I would start out with one lamp and put it maybe a foot over the area where the chicks will be, with a thermometer you should be able to find the right distance. Fried chicken is not as good with the feathers on, ;)

I'm baaaaccccckkkkk! The surgery went very smoothly and I actually feel pretty darn good. I am happy to report that the doc found no problems with the ovaries so they got to stay. The only time I've felt "pain" was Tuesday, just after surgery. They hooked me up to the pain pump and that was the end of it. I am now doing the oral narcotics and they have it all under control nicely. I have to say that it's soooo good to be back home! My skin crawls with the narcotics so having my own (cotton) sheets, pj's, towels, etc. makes all the difference in the world. So, all I can say at this point is that things are going very well, and it really was not all that bad after all :) I'm still very tired, though, so I'll have to settle in with a movie--I'm quite sure I'll fall asleep watching it, but that is just fine! Thanks again for your encouragement and advice--you guys have been super! I hope you are all having a terrific Thanksgiving day!

Maybe this wasn't the right thread to say those things about abnormal versus quirky...I certainly didn't mean to imply that the stories you told were anywhere near acceptable. It just made me think about it. Clearly, Neesie, you are a person who cares and thinks about ethics and citizenship. Absolutely, I'd have been very concerned in the case you described. I would even draw the line at an extreme eyesore in a well-kept neighborhood...I think that any situation that veers so far away from what is going on around it is cause for concern. The question, I think, is how you intervene. I might have been inclined to make a cake or a batch of cookies and take them over...or to host a block party and go personally to invite the family...to begin to establish a relationship. Then gradually you might be able to see what the situation actually is, and to move toward the family from a position of demonstrated kindness. Here is one of my favorite quotes, and I need to read it at least once a week, being, as I am, a person who would give advice to the cat, if only she spoke English. The wise rabbi Edwin H. Friedman said: "The colossal misunderstanding of our time is the assumption that insight will work with people who are unmotivated to change. Communication does not depend on syntax, or eloquence, or rhetoric, or articulation, but on the emotional context in which the message is being heard. People can only hear you when they are moving toward you, and they are not likely to when your words are pursuing them. Even the choicest words lose their power when they are used to overpower. Attitudes are the real figures of speech."

DebraK2008, they do ask! And I do help. It'll happen to you too. There's a difference between real people and GWers to keep in mind. Like the one who regularly uses a 16" wok, but wasn't interested in a powerful stove. :) Don't argue. Present the info so they're educated and walk away. Renov8r, you know best what the manners and mores are amongst the people you know, and whether "appearing critical" will cause strife and upset. OTOH, when people ask, they usually want an answer. Most people IRL, when they ask, don't want a full on critique, so choose the thing that is most out of whack and be gentle about it. "Don't you think it would make things a lot easier if you didn't have to walk around the island to get between the fridge and the sink? Have you thought of moving the sink here, or putting in a prep sink there?" Questions often go down better than statements, and explanations are easier to swallow than the shorthand we use, like "barrier island". So I just saw (don't know what show it was) the most inconvenient kitchen ever. It was a very wide, very long corridor kitchen, with a very high ceiling (20 ft.? more?), probably real rather than a set, with a tall window wall down one side, slate floors, and what looked like zinc or pewter and marble counters. It looked very much like what's currently in at the high end, but it would have been far better as a garden room or something like that. The windows were great for light and aesthetics, but zip on storage, and the main part of the kitchen only had tables and workbenches, like a very prettied up version of a commercial kitchen. The pantry and refrigeration were way far away, and I don't even know where the utensils were stored. The pots were on the single shelves underneath and some pans were hanging. Great place for dressing whole hogs, but each cook would have to carry his own knives and whatnot around with him. Massive range though. :) By eye, I'd guess eight feet long. It was like the kitchen was made for the jolly green giant!