O.K. Kay I went and found most of my receipts... Boy I wasn't as organized with those as I thought that I was. If I have received my orders I will tell you and list the bonuses as well. With Blue J you pick your bonuses and I forgot to separate those on my lists. And let's face it if they leave out some there are so many I'll be none the wiser. lol The daughter (I can't remember her name at the moment) was so very nice on the phone. And I guess since I started with the largest order 1st I'll just continue largest to smallest. Also you will notice some duplicates, that was due to me trying to go by memory what I had ordered. That was dumb Denny! And then one order I made at 2:30 A.M. Well that was ignorant as heck also! lol One of the Iris I ordered 4 of and it is an Aril and I don't even know yet if they'll live or die. Aw well live and learn. Last year I ordered a lot of several and for what? I dunno, so I tried not to do that again but failed with one order. So now I have a binder with all the Iris that I ordered (and previously owned) listed alphabetically. It helps but I still miss and accidentally order sometimes what I own already or have on order. A result of having had more seizures than I can count I believe. But alas life is good, my health is grand now! Hopefully my memory will follow suit. Without further ado... Echo Iris Garden - Owner Ernie is so very nice also. He had open heart surgery earlier this year and not a month later he was already peetering around in his iris gardens! You just can't keep a good gardener down! Acoma, Amigo, Beaux Art, Blue Shimmer, i. germanica, Jean Guymer, Los Coyotes, Mayan Poppy, Melody, Mme. Chereau, Nigerian Raspberry, Nordica, Paper Doll, Six Pack, Cascade Splendor, Butterscotch Kiss, Kona Coast, Mulberry Rose, Puccini, Queen In Calico, Queen's Circle, Purple Pepper, Purissima, Red Polish (can't wait to see this bloom in person), Syncopation, Whispering Spirits, Tennessee Woman, Tennessee Gentleman, Street Walker, Total Obsession, Melted Butter, Hot Line, Hey Looky, Aplomb. Napa Country Iris Garden - Louisa's Song, Mister Flounce, Jurassic Park, Aardvark Lark, Chocolate Moose, Dance Hall Dolly, Decadence, Drinks At Sunset, Grape Expectations, Grizzly Gosling (this is the one everyone thought was ugly, I think it's the most beautiful flower ever!), High Master, Moonlit Water, Peekaboo Zebu, Who's Your Daddy, Solar Fire, Squid Squirt, Spiced Tiger, Upper Hand This is an order from an e-bay seller - rebloomirislover Her name is Sherry and she is so very sweet! Her little boy Conner helps her with her gardens. Zebra Halo (variegated foliage), Reincarnation, Curtain Up, Sundown Saber, Ring Around Rosie, Odoratissima, Sneezy, Zebra Night (variegated foliage), Tropical Butterfly, Hotdogs & Mustard, Grape Snakez, Tanzanian Tangerine, Cantina, Bonus - Juicy Fruit, Violet Returns, Bengal Tiger & she said "other surprises" I'm excited for this order! I think she told me she would be shipping July 15 His Iris Garden - Constant communication from this seller as well. Very nice people. Double Click, Tropical Butterfly (yep I see the duplicate order, sigh), Abundant Sunshine, Larry Gaulter, Bay Rum, Stairway To Heaven, Mary Frances, Cabot Cove, Zebra Iris X2 (any variegated duplicates ARE on purpose as they are my favorites!), Becky Miller, Charlotte Rose, Infernal Fire received an e-mail that my order will ship out July 15 also. Williamson Farm Flowers - I spoke to Alicia Williamson by phone and she was so sweet also! Send me a nice plant I might remember you BE nice to me and I'll remember you always! A plant makes an indention in my ground, kindness makes an indention in my heart. -Rena'- Japanesque, Little Freak, Schortman's Garnet Ruffles, Tiger Talk, Jungle Warrior I received this order already and received 2 bonus Iris So Grand & Castle Stronghold an extra Japanesque, Little Freak & Jungle Warrior. These are all growing strong except So Grand, it is struggling. We'll see if it pulls through or not. Willow Bend Iris - Oyez (an Aril) X4 (you guessed it my 2:30 A.M. order, lol) Cherry Glen, Drama Queen X2 Daylilies By The Pond - Sara is so very kind also! Most of my order was daylilies but I did have 3 Iris on the order. Candy Apple Classic, Birthday Greetings & Dandy Candy. Sara sent an extra Candy Apple Classic & Dandy Candy. Sunshine Annie's - Invoice is AWOL So this one will have to wait 'til I find it. Also I am putting together an order for Rockytops. But I have so many coming that I might wait 'til next year on that one. O.K. Kay I better get some shut eye as I have 65 daylilies to plant and 30 lilies tomorrow. Rena'

This wouldn't work for a lot of you, but it's a near-ideal setup for our household of two: I have a 30" gas cooktop, with a Max Burton portable induction unit sitting on an aluminum cookie sheet over the rear left burner (which was a rarely used and unreliable small 'simmer burner'). The induction top is where all boiling operations happen, from daily water boiling for the coffee press to pasta to blanching veg to (frequent) pressure cooking. A big advantage of this setup is that the placement at the back corner of the stove, directly under the under-powered vent hood and slightly elevated, ensures that steam is carried right up and away. Before, we had to use the front right burner, the most powerful, for boiling, and it's too far forward for the vent hood to capture the steam efficiently. In the heat of