Ginny, Waiting longer, but not too long, should definitely help; how much help depends on the climate. Next year, try sampling two oranges every two weeks starting late Nov. This is an educational step teaching you when to harvest the fruit. Although this can change from year to year depending on climate and care, at least you get a baseline regarding the progression from very acid to ripened sweet. For my area, late Dec is usually the ripest time, but I always go by feel to find them when heavy in addition to sampling. Regarding your trees: Chances are your soil pH will be at least a little high which means the tree can't take up the nutrients it needs -- even if they are in the soil in abundance. The long-term treatment is clear: 1) keep the soil pH around 6.5 2) apply a fertilizer with a ratio *near* 5-1-3 NPK. It must have micro-nutrients labeled on it. 3) once a year apply 1Tbsp/gal Epsom Salts dissolved in warm water (as very few ferts have Magnesium (Mg) in them). If it's an *organic* fertilizer, the NPK ratio can be different and it's probably OK. But citrus use lots of N, hardly any P, and K in about half the rate of N. The second #, P=Phosphorus builds up in the soil and is becoming taboo. There are a few ways of lowering your soil pH, with many good ideas on the net. If you go the Sulfur route, you can apply the sulfur granules once/year when warm in spring at the same time you apply the Epsom salts. As you've done a great job so far answering our questions, you may want more opinions on exactly what the tree is deficient in. If so, take several more photos of the sections that are yellow; take some closeup, some a few feet away. Use your highest resolution and largest image size and upload it to Photobucket (don't post the actual photo here). By examining larger sections of the leaves, we'll know better what you need. As ashley has stated, applying some iron chelate in vinegar water is a simple test to see if iron is all it needs. But honestly it's probably academic anyway, since the care steps I listed above should resolve any issues long-term. We've covered the sweetness topic. Regarding the dryness topic, if you get a year where the majority of them are looking that way, take some pics and lets try to figure it out what happened. As I said earlier, there are some known effects for causing that particular condition: excessive N, lower K, but it can also be caused by excessive watering. It also can happen when they are over-ripe. The internal cells will burst and dry out; in some climates this can happen relatively quickly after their peak ripeness. Chris

Well you could choose different door handle color and just deal with the hinges yourself if you really want something other than brass. If you like brass then use it as I see nothing wrong with it. I think brass goes with anything. In my old house my master had brushed brass and brushed nickel faucets/towelbars/towel rings and I used brushed nickle for the knobs and handles for the cabinets there and the mirrors. So even if you wanted to use some with a silver finish you could get something that has a little brass on it and tie it in. The door to the bath had iron handles and black hinges. Here is a pic where you can kind of see it: Towel bar has outer ring in brushed brass and the point that holds the ring and the rest is nickel. Some brass finishes and others that I think would work well too. Bronze Brushed brass vs. shiny (not sure what your hinges will be). antique brass Black also would look good. I'm not a matchy match person though and I don't think I could do all the same color on all my fixtures in the house. In our new house the baths are brushed nickel, door handles are ORB and light fixtures varies from iron look to antique brass, and brushed nickel in the baths. Kitchen faucet is brushed stainless and the pendant above it is antique brass with an amber shade. Bath knobs and pulls will be brushed nickel, not sure about the kitchen, but I'm leaning towards ORB, pewter, or antique brass due to the dark cabinets and wanting it to not stick out too much.

Emtek is a great choice because you are getting a Baldwin quality lock at a less expensive price. Emtek Hardware is solid brass or bronze which makes the locks heavier and more durable than most hardware. Emtek also has a great warranty. You can find Emtek Hardware at discount prices at homehardware4less.com. Here is a link that might be useful: Home Hardware 4 Less

We got our pulls from pullsdirect.com. Really great prices and their customer service was great. There were supposed to be 2 boxes in our shipment, but when only one was delivered and there was no indication it was a partial shipment, I called and they found out that the courier service screwed up and assured me I would have the other box by a certain date. It came by the promised date. However I did first go to Lowes/HD or any place I knew I could buy a knob and then return them, so that I could get a feel for color/size on our cabinets. The problem with many of the online stores is they usually have a restock fee.