Oh, frankly, I LOVE my addiction. It could be so much worse. I've got three brand new clematis just potted up and waiting for their real home. (Gotta prime/paint the new trellis and put it up first.) I've got an old fashioned snowball bush to plant at the corner of the veggie garden out back! I've got a brand new Dynamite crape myrtle (cause one of the three I put in at the end of the yard doesn't match the others). And then...I'll have to find a spot for that poor little mismatch!! (tee hee) And I've still got a whole flat of wintersowed nicotiana...and I might have to find a new yellow Banks rose now that I've decided to train one up the snag left when that oak blew down last week. And I'd like to put a couple of butterfly bushes next to it...hey! They would help shade what used to be the "shade garden". See...one thing leads to another. I COULD be buying shoes. Or having my nails done. But what fun would that be??? P.S. The garden centers and big box stores around here have stopped selling six-packs!! Even in spring...none. The smallest plants you could buy were the "landscapers 18 packs" with cells about 2-3 inches across. And expensive. I inquired about the six packs and they said they don't have the personnel to keep them watered. ARGGGGGGGGG! Now that does distress me cause it was always helpful to be able to grab a six-pack of annuals to fill in "disaster holes" late in the season. (And you got plants without having to take out a loan.) Is this happening everywhere?

wow I thought I had it bad this fall mealies got my red orchid cactus and then attacked one of my diffenbachias(this one died) and then they hit one barrel cactus in a large garden of cacti. I repotted and used a spray bottle with 2 drops dish soap and 1/3 vinegar and 2/3 water. the orchid cactus still breaks out occassionally but has bloomed twice and has tons fo new growth. thankfully they didnt spread through my whole house. Good Luck.

Interestingly the 4 ton Climatemaster Transquility 27 he is quoting at 4 tons has a BEST CASE heat output at 50dF (unlikely all winter) of about 46k BTU on full speed....That is basically half the design load--the rest would apparently come from the heat strips. I understand we are rarely at 5dF (his design temp for manual-J) but still, that is one hell of a delta from the design load and quoted load don't you agree?!?

Cilantro, I turned them into a cobbler and found a recipe for no-pectin jam when I realized I didn't have pectin after all. They had to macerate with sugar over night and I made the jam this morning. Added vanilla beans and it turned out absolutely delicious (and made the house smell wonderful), so plllog is very right about my being glad to have bought them after all. Grainlady, after reading that, I wish we had a dehydrator! Might have to talk hubby into one. Annie, that's exactly what I meant! :o) I bet being picked before ripe and then being cooled on the trip here caused the weird texture. I think buying local might help prevent this. I picked several hard peaches off our trees in June cause the birds pecked huge holes into most of them before they were even ripe. They ripened just fine on the countertop and tasted delicious and juicy. So it must be the cooling while shipping that is causing the weird texture.