Oh my goodness, Sherry, I'd have been so frustrated with that gal that you're talking about! Yeah, it makes a person wonder sometimes if anything you're saying is getting through to people. It almost makes you want to say, "Knock knock, is anyone home in there?" ;-) Gosh, it does make you think that maybe she shouldn't even be doing the presentations in a way if she doesn't even know what she's doing herself. I kind of wonder what she tells the other people, if she's even telling them the right things. I can tell the guy about certain websites, but like I said before, I kind of doubt if any of these people have Internet access, but I could be wrong. There are a lot of Amish and Mennonite in our area and both of those groups have different groups within them that have different beliefs. For example, Old Order Amish don't believe in having tractors with rubber tires; their tractors have metal wheels. They only ride in horse-drawn buggies. I'm not sure of their beliefs about electricity, but I'm pretty sure they don't have televisions, telephones, maybe hardly any modern conveniences. They for sure wouldn't have Internet access. New Order Amish will ride in cars as long as someone else is driving them; they seem to like to shop at Walmart. :) I don't think this guy is Amish or he probably wouldn't have even been talking to me on the phone. I'd say that he's Mennonite and I'm not familiar with their beliefs, but I know that they are also stricter than people of other religions but not as strict as the Amish, so there's a possibility that he might have Internet access. I don't know about the rest of his family members that are coming in from various areas. That being said, I don't think that they would be Amish if they're flying in on planes. I assume that they aren't having someone drive them here from places like California and Texas. lol I will definitely do what you suggested and hope that he understands. I hate to disappoint the guy, but well, I don't want to be worrying about my cats either. Oh, another "red light" that makes me wonder if he'd do a thorough job of passing along information is the fact that he said he wants to keep it simple. Well, if I'd send all of the information with him that I'd want them to know in order to raise a caterpillar, I don't think that would be simple enough to suit him. I mean really, how can you explain in just a paragraph or two about Monarchs, let alone how to care for them?! I feel like he's asking the impossible. I hate for demands to be put on me, and in a way, I'm feeling that way. It's not the he's mean or rude, but I just get this underlying feeling of pressure or something, like if I don't give him caterpillars, it will ruin the presentation. Ugh! It almost makes me want to not answer the phone anymore, but I couldn't do that to a person, just leave him up in the air. Oh, and he said he was going to tell them all to bring a quart jar along to the retreat so each family would be able to take home a caterpillar with them! I wasn't real thrilled about that because there I did feel like he absolutely expects me to give him caterpillars. I just really thought it might just be me worrying for nothing and I didn't say anything. I think that he already sent out information to everyone about that. I guess that he's going to have a lot of disappointed people. Now that I'm thinking about this even more, why can't he go find some caterpillars somewhere and give those to the people if he's so insistent that they have some instead of wanting me to give him some from our garden here. He surely can recognize milkweed if he has some of his own like he said he has. After hearing your story of what you have gone through with that person and having most of your caterpillars that you gave her die, that convinces me more than anything else not to give him any. No matter how disappointed he will be and no matter how many empty jars are waiting for caterpillars, some people are just going to have to be disappointed because I am not giving away any caterpillars. I guess he could tell that I wasn't too happy about the idea because he said something about buying them from me. I told him no, I don't sell caterpillars. Maybe I'm weird, but I'd feel like some madam pimping out some well, you know. Ha. Honestly, I'd feel like I'm exploiting the caterpillars. I just can't take money for them. He's not getting any anyway and thank you so much to you and the others for making me see for sure that giving him some would be a big mistake. I'd be heartbroken if he'd call me up later on and say something like, "I can't figure out what they did wrong; most of the people called me and said that their caterpillars died." Now, that would upset me and then some! Ha, knowing him, he'd probably ask for more! No way, Jose, none in the first place. Get your own. Ha. If I can't get him to see the light, then that's his problem and not mine. He ought to be glad that I'm taking all the time that I am to look up information for him and I've even started milkweed in cups for the people (not that a small milkweed plant would sustain a caterpillar). Even if they would have enough to feed them, so many other things could go wrong that I don't even want to have to worry about any of that. Thanks again. Cathy

Sure chicken stock can support growth of botulism. Any low acid food can, and meat and meat broths are low acid. I think everyone goes through that 'scared' to eat it phase. Especially so if they haven't watched an experienced canner a few times do a certain product. The first time I made saurkraut, and the fermentation started I freaked out. Nothing smelling that bad could surely be edible. I talked it over with a couple of experienced kraut makers, and even had one go down and inspect my 'work in progress' and guess what, when it was done.......it was so good. Try to keep things in perspective. If you use a method you know is current and safe, and you followed directions, and the product sealed well you are probably just fine. If you have any doubts whatsoever when it comes time to eat it, follow common sense. If it smells off, doesn't look right, is growing something, or the lid pops off like an explosion when you open it, for pity's sake don't even smell it. Dispose of it safely. If it looks fine and you still have doubts, heat it to the boiling point for twenty minutes. That will kill the bacteria and break down the toxins. I have read the stats on botulism poisoning each year at the CDC websites. If you disregard the cases of infant botulism and wound botulism there are relatively few cases of it from food consumption considering the amount of food preserved annually in this country. That's not going to help you if you are one of the cases, though, is it? In my case the only time I was concerned was when I canned up a huge surplus of potatoes in a good gardening year. Even commercially canned spuds will sometimes get cloudy liquid from the potatoes disintegrating in the heating process.......but it turned me off. I think I pitched them, and am really sure in retrospect they were probably wonderful and safe. I followed the directions to the T.

If you're going to use a shower arm diverter, correct, you don't need another diverter built in to your supply valve. Just a diverter on the end of your shower arm. If you want to keep the TBIII and use it to its potential, then just pick up a combo wall outlet/bracket for the handheld. Plumb one of the TBIII ports to the wall outlet/bracket, here's a Grohe one for example: That will allow you to position the handheld near your shower arm or position it on another wall. An alternative would be to have a wall outlet separate from the handheld holder bracket. You could use the above combo outlet/bracket on the wall around knee level. The handheld could be put in that bracket when shaving legs for example, or washing the dogs or showering toddlers. Add a second bracket (just bracket, not a combo outlet/bracket) up higher on the wall for standard showering. Regardless, match the bracket to the handheld (same manufacturer) so you know they will be compatible.

Unfortunately, the cabinets are in the factory already and couldn't be changed - we checked today. The Modernaires, look wonderful. I asked about one in the photo gallery but they said it was too expensive for them to make. So why taunt us with it? :) However, DH found a Zephyr that I had missed and it is deeper than the Imperials. It is http://zephyronline.com/products/cheng/okeanito_wall I'm still checking out its feature's and functionality and hoping that I can work in a little discount from the appliance store since this plus the range top and other misc appliances will add up. I also wonder if there are any look alikes that are less expensive since this one blows my hood budget out the window (pardon the pun) However, it is a key design feature of the kitchen so I do think it is worth it. And 48" is the largest it goes so I don't feel that bad about the cabinets not being able to make room for 54". Thank you for your help! Those Modernaires do look lovely By the way, NYC, did you put lighting inside of your glass cabinets? I like the idea but decided not to because it will be a while before I accumulate a showcase of teapots there. Did you put undermount lighting under all of your cabinets? I'm wondering if I'll really need it under everything but then it might look dumb if I only have it on the inner part of my L Txs