Interesting to see how the totals vary throughout the US. The key is comparing to average precipitation. I haven't found the official numbers for precipitation but we where down about 50% for the year. The driest months dropped in during the typical wettest time of the year and also the hottest meteorological summer on record. 2012 was officially the warmest year on RECORD. This past summer I learned to hate sunny days and fall in love with cloudy rainy days. It was so unbelievably brutal. I will never complain about a rainly day in my life after establishing a garden during the 2012 drought.

Hi...I have never been to a plant swap but absolutely love plants...will you have another one in 2007 or do you know where any other ones are...I live east of the mountains in central Virginia. Thank you for any info that you can provide. fluttterby@aol.com

I did not use soapstone, but I do know some people in the KF in the Cville area who used soapstone, and one person IRL who DIY'ed a soapstone counter. Actually, just south of Charlottesville, is the Alberene Soapstone Company, which I think is the only remaining active soapstone quarry in the United States. They can either do the fabrication themselves, or work with a local fabricator, or sell you the slab and let you DIY. The KF person from the area used the stone fabricator I used, and said she was very happy with the results.

marys1000, You can find local real estate listings at http://www.caar.com I think there is little doubt that the prices for real estate in Charlottesville and in the surrounding county are higher than other areas. A quick search shows that the cheapest thing available is ~$90K for a 2Br/1Ba 800 sqft cottage that needs work and is likely a sell-it-quick-before-the-bank-takes-it. Nearly everything else below $150K seems to have major drawbacks as well; either tiny or needing major work or bad location (either remote or in one of the few bad neighborhoods) Whereas a quick scanning of listings of Dayton shows a median price for new listings of around $75,000. And a quick comparison of comparable-seeming houses shows that for a given house you'd pay about $100K more in C'ville that in the Dayton area. With that said, I think prices haven't really fallen appreciably here over the last year or two, and may start ticking back up while other places are still plunging. (although that may just be wishful thinking on my part.) Part of the reason for the higher prices is that it is a great place to live, many people move here and never want to leave. It has a great funky pedestrian mall downtown, good schools, many great, unique restaurants and dozens of nearby wineries. Another big part of the higher prices is IMHO that 20 to 30 years ago the local zoning board decided they didn't want the rampant sprawling development that had even by that time had transformed Northern Virginia into an evergrowing endless sea of housing developments and strip malls, and passed fairly strict rules about how existing properties could be divided up in an attempt to preserve the rural flavor of the area. Other than housing price, I don't think C'ville is especially more expensive that anywhere else. I also haven't found there to be may more ticks here than other places I've lived. If you have any specific questions about the area I will try to answer them. -Bob