I'm almost 65 years old, wore contacts for 40+ years, had lasic surgery done on both eyes in 2002 (with stellar results, although I suffered from presbyopia, so wore the small, over-the-nose reading glasses when necessary), and in 2008 and 2009 I had cataract surgery performed, one eye each year. Because clarity of vision is exceedingly important to me, because I absolutely did not want anything to do with the mono-vision approach, and because I'm physically active, with lots of outdoor activities, I decided it was worth the money to purchase the special lenses that would allow me to see long distance as well as read. In 2008, I had the ReZoom lense inserted into my right eye. Here's its link: http://www.rezoomiol.com/ In 2009, I had the ReStore lense inserted into the left eye. I think you must have information on this lense, so I've not included a link. With both lenses, there was a "learning curve" while the brain adjusted to the different "readings" on the lense, and learned where to go on the lense to view things in the distance or read. I rarely use "reading" glasses, except in situations where the light is very low or the print is very small. Reading the newspaper or books without my glasses, reading recipes without glasses are just some of the pleasures of using these lenses. Similarly, I can easily see the computer and engage in other mid-range tasks, without using glasses. And my distance vision is very good. I golf, and can easily see the golf balls. When I'm outside, I often am the first to spot a deer or some other sight, and have been frequently complimented on my vision. When I do drive at night, I do so without any qualms. I don't detect any halos around on-coming lights, but I confess I never had this problem with either my contacts or the post-lasic surgery, so maybe my eyes aren't sensitive to lights??? For me, the better reading lense is the ReStore lense, which is why my doctor recommended that lense instead of the ReZoom lense when it came time for the second surgery. But this is really a matter of personal adjustment. As my right eye adjusted to the ReZoom lense, I kept complaining about the reading print being a bit blurry -- I am VERY picky about clarity of vision. So, when it came time to select the lense for the other eye's cataract surgery, we went with the ReStore lense. I think my eye dominance switches between the right and the left eye. Normally, I'm right-eye dominant, and I think this applies for long distance vision. When I'm reading, I think I become left-eye dominant, because I see with excellent clarity...it's like the left eye's ReStore lense over-rides the right eye's ReZoom lense. I can tell you that I have never regretted spending the extra money for these lenses, and that the quality of my vision is very, very good. Each year I test out at 20-20 at my eye exam. Also, in my own case, I'm very glad I had each eye done 12 months apart because that gave me an excellent opportunity to determine how well the first lense was working. I would not have been happy had both eyes had the ReZoom lense, with its less-than-perfect clarity for reading. But I want to emphasize that these are my results, only, and every patient is bound to have her own unique experience. The final point is the importance of a thorough and skilled surgeon. My surgeon obtained many, many readings from the opthomologist that did my lasic surgery in Virginia. In fact, he would not schedule the surgery until he had those readings to ensure he was ordering the correct readings for the implanted lense. And this was on top of the lengthy and many measurements performed on my eyes during the pre-surgery sessions in the office. I hope this information helps.

I do have some good news. Even though we were not able to raise all the money needed for surgery the dog has received some therapy and drum roll please.......just got word this morning that during water therapy all four legs moved. So even though the dog is not able to run around like normal it does have some movement. So everyone is very hopeful. But I was told once by a vet that once your dog shows signs of disc disease then be prepared because at some point it will have to have surgery. I can't speak for the vet of this person's dog, but I would assume they are saying the same thing. I haven't talked to the owner regarding this. But it is great news. And just because a dog goes down in their back is no reason to put them to sleep. This person's vet told them that was their option. There is always the carts or "doggie wheelchairs" as I sometimes call them. Dogs using these carts run around and play and have a good time. I can't understand why vets do not give that as an option. And people can get the plans on the internet and build their own, if the can't afford to buy one. Thank you all for being concerned and for your suggestions.

One more thing: as you walk through the space with chalk lines, etc, mentally prepare a meal, set the table, clean up afterwards, load and unload DW, entertain, etc. IOW, imagine yourself doing all the things that you normally do in a kitchen and make notes of what works and what doesn't. Oops, two more things. =) If you haven't already, do a tally of your kitchen items, grouping them by use and measuring how much space you need to store them. That will also help you narrow down which plan works the best for you and determine cab dimensions. I used blue tape to mark drawer sizes on my counters and set things inside the imaginary drawers to make sure my planned drawer sizes were sufficient. Here's the planning stage for my casserole dish storage: And here is the drawer in my remodeled kitchen: It takes time to do the above but it is so worth it, IMO. If I hadn't done this, I could have ended up with a drawer an inch narrower and not realized that it wouldn't hold my casserole dishes until I was putting things away. How aggravating!

Kim, although your drier climate would be to your advantage I think zone 6a is stretching things a bit too far. You could certainly have potted Agaves that were brought into a greenhouse or garage or somewhere protected from freezing. The Agaves I have are rated zone 7 minimum and I'm in zone 8. And even in zone 8 the heavy winter moisture is sometimes fatal, which is why I'm considering some rain protection. The one Agava Parryi 'Truncata' that I did keep over this past winter was kept in a cold frame and it came through perfectly. In that cold frame next to my house, it may never have seen temps below 30F. This coming winter... it will. About the prybar, it was fantastic for use as a hammer-powered knife. When I did use it to pry, I mashed some leaf tissue in a few places so I wouldn't do that again. Instead I would just work my way around using the prybar simply to cut through here and there until the piece broke free.