summer, the combination of dramatically less heat from the burner itself plus the steam removal makes a huge difference in kitchen comfort. A second big advantage of the induction rig here is for long, low cooking -- simmering down apple butter, or ketchup, or making carnitas. Our cheapo gas stove has real problems with the flame guttering out at low settings, particularly if another burner is in use; the induction unit makes a long simmer worry-free. Likewise, some pressure cooker operations, like chicken stock, spend 45 minutes to an hour at pressure, and it's a blessing to be able to regulate the burner precisely and with no worry about the effect of using any of the gas burners while it's going. This arrangement frees up the powerful front right burner for the more hands-on kinds of tasks it's suited to: searing, stir-frying, browning meat & veg before braising, crepe-making, etc. There are a lot of reasons I'd be very reluctant to give up gas: I've cooked for forty years on nothing but, I have some wonderful copper and aluminum pans that take maximum advantage of the flame, it works when the power goes out (several times a year in our rural area), I regularly toast tortillas directly on the burner, and (for me, at least) skillet operations are induction's weak point. But the 'hillbilly hybrid', while not a thing of beauty, gives us the best of both worlds, seriously increasing the usability of the existing cooktop at an extremely low cost. If I were to get a completely new kitchen, I'd probably go with an induction cooktop: Full induction cooktops have much finer-grained power levels than the portable, with the lowest settings much more usefully low. But I'd add a big gas burner for all the reasons in the paragraph above.

I understand Ole Joyful when he says that for one person he doesn't think it's worth it. We had thought that might be the case for us, with only two people in our home (not counting dog and cats). When they built a Costco less than two miles away, we decided to give it a try and were pleasantly surprised. What we save on printer ink and coffee beans pays us back for the membership -- everything else is "gravy," so to speak. Some Favorites: 1) Starbuck's blend coffee beans, regular and decaf, plus French roast and espresso beans 2) Big box of Healthy Choice Fudge Bars (ice cream) 3) Meat department favorites -- short rib meat (boneless) and skinless/boneless chicken thigh meat. We cook some fresh and freeze some for another day. 4) Cooked whole chickens and cooked pork ribs 5) Mixed nuts 6) Multiple vitamins & other supplements 7) Asian pears 8) La Brea whole grain bread 9) Pine nuts, almonds, pecans, walnuts Decorated sheet cakes for parties They have good prices on regular household supplies like laundry soap, Charmin toilet paper, Cascade liquid dishwasher soap -- large packages, but even two people will use these up eventually They connected me with a fleet manager for a car I wanted to buy, and I got a better deal on the financing than my own credit union offered. Ours has a members-only gas station, which usually has the best local price.

[Information first compiled, written, and posted in the Appliances Forum by Colin (GW Member Page: cpovey) on 1-9 June, 2004. Many thanks, Colin!] ****************************** A Short FAQ on commercial ranges in homes (residential kitchens): One of the biggest trends in appliances is the "professional" look, meaning appliances made out of stainless steel. This trend was largely the result of Viking Corporation making the first "pro-style" ranges, meaning a range that looks like a commercial range but is designed for home installation. Some people, including myself, have thought of going all out, and installing true "commercial" ranges in our homes, because they are less expensive and produce more heat than the "pro-style" range. However, there are issues with installing "commercial" ranges in homes. This FAQ will attempt to answer these issues. To keep confusion to a minimum, I will refer to "commercial" ranges as the ones made for use in restaurants, and will refer to ranges made for home use as "pro-style". True commercial ranges are made by companies like Garland, Vulcan, Wolf, DCS, Comstock-Castle, Royal, Montague, American Range, US Range, Jade, Imperial, Quest metal works, Southbend, Blodgett, and the like, while the "pro-style" ranges are the ones made for home use, by Viking, Wolf, Blue Star, DCS, Capital, Dacor, Heartland, Jade, GE Monogram, Thermador, Imperial, etc. Yes, some companies make both. -------------------- Here is a list of the advantages and disadvantages of these units in general. Pros of commercial ranges: Less costly than home ranges. Higher output burners (generally 25k BTUs on restaurant grade, while the "heavy duty" models come in around 35k BTUs). Ovens usually hold full sheet pans (see note 1). Very durable. Generally no electronic gimmicks to break. Cons of commercial ranges: Insurance and warranty issues: With many brands, the warranty is void in residential installations. Here is a quote from one manufacturer: "The use or installation of our products in Non-commercial Applications renders all warranties, express or implied, null and void." (the quote continues in this vein for nine additional paragraphs). Insurance issues: you may have problems with homeowners insurance, though probably not, if the range is installed exactly per specifications. Whatever you do, if the