Scott, thanks for posting, and thanks to everyone else too. Here in Santa Cruz County, we've had one of our most dismal apple years ever. All the commercial growers were complaining about the long much cooler than usual Summer followed by a week of 108F temperatures in late September. It was a disaster, with a lot of burn damage. Needless to say, many varieties didn't do well as a result of these conditions. The lack of Summer heat lowered the brix level on many varieties, and the Fall heat destroyed the texture on many varietie. So my report isn't glowing, but heck, at least a few varieties turned out very good. The big winner for me this year was Oldenburg. I was amazed as to the flavor and complexity of this apple, it was really perfect. It was the first time this one ripened for me. On the other end of the spectrum was fraurotacher. I was excited about this apple, but it turned out to be the most horrible apple I've ever grown. It was virtually inedible off the tree, and reading all the descriptions, it sounded like it needed to store a while. Well, it just turned mealy in storage. This may be a good apple in Switzerland, but it will get grafted over to something else in my garden. So here is a summery of some of my apples: Summer apples: - yellow transparent was delicious, the cool Summer helped this variety retain excellent texture, and the flavor was good too. - William's pride, an amazingly delicious apple, so dark red it was almost black - Viking, now that I got to eat viking side by side to William's pride, it was hard to tell the varieties apart once picked. Flavor wise, they are also very similar, but William's pride is bigger and a better keeper. - Anna, a low chill variety really disappointed me, the flavor was really one dimensional, a great apple if you can't grow anything else, but dismal in competition to william's pride. - dorsett golden, the other low chill variety, it's more vanilla like in flavor, I like it because it's one of the first varieties to ripen, as early as June. The rest of the apples: - Gravenstein, one of the best apples around. We pressed 100 liters of gravenstein juice which usually ill last us into next Summer. Doesn't store well at all. Because of the cool weather, Gravenstein really ended up a late Summer apple, even though on normal years it's ripe by the end of July, early August. - Zestar, delicious, one of the best late Summer apples - Reine des reinettes, ripens early September here, really high quality, delicious, I love this apple, firm, crunchy, full of flavor This is the first year I've had these, they are a definite keeper for me. - Mother, first year I got this one too, it was delicious, I really like it. - Calville Rouge D'automne, last year this one was superb, this year, it was mediocre. It just didn't have that amazing sugar/acid balance that makes this a great apple. It's a keeper nevertheless, hopefully next year it will fare better. - Bella des jardins, first fruiting, was very, very tart but very flavorful, and it sure looks beautiful. Our cool Summer left this one with BRIX below acceptable levels, but on warmer years this one will be really good. I think this is a good candidate for hotter climates. I can't wait to see what I will get next year. - Double bon pommier: very good all around apple. A definite keeper. French apples seem to do very well in our climate and soil. - Reinette Franche: delicious green apple with a great sugar acid balance and a very good flavor. - Empire, was very good this year, getting better in storage - James grieve, a bit dissapointing, it goes mealy so quickly. I am not sure what the fuss is all about around this variety, it doesn't merit this much attention. - red gold, wow, talk about delicious, and it's one good looking apple too. It's just a good all around apple, and very heat resistant. It was unphased exposed to full sun at 108F. There wasn't a single trace of damage. - McIntosh, terrible, why do I bother growing this one, everybody keeps telling me it's a poor choice for Santa Cruz county. - snow, turned out good this year. THis one isn't exactly a good apple for our climate, I hold on to it mainly for breeding purposes. - Rubinette, very reliable and most excellent. - king, I love this apple, also very reliable and very flavorful. - arlette, tasty, especially after a bit of storage - orleans reinette, reliably good, pretty much the same every year no matter how the weather turns out. - nonesuch, ah, I think I am not liking this one anymore. I can eat one of these, and then I don't want to eat another one for the rest of the year. I am not sure why, there is something about this apple that my body just doesn't like. Produces reliably and the flavor is the same every year. - Jonagold, very boring this year, bland - mutsu, same thing, it just doesn't have that anise overtone it gets on good year. I still have mutus on my tree, that's how cold it has been last Summer. - Sweet valentine, very good new local variety, super sweet, deliciously flavored. - Freedom, good tasty apple, a