Great thread! For cleaning -- mix of alcohol and water with a bit of lavender oil --got this from CatMom on Kitchens -- works well for stainless Also like Caldrea Basil Blue Sage --cleaner, dish soap, anything they make with this scent. Also like the old fashioned scent balls -- Aura cacia and others sell it -- because you can use pure oils. For my face: Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant -- it is expensive for what you get but it really does seem to make a difference. Tretinoin-- just the plain generic stuff -- and also some of the products from Skin Laboratory -- such as salicylic acid -- Shu Uemura eye shadow -- but they discontinued some of the best colors

That statement ("New PT pine") was from Home Depot millwork sales person. Upon doing some more research i found out that this type of PT pine is made by Thompson and cost about $3 more per board than Standard PT southern pine. I am including the link to Thompson web site - http://www.thompsonsonline.com/products/thompsonizedWood.asp Thanks

On my website I have the answers to all of your questions. Start with the Newsletter and go from there. You are probably going to be looking into a Cabot's semi transparent oil. It will be most maintenance friendly. They also offer the most tones. Start here: www.restore-a-deck.com or you can click below to jump directly to the newsletter which talks about sealers, their definitions and what the difference is between products. Here is a link that might be useful: All About Sealers Newsletter

I think you're starting to understand more about organics. Basically you have to simply forget all the advice that pertains to chemical fertilizers and switch gears. The way chemical fertilizers burn the lawn is by not diluting them immediately when applying. If you apply today and do not water, then tomorrow when the morning dew begins to dissolve the fertilizer, it becomes a very strong solution of salt. Whereas if you water the fertilizer in immediately, you will flush it with enough water to dilute it and not burn the grass or roots. Organics are biological products. They are food for the microbes in your soil. Rather than containing NPK, think of it as protein, carbohydrates, minerals, and vitamins. Microbes at the surface will decompose the original food. Other microbes will come to decompose the surface microbes as well as microbial byproducts (microbial sweat, pee, poop, fingernails, hair, etc.). There are more than 35,000 species of microbes in your soil decomposing food, waste, and other microbes. Eventually one of the byproducts of the microbial decomposition is plant food. This is how Mother Nature has been feeding plants for billions of years. It works. The decomposition process from raw food on the surface to plant food underneath takes 3 weeks at temps above 55 degrees F. Thus organic fertilizers are considered to be "slow release." One of the recently absent members here has tried to overdose with organic by applying pounds and pounds of Milo and soybean meal every weekend all season long. I think he ended up applying about 1,200 pounds of fertilizer onto a couple thousand square feet over the season. The only thing that happened was his grass got better looking. I did something similar to what he did. I used corn gluten meal at 20 pounds per 1,000 every month throughout the growing season (140 pounds per 1,000 over 7 months). I had a great looking lawn as well as plenty of weeds. In my opinion CGM has absolutely no effect on weeds. If you think it is a preem for weeds, it isn't. There are two things you can do to guard against crabgrass. First is to grow a dense turf. If you have KBG then you probably have a dense turf. If you have fescue or rye, then you should overseed every fall to keep the lawn dense. The second thing you should do is not over water in the spring. The amount of water you apply should always be about an inch. The frequency that you apply should depend on the air temperature. Here's more in different units for CA, AU, GB, and other metric speaking countries... Watering: Deep and infrequent is the mantra for watering. This is for all turf grass all over the place. Deep means 1 inch all at one time. Put some cat food or tuna cans around the yard, and time how long it takes your sprinkler(s) to fill all the cans. Memorize that time. That will be the time you water from now on. My hose, sprinkler and water pressure takes 8 full hours to fill the cans. Your time will likely be less. I like gentle watering. As for watering frequency, that depends on the daytime air temperature. With temps in the 90s, deep water once per week. With temps in the 80s, deep water once every 2 weeks. With temps in the 70s, deep water once every 3 weeks. With temps below 70, deep water once a month. Note that you have to keep up with quickly changing temps in the spring and fall. This deep and infrequent schedule works in Phoenix and in Vermont, so it should work for you. The reason for deep and infrequent is to grow deeper, more drought resistant roots and to allow the soil to dry completely at the surface for several days before watering again. If it rains, reset your calendar to account for the rainfall. Deep and infrequent is the mantra for watering. This is for all turf grass all over the place. Deep means 3 cm all at one time. Put some cat food or tuna cans around the yard, and time how long it takes your sprinkler(s) to fill all the cans. Memorize that time. That will be the time you water from now on. My hose, sprinkler and water pressure takes 8 full hours to fill the cans. Your time will likely be less. I like gentle watering. As for watering frequency, that depends on the daytime air temperature. With temps from 33-38 deep water once per week. With temps from 25-32 deep water once every 2 weeks. With temps from 21-24 deep water once every 3 weeks. With temps below 21, deep water once a month. Note that you have to keep up with quickly changing temps in the spring and fall. In the USA this deep and infrequent schedule works in Phoenix and in Vermont (for Oz think Hobart to Darwin including Alice Springs), so it should work for you. The reason for deep and infrequent is to grow deeper, more drought resistant roots and to allow the soil to dry completely at the surface for several days before watering again. If it rains, reset your calendar to account for the rainfall.