insurance company asks if you have commercial equipment installed, do NOT lie to them. Lying to them creates a "Material Misrepresentation" which will void your insurance and they can refuse ANY claim you make. Installation and service issues: In homes with natural gas, the gas supply line is generally insufficient in size for a commercial range. Having too small a gas supply line seems to void the warranty of every unit I looked at. Generally require 6 inch or more clearance from combustible surfaces, with some ranges requiring up to 12 inch clearance. This generally means lining cabinets, walls, backsplash, etc. with tile, which lowers the savings. It also means gaps between the range and the adjoining cabinets. Less insulation around the ovens, which may cause problems in a home, especially with small children. You may have problems getting service (some commercial service companies do not carry liability insurance covering their service personnel in homes). Most are more than 24 inches deep, meaning they stick out from regular cabinets. Since most are deeper than 24 inches, custom hoods are generally required, again reducing the savings. And with the heat these things can produce, you need a good hood. And commercial hoods tend to be noisy compared to residential hoods, and often require makeup air, reducing the savings still more. Most require multiple pilot lights (generally one per burner and one per oven) consuming a lot of fuel, and eliminating over a few years the rest of the up-front savings. A typical 36" commercial range has seven pilot lights running all the time, wasting a lot of gas and producing a lot of heat. A 48" range with double ovens has ten pilot lights! Cooking and other issues: They generally don't simmer home size amounts well (i.e. they make too much heat) without a separate "flame tamer". Pros generally make larger quantities of stuff than people do at home, so the larger "simmer setting" is not a problem. No broilers in commercial ranges. Pros use a device called a "salamander" which is a broiler that is mounted at eye level, generally above the range. The advantage of this is that the cook can watch the food while doing other things, and it frees up the oven. Note that cooking things like steaks, hamburgers, etc. is NEVER (in my professional experience) done in a salamander or broiler in a commercial kitchen. They don't get hot enough, and they don't put grill marks on the food. That's what the grill is for. Salamanders are sometimes called "cheese melters", which is more descriptive of their common function. No option for built-in grill or griddle on most units. Not the easiest to clean - Pro kitchens have a dishwashing crew of very hard working people who get paid to clean things, most homes don't. Not the prettiest to look at. Most do not have stainless sides. Since they are usually deeper than most cabinets, this may not look good. Few, if any, are available as "dual fuel" models, most are all gas or all electric. No self cleaning units. Pros of good quality "pro-style" residential ranges: Elimination of all the problems mentioned above. This means they have sufficient insulation for zero clearance installations, they simmer home sized amounts well, have no insurance issues, contain broilers, often have options for grills or griddles, many come in dual-fuel or gas ovens, many have self-cleaning ovens, are never deeper than 27 inches, etc. In other words, they are designed and engineered for residential use. Most have no pilot lights, resulting in lower operating costs, lower energy wastage, less pollution, and lower electric bills when running AC. Note that in a loss of power, most if not all will allow the burners to operate by using a match or lighter to light the burners, but may not allow the use of the oven. Some brands available in multiple colors, instead of just stainless steel. Cons of good quality "pro-style" residential ranges: More expensive than commercial ranges. Not as much heat as commercial ranges. Most "pro-style" home units run around 12-15k BTUs, with some going up to 18-20k BTUs. This is sufficient for most people at home. Note that the "normal" home gas ranges typically top out at 9-12k BTU burners. Ovens may not hold full-size sheet pans (though some will - check this carefully before purchase) (see note 1). Some have electronic widgets (timers, etc.) that can fail, causing repair problems down the road as the required electronic parts are discontinued because of changing technology. Notes: 1 - A full-sized sheet pan has interior dimensions of 18 by 26 inches. A full-sized layer cake with two layers will feed 80-90 people. Half-sheet pans (also called jelly roll pans) are 13 by 18 inches, and a two layer half-sheet cake will feed 40-45 people. The reason that these pan sizes are important is that many recipes are sized to fit these pans. -------------------- How to get more heat: A partial "work-around" to get more heat for less money is to get a commercial (i.e. Garland, U.S. Range, Vulcan, etc.) cooktop and residential ovens. Many of the problems with commercial equipment in a home are related to the ovens, not the cooktops. Buying a used one avoids the warranty problems. However, the too-hot simmer, the gas supply issues, and potential service problems still exist. Another and probably better option is to install a residential wok burner (DCS, Thermador, Viking and others make these) or a heavy duty induction