bit on the tart side due to the lack of heat. - Belle de boscoop, bread and butter cooking apple, did very well this year. - Golden russett, very tasty, amazing flavor - Hudson's golden gem, one of my favorites, never fails every year. - Alexander, these were very good this year, excellent texture and quite edible as table apples. - Bella di pontoise, Scott raves about this one, I had one single apple ripen on my single branch of Bella di Pontoise, and I must have waited too long, because it eventually dropped and by that time had already gone mealy. -Winter banana, terrible apple this year, it's never really that good, but last year I had a few late stragglers that were quite delicious. - Sweet victoria, a 100% acid-less apple, very strange eating experience, but good and interesting. I cannot find any info on this apple anywhere. It showed up at a scion exchange one year. I always look forward to it, it's such an easy apple to eat. - Swaar, good basic apple, can't complain. But it didn't really stand out in any way. - Cox orange pippin, I placed my tree in 50% afternoon shade, and this placement seems to be paying off. The ripening was delayed by a full month, making it truly delicious and live up to its reputation. The lack of afternoon heat means the apples had perfect texture and a good sweet acid balance, plus the aromatics it's well known for. I am still waiting for brushy mountain limbertwig, pink lady, granny smith, Waltana, brownee russet and a few other very late apples. The late ones are definitely way superior here in flavor and texture.

I'm REALLY interested... it's just that my pocketbook is REALLY empty! If some miracle occurs between now and then, I'm in! I would love to travel and get some culture! And traveling with you guys would be the cats pajamas! :-) Lizalily, I absolutely LIVE on coffee! I don't own a double burner Bunn because it looks cool on my counter top! LOL! We'd have to figure out some way of always having a pot on! I'm a Folgers freak... how about you? Kristi... the diamond tour sounds very interesting and educational! I'd be very much into doing that! We never buy jewelry retail, either... my wedding set was designed by Larry, and made by our gemologist friend in Canada. It's platinum, rather plain by anyone's standards, but I love it... and the stone is gloriously clear and sparkly! Larry won't tell me what it appraised at, and he won't tell me how much he paid... all he'll say is, "You don't want to know!" It's probably better this way... or I'd never wear it! Your ring sounds gorgeous... champagne diamonds are so beautiful! The mixed metal colors must really show it off! White and yellow gold look so expensive together! Good jewelry is a nice investment. I'm not quite the party girl I used to be, so I'm all for absorbing a bit of daytime culture! One evening to see the night life sights would be more than enough for me! With our svelte new figures, we'd HAVE to do some fashion shopping while there! :-) I think it sounds like the trip of a lifetime! I can't even imagine the time we'd have, the fun, the beauty of the flower fields, the bulbs, the architecture, the people, the everything! I've never even been on a big plane! Honestly, I doubt I can save the required amount of cash to make the trip a reality... but you never know. Life has a funny way of working out for the best. If it's meant to happen, it'll happen. But, pray for me, anyway! :-)

You should post your question in the fireplace forum to get lots of opinions. There is such a forum on gardenweb. My neighbor had some sort of deluxe fireplace installed. Not sure if it was an upgrade or if he never had one. He goes through mountains of wood but says it heats his whole house. He has a family room with a cathedral ceiling that has an opening to the second floor hallway and since heat rises...I think he said he used 5 cords of wood. I'm not sure, but I do recall thinking it was a lot of wood and it wasn't free (maybe one batch was free). I don't know how healthy that is to heat your house all the time with wood. Maybe it has doors and a filter...I don't know. He just got his gas bill and it was $50. Mine was $115, but I did have my mother-in-law here for a week with her "thin" FL blood so we had to keep the heat at 70-72 rather than 66-68. Neighbor and I both have tankless water heater. You might consider wood as a cheaper back up option and also ask on the other forum about a unit that can use gas and/or wood. That's what I would do if I had the $. On another note...MY gas usage on the current bill was higher than last year. Last year we used 65 ccf for a 28 day bill period with avg temp on bill listed as 49.6 This year we used 82 Ccf on a 33 day cycle with a temp of 45.5. The longer bill cycle, lower temp and mother-in-law makes it hard for me to see if my 97% heater,air sealing and tankless SAVED me anything over my old 91% furnace without air seal and my 57% water heater. I have to wait for a bill cycle that more closely matches the temp etc to tell if it helped or not.

