Thanks you two for your words of encouragement. The mediterranean fan palm's two out of 4 pups survived but the rest was very brown and the spear was soggy and black. Since this was a specimen plant in the backyard I am not sure if I want to wait several years for new growth with a large stump as a reminder of the dreadful cold spell. I have attached a link of one of the windmill palms both show the same problem. If you go to the start of my Flickr photostream there is another photo too. Shows no spear (pulled out as light brown and dry) but can see the next frond lying over, third frond in background, happy and healthy. What do you think from these photos? I am over 6 ft so you can see how tall they are. Thanks again for your time. Looks like you 2 are in a colder zone than I am. Here is a link that might be useful: Flickr

I just purchased alfalfa pellets for lawn fertilizer $12/20# at a feed store in Farmersville (east of McKinney/Princeton). It's a drive, but there are places to buy organic feed. Plan a day trip to any farm area around DFW and you should find what you're looking for. Heading south is probably better than north but I was in Blue Ridge for a family function, so it was convenient. Probably overpaid a bit but still better than big box/local Dallas prices. I also purchase compost from Soil Building Systems in Dallas. Website is http://soilbuildingsystems.com/. They may have organic fertilizers too.

Hey Odiegirl13, I would love to hear how it goes with checking out the local cabinet makers. Where area of town do you live in? New construction or remodel? I'm in Atlanta area as well (Dunwoody), original circa 1978 kitchen (with the harvest gold cooktop and oven ;-) that we want to gut and redo. What look are you going for? Do you have an inspiration kitchen? I would love to hear what kind of prices you get and experience you have talking with some of the local cabinet makers. I want to do some out-of-the-box things (toe kick drawers, plate rack, funky cab feet, cut-out for the rangetop, a mix of finishes) and I wonder if I can find someone willing to build something different than the mainstream look (not far out for the Gardenweb TKOs, but not a typical suburban kitchen either). If you would rather email me than post the information here, my email address is sspencer@mindspring.com. THANKS and good luck. Susan

Hello TKO gurus, My kitchen has a cheapo recirculating vent hood that is way too far off the gas range. If it does anything except make a lot of noise, I can't tell. To top it off, the house has very little in the way of natural ventilation, especially in the kitchen, which is long and skinny but open to a much larger area. The BF has thing for making baked potatoes several times a week and the whole house smells like burnt olive oil when he's done. (And I cook, so I generate some grease and smell, too.) I've cleaned enough grease off the backsplash, thank you! So... my Christmas present is a *real* ventilation system going to the outside, provided I can do it for a reasonable price. (Say $700-800 max.) I can vent through the attic and over to the side of the house, or through the garage on the opposite wall and out to the same side. The area above that range has space for a microwave combo, and I would like to get my rarely used microwave off the counter. Unfortunately, I can't find any micro-hoods that look like they are decent. 400 CFM seems to be the most powerful available and at least one is able to pull out over the front burners. But 400 CFM isn't much. Question 1: Are there micro-hoods that really ventilate? Question 2: If not, how do I deal with this gap? These are custom cabinets in a custom paint color -- even if additional cabinetry was in the budget there's no way it would match properly. Ideas appreciated!