her right away. My DD19 took the baby home while I was at work and DIL showed up at my work just before closing. I told her the baby is at home with DD and she said she is taking him. (DIL smelled of alcohol... like maybe hung over but hadn't bathed?) and when she came to the house, baby was asleep. She decided to leave the baby and said she'll pick him up when he wakes up. He was still there when I got home but then DIL came back and looked like she had showered. She said she would be back to get his playpen because she didn't have the screws to put his crib together yet. After she left, I talked to my son and he told me she took the baby to her mom's house for the night. (Just a week ago, she said her mom threw her out and wasn't talking to her.. so don't know if that's true) I have tried to talk to her mom & stepdad and they are not receptive to me. Her mom had one conversation while she was still pregnant where we agreed it would be a bad idea for her to move out of state, knowing my son is being deployed. Then, when it came time to move, they were supportive of her moving so I don't get where they are coming from. He also got paid today and it was direct deposited to DIL, not our joint account. (I guess he didn't do the change in time but his next check should go into out account) It makes me wonder if that is a reason her mom is talking to her again (for now) and helping with the baby? In the last week, DIL got her hair done (colored, cut & styled) the day after my son left. Then she got her lip pierced. She was seen driving with someone yesterday by my daughter... she thought it was a guy but DIL drove off too fast. She got her apartment on Saturday but didn't move her stuff in until Wednesday and here it is Friday and I don't know if she is staying there or what she is doing. CPS worker is going to her apartment this morning to talk to her. I guess it's all about waiting now... and worrying. My son is leaving over the weekend and I guess when she called him yesterday (Veterans Day) he was at Applebee's because service members got a free meal. She accused him of going there to flirt with the waitresses and forbid him from leaving a tip. He called me last night to ask me if he eats hard cooked eggs that have been out for two or three days will make him sick. I asked him why he'd want to and he's living in their house with everything moved out so he has no other food in the house. I told him to order a pizza and he didn't want to waste the money. I practically lost it and told him that he's about to leave to Afghanistan and he deserves to order and eat WHATEVER he wants for the next three days and not to worry about what SHE says about it... it's HIS money, HE is working for it and HE is putting his life in jeopardy for it. He ordered a pizza and used the joint account we set up... probably so DIL won't see it. She gave him hell once because he bought a coke out of the machine after he had been under the moving truck, hooking up the car trailer in the heat when he was moving her to Georgia. She is UNBELIEVABLE!!!