Fruitnut, I deal with numerous root bound potted trees every season in my nursery. Your plants look to be in better shape as far as circling roots than my potted plants. I don't power wash the soil away, however, although this is often recommended. I just don't find it at all necessary, and I prefer leaving some fine roots imbedded in the potting medium when I move the tree into real soil (I realize that this is not what your project is about). What I do is pull the circling roots piece by piece out of the ball (this is mostly with apple trees). When I put the tree into real soil I stretch the roots straight and as well distributed as possible- pegging the roots down if necessary. I often will be able to provide a transplanted 15 gallon potted tree with a root distribution that extends out in as much as a 6' diameter "circle" from the trunk. This allows the tree to do far better than some B+B'd tree that's lost most of its functional root system. The only problem is that it can take up to half an hour or more untangling the roots and then digging trenches to place them in that go way beyond the initial planting hole. Obviously this info is not of much use for people repotting plants where the idea would probably be to cut back the circling roots to fit into the new pot.

I am so glad this discussion is on here! I am 52, and was just told to go off the combo pill in August, after being on it nearly continuously since 17 when I picked it up in college. My blood pressure had started to go up last year, so we figured this was the cause. I had never had high blood pressure before - usually the opposite. I tried reducing salt and increasing exercise for a bit, but it had little impact. So, I was recommended going off or switching to the mini-pill progesterone-only. The first two weeks were fine, then I had a couple of weeks of constant overheating(no 'flashes', just constant hot). I read about how sometimes when you go off the combo pill, your insulin levels can be weird as your other systems take over estrogen and general thermostat regulation, so I cut out all the high spiky insulin foods(think sugar and white rice along with the rest of the online lists of foods to avoid) and reduced some caffeine, and the heat problem turned off completely. Now it has been three months of progesterone only, and I can see my skin aging, and hair growth slowing. I had been having a lot of brain-fog issues the past few years, and those have not changed, sadly. It's very annoying, and I hope that part at least sorts itself out by 60. Bonus and unexpected - my internal base stress level has gone down. It's just easier to cope. I have added rice and sugar back with no problems, and overheating is completely gone. I am sleeping better, although now I have weird little dreams, when I have never been one to remember dreams much at all. I do not have more energy, and some of my hand strength is just gone. Also, mentally, I find I am more detached from things and people, but not in a depressed or destructive way. More the feeling of having a choice about being involved or not, rather than having an immediate reaction (like wanting to scream at the grocery clerk that eye-rolled when asking a valid question). Hoping I am just done, but it's too soon to tell. I get mild cramping with no period, and some spotting during the week I would have normally had one in the '4th week off' time. But it's too soon to write off periods altogether. I am hoping most of the worst of it was masked during the past 5 years. But...I do have female relatives that didn't hit menopause until 56-65. One would have thought with half the planet going through this in their lives that there would be more medical study and progress on this in the last 50 years, but apparently no. lol I think starting a better workout routine and nutrition plan is next on the agenda. Wondering how much of my personality and priority-setting is hormone related. Will be interesting to see who I become now. Maybe my ten year old self has a chance again. :) She was fun.

Thanks everyone. I am still waiting on the tests. Thankfully I have not had to have a hysterectomy and was lucky enough to be 57 when menopause hit. Re the food and products from the health food store, I did try both both but couldn't handle the recommended foods (actually I used to eat a lot of them which contributed to my acid based kidney stone at age 40 - but, hey, I probably owe my skin to said foods). In Canada - at least according to my GP, the Gyno and the pharmacist I have to take both Prometrium and Estrogel - not just the Prometrium - who knows? I just hope the doctor was able to get enough from the biopsy that she did without sedation so that I don't have to go into the hospital for a larger biospy - I figured it would be under a local - nope they knock you out. I had the mammo last Tues. - the results will come in the mail with a copy to my doctor. I may end up like SunnyDJ - taking something every 3rd or 4th day depending on the results and how I fare without it. Of course a lot will also depend on my test results. Cost wise it isn't cheap but since they are my only prescriptions and I will be covered under my husband's office plan for 18 months I won't worry about that. Our provincial insurance does not cover the cost of prescriptions until you turn 65 and then only some are covered - and not fully, there is a deductible and they are about to cut back on a lot of them - somehow I don't think HRT will be covered! I guess I should feel grateful that I have never experienced a hot flash. I don't sweat - ever - which of course is not good and no doubt accounts for my high body acid. And why I love the heat - but not the sun.

Miele does occasionally run 5 year promos in the USA. It is just rare. We got a 5 year warranty on our W4840 and T9800 when we bought them for free as a promo. Lasting 20 years a misnomer. It needs to be qualified. Any car will easily last 20 years if you drive 1000 miles per year. If you put on 30,000 miles per year and expect 20 years then that is something else entirely. That is why anecdotes of "mine lasted 20 years" and "Mine lasted 8, I am mad" really mean nothing. Miele puts hours of operation counters on ALL of their appliances. This is not usually accessible to consumers unless you find the instructions online. The W4840 and T9800 and the successor models were designed to last 10,000 operating hours. How quickly you use those 10,000 hours determines how long the machine will last FOR YOU. Our W4840 lived about 10 years. It had 15,000 hours on it when the bearings went out. So it lived 50% longer than it was designed to. We replaced the water path control unit around 7 years in, but the machine had over 10,000 hours on it by this time. The water path control unit is a gear driven unit that directs water to the detergent dispenser tray slot 1, 2 or 3. It usually fails due to buildup of mineral deposits from hard water. The W4840 was designed for 8KG of laundry. The drum was oversized and you could stuff a LOT more laundry than that inside, which I am sure EVERYONE did since who eyeballs 8KG of laundry. For reference the drum would be about HALF full with 8KG of laundry in a W4840. The new W1 is also certified for 8KG of laundry, but the drum will be almost full with this much inside. You would really have to cram stuff in to overload it. This means the W1 is going to be running at or under its designed capacity for most of it's life. The W4840 was probably overloaded by most consumers and this no doubt had an effect on longevity. We have a large family (14 people in the house) and we use ONE W1 and ONE T1 washer/dryer combo. We bought the washer in October of 2018. I checked a few days ago and we have over 3000 hours on the washer so far. Not one problem with it. It runs most of the day and part of the night. The T1 has also not had a single problem. We also noticed our electric bill went down about $25-30/month when we switched from the T9800 to the T1. It will most likely pay for most of its cost in electricity savings. We WILL be buying the five year extended warranty. We have until the manufacturer warranty runs out. We will long surpass 10,000 hours before the extended warranty is expired. Will I be mad I don't get 20 years of life from the unit? Of course not. If it lasts the 10,000 hours it was designed for, then I got my monies worth. How do you check your hours? Google it. The W4840 had an hour meter. Post how many hours are on on your washer. That will help to clarify if the product is not living up to it's design life. Just because the neighbors have lower end devices that outlasted your Miele does not tell the whole story. Maybe they wear their clothes three or four times before washing them, vs someone else who washes after every wear. My sister is terrible about going a weeks worth of wear of things like socks, t-shirts and other items that really should be washed after every wear. I could understand if it was dress shirts to an office job where the shirt doesn't touch the body and really doesn't get "Dirty". When we bought our Mieles the sales staff where we bought also sold commercial washers. They flat out told us the residential LG and Whirlpool would be dead in less than a few years if we did 8-10 loads of laundry a day in them. Said speed queen was the only brand other than Miele that would hold up to our use outside of a commercial unit. We NEEDED an internal water heater to sanitize diapers and under garments. That eliminated Speed Queen.