We get more precipitation that the Pacific Northwest ;) You've shown us some interesting things and ideas. Dennis in Iowa had a grove of Pinus flexilis in a giant crater of sand for 15 years~, however eventually... they did die. I think for a dwarf or mini, Dennis' would still have alive pines but, he had a grove of trees of the species (and on their own roots). The same applies to other woodies in native soils different from a persons native soil. I've seen natural dwarf oaks in a pretty large sand bed that are alive only because they the person created the sand bed. As I recall one oak in particular was 2 zones warmer than our climate and was clearly thriving, not the pretties thing I've ever seen...! It had slight protection, but not enough to keep it alive, except for the sand. The hardiness was certainly improved. Dax

This is interesting and might be a complicated issue. First thing is that your CO detector is supposed to go off (I think) when it detects CO concentrations of around 70 parts-per-million (70 ppm). But they are not precision instruments and it might be reading a lot lower or giving false alarms (good news) or reading levels higher than 70 ppm (bad news.) Have you tried the dectector in different location or tried a different CO detector? Detectors can give false postive readings and UL had to come up with a standard for avoiding those. How old is that CO detector? Second, both Weed and Deeageaux suggested you check the burner and flame. Do you know if either of the repair techs did that? If gas flow is not properly adjusted --- or if the flow system is badly designed or defective --- then not all gas gets burned and that flow can elevate CO levels. IIRC, about three or four years ago this kind of problem turned up in some Electrolux and Kenmore ranges, and CPSC order a pretty big recall. Third, you say the oven has been doing this since your got the stove four years ago. Just to clarify for other readers, the fact that it has been going on for four years should rule out fumes from manufacturing oils and solvents that are supposed to go away during the initial oven burn-in. Also, the CO detector is going off when pre-heating the oven, right? IIRC. the Thermador gas stoves did not have self-cleaning ovens so I have to ask that you are pretty sure that old cooking spatter/stuff is not burning off the interior walls or floor? Fourth, where abd where did the tech take the CO measurement that gave a 50 ppm reading? Was the reading taken during warm-up or after the oven had been operating for a few minutes? (You likely will get some CO as the burner starts up but it should go away within four or five minutes.) If he was measuring in the oven vent, he would be getting a concentration different from the room air. Apparently, the standards allow up to 100 ppm at the oven vent at least according to this source:. http://www.homeenergy.org/show/article/nav/kitchen/id/1152 I suspect that Thermador is thinking that the gas concentration in the room, in general, will be below the max indoor air qaulity (IAQ ) standards so they don't pay much heed to the levels measured at the oven vent. Don't know this for a fact, but that's my guess as to why they said the tech's reading was "normal." Fifth, the fact that the CO detector is going off suggests that Thermador's assumptions may not be correct. As I said, I think detectors are (theoretically, anyway) supposed to trigger at around 70 ppm. My memory is that the U.S. EPA standards for indoor air quality (IAQ) are that CO levels must average below 9 ppm over any 8 hour period and not exceed more than 35 ppm in any one of those hours. That leads me to ask where your CO detector located in relation to your stove? Have you tried other detectors in other locations to see if the alarm goes off there, too? If so, you may be getting places in the room where CO is collecting if you do not run the hood, and that is a bit scary. FWIW, I just tried an experiment with a known (and recently verified to be) good CO detector. Put it outside and hit the reset button and let it sit for half an hour to clear its sensor and give a good clean baseline. Then propped it up on top of the oven vent on my NXR gas stove. Ran the oven for half an hour. Then switched on the convection fan (which increases the flow of air and heat from the oven vent). Not a peep from the alarm. I'll see if I can scrounge a CO meter and take some measurements. This post was edited by JWVideo on Sat, Jul 20, 13 at 17:31

Everyone was busy this weekend! Thanks Marsha and Rosa... practicing is fun and frustrating! Calliope, the puff quilt is pretty slow going because I also started an Irish chain and I keep switching back and forth. I can't just do one thing at a time, but I have a full gallon Ziploc bag full of puffs ready to be stuffed. By the way, last September (a year ago), I started a Rail Fence quilt that I shared here... I'm still working on the binding, but I wanted to tell you that I also quilted the extra backing material that had folded over more times than I can even remember! It was so frustrating, so I know exactly how you feel! I went to my grandmothers house Saturday (the family grilled some food for me since I turn 30 tomorrow.... aaaaahhh) and came away with 6 boxes of fabric! Some of it made me wonder what in the world she was thinking when she purchased it, but a lot of it is really nice! I left a lot of "ugly" stuff behind that they are just going to donate. I also got a really cool lamp called a tangle lamp that can be twisted and turned into different configurations and a small adjustable craft table. I was going to take her Singer 401A, but I need a fourth sewing machine like I need another hole in my head! Also, I didn't have room in the car and couldn't find the foot pedal; if it turns up I may take the machine and donate it to someone who can use it (after playing with it a while first of course)! This post was edited by vacuumfreak on Mon, Sep 16, 13 at 14:52

Thank you all. I will poke around online for Beanpole, and if anyone knows a good online source, please let me know. Also, do these tend to show up at the big box stores/garden centers in spring? Please let me know if you have seen them, in which case I might wait until spring. Right now, my list will include Beanpole, Emerald Arborvitae, and Sky Rocket Juniper. Please let me know if anyone has any other ideas, especially something dark green!