Hi, I'm not the welcome wagon,I am seldom on here, but it's very nice to meet you. I love your spunk!And your enthusiasm (sp??)LOL My Grandmother had a green thumb, too. Anything would grow for her.inside or out! I also love wintersowing, it's so cool to see the tiny little plants,I have to admit between dogs, wind, kids,mine where all dumped before i could get them in the ground,but I refuse to give up.Right now my kitchen table and most of the cabinet is covered in nice clean jugs waiting for soil. Raising three grandsons for now, so I get a lot more jugs than I used to,also juice pouches work great if you have a pan or tray to set them in, I hope you have many long years of friendship here, you meet the nicest people in these forums!Let me know if there's any thing I can help you with!

blacksmithman: Yes, it will do square stock. It will hold up to 1.5" square, but bending stock that thick is another matter. I've used it to twist 3/4" square, and it was tough but doable. What I've done is make inserts for common size stock, like 1/2". That way you can just put the inserts in and slide your stock through and twist away. For uncommon sizes I just tighten the hex bolts down to get a grip. I'm looking forward to the propane forge, it will be awesome to have that capability. The body will be 12" ID pipe (5/16" wall) about 24" long. It will be lined with Kasto-Lite refractory cement, about 2" thick giving us an 8" diameter working area. It will be heated with a two burner set up with a small blower. I'm gather materials right now, so if you're farther along and can post any pics we'd appreciate it. 225# for $5! Wow! I doubt we find a deal that good. The problem I'm having is when you call about an anvil and the guy says it's huge.......and after more questions you figure out it is about 50#, and that's when you can find one that's not cast iron. So we're still searching. EBay has quite a few, but there ususally in the Northeast or Midwest which is real haul for us to pick up, and shipping gets expensive quick. BS vise, yes, my folks have an antique shop and we got a good one, about 5" jaw, spring intact, threads good. I see those on eBay as well. David

Desertsteph- I just drew up a diagram this morning. Please ignore the strange alcovy-thing next to the half bath... that doesn't exist. I don't know what I was thinking, lol. Krycek - The colors in the exterior picture aren't really representative of the house colors. I remember going to the house for the first time and being like "Oh, that's not what I thought it would look like". I'll take new pictures once we close. It's actually a pretty dark beige on the outside, and the slate is a mix of browns, reds and blues. It's doesn't translate well here. I was thinking of putting up cranberry colored shutters, taking down the storm door, and painting the entry door a dark, rich blue. What do you think? And while I don't have any experience gardening, my mom loved it and I am looking forward to trying my hand at it!

Kitchens are very personal to those that use them. One cooks dream kitchen will be another cooks nightmare. Fingers crossed in two years time I will be allowed to build MY dream kitchen in our current house. Any line cook/professional chef will feel at ease here, but most people on this forum would be shocked. I am in a very unique situation where my wife has a very well paying job that means I do not have to work to put food on the table. This is not to say I could not find work, as 13 years in the Australian Army (retiring as a Major) and four years as a Finance Professional (two finance degrees, the highest a Masters) have left me with marketable skills. After moving to Dallas TX via five years in New York City, from Sydney Australia, I was looking at short courses to improve my home cooking. Not finding any courses that were of value I enrolled at Le Cordon Bleu and completed a 15 month Culinary Associates Degree in 13 months then worked in a five star restaurant for nine months. This was all to improve my home cooking. Kitchens for me are a place of work. If you want to socialize there are other rooms in the house for that. If you need to do homework, there are other rooms in the house for that. If you are in my kitchen you are cooking and/or cleaning. By their nature kitchens are hot, noisy, dangerous places. Pets and very very young children do not belong in the kitchen as they pose a risk to themselves and others, both through injury and food contamination. My kitchen will have a commercial range hood. I'm not talking 27" deep 48" wide 1,000 cfm, but a 48" deep 9' wide 2,500 cfm hood covering the entire hot cooking area. The hot cooking area will have one gas wok burner and outlets/space for two 3,500w (240v) portable induction burners, two 1,800w (110v) portable induction burners, one 240v counter top deep fryer, two immersion circulators (110v) in their water baths, and a commercial combi oven. Portable burners and the like allow flexibility in the kitchen and increase prep counter space. Most of my kitchen will be stainless steel with open shelving. It might not grace the pages of Better Homes and Garden, but it will be a bullet proof kitchen that is easy to clean. As much as possible the kitchen will be a separate room, NOT open the the main living areas. For me kitchens are food preparation areas with other rooms for food eating and socializing. A separate kitchen allows the noise, heat and smells to be contained in one room, not spread throughout the house. This kitchen will match my cooking style and methods. I hunt and have a chest freezer full of venison, rabbit and squirrel I harvested myself. The freezer also contains sub-primal cuts of animals that I buy in bulk. I much as I can I butcher and process my own meat and make sausage from scratch. I make all stocks, broths and sauces from scratch. I need large prep tables that are easy to clean to do this. While I do not consider my cooking methods cutting edge, I do own and use equipment not often seen outside professional kitchens. I cook Sous Vide for almost every meal. I use immersion circulators to cook most of my proteins and I use a vacuum chamber sealer to seal product in plastic bags. For those that have seen the five volume cookbook Modernist Cuisine, I can prepare most of those recipes with the current kitchen tools I own. My dream kitchen will allow me to cook them all. I rarely cook one pot wonders. A normal mid week meal, for just my wife and I, will be one course with a protein, sauce, two different vege and a starch. I require five separate burners to heat the food for plating - one for each item. I will/have happily spend/spent 6-8 hours a day in the kitchen for 3-4 days preparing a themed 9 course tasting meal (paired with wine) because one friend from out of town is/was coming over. I enjoy preparing, cooking, plating and serving food at home that is 5 star restaurant quality. When people ask me what do I do, I say I am a Personal Chef to my Wife. I can count on both hands the number of times per YEAR that we order take out and/or eat at a restaurant for dinner when in Dallas. A kitchen is where cooking occurs. While many people forget it, cooking is a very serious business. When you make mistakes in a kitchen, at best people go yuk and a pizza is ordered; worse case people die. To reduce the possibility of food borne illnesses, the kitchen needs to be an area that is separate from the main area of the house. It should not be a thoroughfare for the family and pets traipsing from the carport/outside/garage/etc to get to another part of the house. The materials the kitchen is made of need to be easily cleaned and sanitized. If you are scared to use a pressure washer on them, it is not the right material. My dream kitchen is most peoples nightmare. It is industrial, noisy and tight. Any aisle wider than 36" wide is too wide, any wider I would have to take a step to reach something - that is inefficient. The lighting will be bright and daylight balanced. I spend my pretty-mood-lighting-funds on the lights outside and in the great room, not the kitchen. The only view in my kitchen, other than the four walls, is the TV in one corner. The best views in the house are when you are sitting on the back deck with a cold beer in both hands, not standing at the sink washing a stack of dirty pans. A "cook's kitchen" is one where any cooking occurs. I have friends with kitchens costing $200k+ that only get used to heat precooked purchased food on Thanksgiving - I do not call this a cook's kitchen although it could be. Another friend will prepare, from scratch a 3 course plated meal for 10 in their 800 sq ft NYC studio apartment. The "kitchen" is a bar sink, 2 feet of counter space, 1 hot plate, 1 toaster oven and a dorm fridge. What constitutes a "cook's kitchen" for me is one that I am willing and happy to spend many hours a day, day after day in. For me this is commercial kitchen in a residential home.