Ooooops! Heth this may be wayyyy too belated but I had several chaos happening/stuff to arrange on the home front. That tiny turnip has only grown from 1/2" to 2" (it's a foreshortened angle so looks smaller than it really is) and it's almost the end of September. My other orchid's baby leaf is at a standstill for 3 months!!!! whereas it's other bifoliate leaf grew like dynamite (within 1-2 weeks)! I still suspect that secondary bifoliate leaf is hiding something??? maybe it is indeed hiding a spike???? It's still spotted! even 3 months later and barely grew whereas it's other bifoliate leaf didn't have any spots on it. Naughty orchid is taking forever! But then I read other people waiting 2 whole years. I'd go beserk! LOL! Whitecat and Orchid126 I am going from happy dance to hopping impatient, hee-hee! Heth my orchids are cattelya hybrids (Lc. Yen Amethys x Blc Varut Greenworth) and (Lc. Longriver Compton 'Golden Star') Here is the link to my first blooms. Lc. Yen Amethys x Blc Varut Greenworth The other hasn't bloomed yet and is the "naughty orchid" that won't leaf out properly.

erm... wait a minute. Hold up. You mean, the excitement over getting a compost pile cranked up AND sizzling hot, is supposed go away after the first one? Beg to differ... thats NOT how it usually works. I still get excited about them all. On occasion, I'll get MORE excited than usual. For instance, this time (current hot pile) ...I had to hack up a layer of glacial ice with a giant ROCK PICK to get to the LAST pile, so I could build the NEW pile. Never had to do that before... wasn't sure how it was gonna fly. But it worked! (I got stoked, right away... who wouldn't.) Then, I ran out of ICE to feed the pile, and it started to dry out...Gah! Had to feed it yukky CITY water for the first two flips... worried that would be too much the microherd to bear at this time of year, but they pulled it off...whew! (Got excited over that also...for obvious reasons.) Now today, were having a BLIZZARD...after record daytime highs over the whole last week. Second flip was only the day before yesterday (tap water...grrr)...and now its COLD, heavy wet snow everywhere. Double-gah! I feared, the whole thing might STALL OUT, and loose too much of its momentum... but we are still smoking, hanging right around 140. Right on time. AND, the pile has shrunk down to about 1/3 of original size already... its only a couple weeks old! Go microherd!!! (Yep. Giddy, all over again.) After all this, as if it wasn't like Christmas already... I came up with a NEW PLAN this morning...that's designed to insure, that THIS pile (and maybe even the NEXT pile) will NEVER need to suffer with yukky, treated, city water again! You can't stop me from doing the yippy-skippy dance over this one...check it out: (oops, I'm sorry... almost forgot what I came here to say. Congratulations on your first hot pile. I can totally relate to your excitement, it's perfectly justified. Just be mindful, as you move on to the next one... these hot piles can get a little addicting. Just sayin'... Les in CO Here is a link that might be useful: Check it out...

I use an old warming tray (for a buffet table) from the 60's that was my mom's. Got an AC thermo at auto parts store (right range to check soil temps). Cover the glass-topped tray with towel, put flat on top and kept checking soil temp (not towel temp). Don't go over 90 (I tried to keep it in 80 degree range). Mist at least once a day, cover with plastic tray (better than plastic wrap though I've used that before). Only problem is my warming tray is shorter than a 1020 flat. No problem leaving it on 24/7 for 10 days, but if you get a new one make sure it doesn't get too hot and catch the towel on fire. New warming trays might be like the new crockpots and get hotter than the old ones. I've used this 2 years running now, works great. Just moved peppers off a couple days ago and stuck tomatoes on today (I haven't tried this with tomatoes before, but I got the mix a little too wet). Lights - clamp-on work lights (I have a "baker's rack" type 4-shelf mini greenhouse) with 6500K CFLs. I hit a 20% sale at Big Lots on the bulbs back in Jan, think I paid less than $1 each. Again, used the CFLs (from TSC, more $ and 1 blew out) last year. You just have to have some place warm (70 is OK) you can set the pots and clamp the lights to. I didn't use a timer last year, just a power strip so I could turn them all on/off at the same time. You might even use the lamps with incandescent bulbs (underneath the wire shelves) for the germination - again, make sure there's not a fire hazard.

Your floors are beautiful - I know the feeling it's a huge exhale! Boy, did I enjoy flipping through the pic's of your old kitchen and the the demolition!!! The "crush" you had on your old stove made me giggle - Wait until you see the new one!!! Here's a pic of my old stove - I called it "Mr. Stove." Posted him on facebook so all my friends could say good-bye. 15 years, 2 kids, step-daughter and SO, my old stove was like one of my friends. It was actually "Mr. Stove" that triggered me to re-fi and begin a kitchen reno - I felt it was becoming a safety issue. I've seen your postings before, but can you tell, once again, what city do you live in? Where is your home? I can tell you are going to enjoy and appreciate every milestone in this renovation - WONDERFUL!!!