burner (CookTek and others) along with a residential range. Both of these options provide roughly 30k BTUs, in an easily installed appliance. These units are also not that expensive. -------------------- With permission, I have also included here a posting from another site (an online newsgroup). This article is from Adam Finkelstein, a dedicated and resourceful person who has installed a "commercial" range in his home. I edited it some, for reasons of length, but I tried to keep all the essential elements intact. "I currently own and use a Comstock Castle Six burner 36" restaurant range in my remodeled kitchen. I opted for the commercial for financial and practical reasons. Since I cook seriously and use tools functionally, after researching commercial ranges and using them in friends' restaurants, I arranged to have a Castle stove made and order it through a restaurant supply house as per Castle's recommendation. I had them modify a front burner to run at 45K BTU for Wok cooking. The stove arrived and we had it installed per code with all clearances etc. I had the stove approved for use before I purchased it. However, I'm still having a problem with the final building inspection since the stove is not a "residential" stove--pure bull, but a hassle nonetheless. My GC is going to iron this out eventually. These stoves are HOT. No messing around. I can have a saucepan (1 quart) of water boiling in ~60 seconds. I can make Asian food almost as if I was using a wok jet. Cooking is much faster and more precise. But, there is no room for error. If I neglect anything for a few seconds, stuff is overdone. I have had to adjust all my recipes to compensate for the change in actual cooking time/done-ness. Points to Consider: I have burned myself several times getting used to this stove. Heat radiates up and around the utensil and reaching across to adjust food, one can get seared/scorched. Any utensils that have plastic or composite handles will not last very long on a commercial stove and you will need to use pot-holders or dish towels to manipulate utensils. The stove makes lots of amazingly rich smoke. If you want one of these stoves, you'll need a real hood. Mine is 42 inches and has a 600 CFM internal fan. My 600 CFM hood/fan removes 75% of the most nasty greasy smoke from searing meat or serious Wok use. I was hoping for 100%, but I had to compromise (because of the maximum size ducting I could install). You'll need either a natural gas line or propane--propane burns less hot than NG but is still okay--what I have. You'll also have to wrangle with the company to have a 120 Gallon (400 lb) tank installed. We go through an 80 gallon load in two months: 40 gallons a month. This has been fairly steady, more in the Winter when we bake more. The line needs to be to code with shut-offs and disconnects. Not a huge deal but more details to manage in a remodel. Lastly, after being approved by house insurance and the local building code, you'll possibly run into some cretin-like inspector who will arbitrarily decide that your stove isn't allowed. But, if you have installed to code and specs you should be able to work this one out. I wouldn't want anything else after using this stove. Someone else posted awhile back that after owning and driving a high-performance sports car, why drive a sedan: this is true. If you want to save money and cook like you work in a restaurant (weird desires huh) get a commercial stove. If you have any doubt about high heat, necessity for serious ventilation, detailed gas line installation, and potential skirmishes from building code enforcers, do not consider a commercial stove. If you can deal with those factors and you want to use an amazing tool to make excellent food, then by all means, install a restaurant stove." Notes From Colin Povey (FAQ author) on the commercial range installation by Adam Finkelstein: Like most commercial ranges, this range is deeper than "pro-style" or normal ranges that are 24 to 27 inches deep. This range (per the web site) is 30.5 inches deep. Coupled with the offset requirement, the front of the range must sit 32.5 inches from the wall. Standard base cabinets are 24 inches deep. One way of looking at it is that this commercial range is 8.5 inches deeper than most cabinets, the width of a standard piece of (US) letter or legal paper, or approximately the width of a piece of A4 paper. The range sits on 6 inch tall aluminum legs or optional casters, with no front "toe kick" cover. Toe kick covers are not allowed on commercial equipment, because they make it hard to clean behind. You can get this range with griddles or grills. However, it would seem that the grill (charbroiler) is very hard to install in a home, since the literature says that: "Charbroilers are approved for use in non-combustible locations only." This means all surfaces around the grill must be non-combustible, meaning you cannot have wall cabinets real near this range, and you must have a non-combustible backsplash. The literature on the range also says that "All controls are tested and confirmed in good working order. Calibration and adjustments are the responsibility of the installer." -------------------- I hope this FAQ helps with your decision on getting a "pro-style" or "commercial" range. Colin Povey Clearwater, FL, USA With many thanks to Adam Finkelstein ****************************** [added to Appliances FAQ: 11 June 2004] [last edited: 28 June 2004]