My first advice would be to find out how much insulation you currently have in the attic and what condition it is in. You should have at least R-30 of insulation. If you are adding more than it doesn't cost much more to increase it to R-40. I like fiberglass batts, but blown in insulation is fine as long as it is done properly. This is something you can do yourself or hire an insulation company. I am sure you were told that as part of the NJ Clean Energy Program you must seal your attic in order to qualify for any rebate. I have never seen any measured results of energy savings before and after sealing. The attic hatch should be sealed since in my opinion it is the biggest source of leakage. This is something you can do yourself. Several years ago I built my own insulated hatch for about $15. If you seen dirty insulation that is dirty in spots, then that is a source of a significant air leak. You can use silicone caulk to seal them, or you can have the insulation company seal and then insulate. I see that you have gotten some quotes. I also detect that some and possibly all have not done a load calculation for your house. Any HVAC contractor who quotes either a 2 or 3 ton AC for an 1100 sq. foot house in Middlesex County (I am in the same county) NJ obviously has not done a load calculation. If you are going to upgrade the attic insulation then do that first, and then get a contractor to do a real load calculation. If your windows are double paned and fairly tight, then I would think a 40K BTU furnace and a 2 ton furnace are the correct sizes. As far as equipment goes, I own Carrier Infinity equipment and so far I like it. The Bryant equipment is exactly the same. I am a fan of 2 stage furnaces and AC and in my opinion are worth the extra money. Trane/American Standard is also very good. I have no direct experience with Lennox, but from what I understand Lennox uses unique parts. The parts have to come from Lennox and are sometimes harder to get. I think you said your current furnace is 11 years old and 80% efficiency. Normally I would say to keep the furnace another 5-10 years. But if you plan to live in this house 10 or more years then you may want to consider replacing and keeping the correct matching AC. Here are my opinions on the quotes: Company #1 Quote #1: Carrier Performance AC is good, I don't think you need 2.5 tons and the price seems expensive. Quote #2 Carrier Infinity 58CVA furnace is very good, but it is only 80% AFUE. I recommend spending a little more money and installing a 95%+ AFUE furnace. The Infinity 24VNA9 is overkill for our climate. You can save money buy dropping down a model or two and getting an AC that has a SEER rating of about 16. If the AC is sized properly and is 2-staged then I highly doubt you need a whole house dehumidifier. That would be a waste of money in my opinion. Company #2 and #3 I am not an expert on Lennox, but I think some of these models don't compare that the Carrier Infinity in terms of features. The fact you are being quoted different AC sizes is a red flag for me. Company #4 Quote #1 Bryant Legacy 2.5 ton for $4600 seems reasonable. I would want to see a load calculation to see if you really need 2.5 tons. If you keep your current furnace you will have a mismatched system. It will work, but you don't know the SEER rating, Quote #2 Bryant Evolution is the same as Carrier Infinity. Very nice equipment but the price seems high. Here is quoting a 2 ton. So why is he quoting 2.5 ton in Quote #1? I see no size listed for the furnace. Quote #3 He now quotes the 3 ton size. I guess he thinks you may want to hang meat in your basement. A 3 ton AC, even if it were 2-stage, is going to short cycle and you will still have a humidity problem. Once you discover this he may suggest getting a whole house dehumidifier. Correct sizing is critical. This guy does not seem to care. In summary you haven't found a good contractor yet. Carrier rebates start March 1st. The March - April time frame is the best time to get quotes in our area. Contractors are not busy and the pricing is a little better.