LOL, bud! Thanks & love your "pose." You kind of look like my little brother, interesting. That tree is a turkey fig in my Mom's yard. It makes so many figs, just what we can reach is usually way too many. I took that pic 2-3 years ago right after I pruned it extremely heavily. You can't tell, but I removed all of the growth from inside so we could "step into it" and pick from inside & out... or hide a bus full of kids. Great for climbing in there, too. It needs pruning again, which I will do later this summer after the figs are gone. Some of the branches are laying on the ground again. The original owner of the home gets the credit for the beautiful "bones" of the tree, though. All I have done is maintain what was already done so well, removing crossing branches, those going straight down, etc... I'm still not sure how he got it into such a nice "low vase" shape instead of the "naked trunk" appearance of most other trees I've seen in the area, but I've only been a southerner for 5 years, still a lot to learn about the plants & trees that are new to me here. I hope the baby trees from my cuttings will grow up to be even in the neighborhood of such fantastic-ness!

Ah, I see Jay. My mother had one that was over 30 years old - it originally belonged to her 2nd husband's mother. But it got mealy bugs and we ended up taking a bunch of cuttings and ditching the mother plant. Well, since then, this plant has become a monster - it's almost as big as my pubicalyx 'Pink Silver', which is 3' tall and 3' wide. And on top of that, I have a plant I started from her's once it got established that's getting fairly large now, and she's given several starts to others. So it's kind of neat to think that a lady who has been long gone has had a hand in so much pleasure to even people she didn't know. Which is what is so exciting about sharing our plants. I didn't used to, but now I keep a pretty good record of where my starts come from. So now I can look at (for instance) my Hoya diversifolia that has grown nicely and say "I got this as a cutting from Karen (PG) in '06" or at my H. carnosa 'Krinkle 8' (which has gotten massive) and say "I got this as a cutting from Yale." And I'm very glad I participated in the Liddle mass-buy this spring since David left this earth. I will treasure the cuttings I got from him... all of which are doing well, I might add... Denise in Omaha

>>>"But from what I can find, seem that you either get a lemon or a good one , but all thread seem to be older..."I'm not understanding this comment. Did you mean: (1) that all the NXR threads are older; or (2) all the theads about NXR lemons are older; or (3) that there is a high probability of getting a lemon (as with Viking in some recent years)? If #1 was what you meant, there must be something wrong with the GW search engine because there are two active and long-running NXR threads here with postings as recent as last weekend. If # 2 was what you meant, I'm guessing you are referring to the two older postings -- in longer threads --- from NX buyers who had problems with flaking oven enamel. A third person posted a youtube video. That's pretty much it. A couple of NXR users (StacyNeil and DirtyBloomers) have had an oven glow-bar ignitor wear out, but that is an inexpensive, readily available, user-installable part. Apparently, the oven circuits on earlier models were trying too hard to maintain a perfectly even oven temp and so were cycling on so frequently that they could wear out the glow-bar ignitor. Stacy reported that there is a fix for that on older models and the models since 2011 (DRGB models) do not cycle as frequently. This allows a bit more latitude on heating. Right now, the oven in my 2012 NXR DRGB3001 seems to allow a +/- 10 F temperature variance before activating or shutting off the burner. My previous stove, a GE dual fuel, would go as low as 40F below the set temp before kicking back on and would go as much as 20F above before cycling off. This seems to be common on many residential ranges. If the # 3 point is what was intended, that would be incorrect. Basically, the NXRs are like old-fashioned gas stoves dressed up with a "pro-style" look and supplied with the minimal updates of a convection fan for the oven, an infrared in-oven broiler, spark ignitors for the burners, and a re-ignitor circuit in case a low-flame burner blows out. There just is not much to go wrong. Any component that could fail over time is a readily available, off-the shelf part. User serviceable, if you are so inclined. To be sure, that old-fashioned simplicity can be as much a disadvantage as a benefit, depending on what you want from your stove. While some will see the lack of electronics as an advantage for durability, others may want the flexibility and features that come from integrated circuits. Multiple convection modes, for example, and oven self cleaning functions. Others may want a more polished look to their stove. The NXR is pretty basic and a plain piece of work. It is not as pretty as a Bertazonni nor, for that matter, the DCS. And this brings me back to your original question about whether to get the 6-year old DCS with a backsplash, a DCS warming drawer, and DCS range hood for $2500. I will echo Weissman's questions. Why is the seller disposing of this rig? Has it been troublesome or has the owner maybe decided to go for an even bigger kitchen remodel with larger stuff? Is this a divorce or estate sale? Has the equipment already been removed or can you check it out to be sure everything is operating to your satisfaction? Check out the burner caps and components. Make sure they are not corroded or rusting. What model is the stove? My recollection is that DCS had two 30-inch models, the 304 and 305. One had convection and (I think) self-cleaning and the other did not. The non-convection one is probably easier to work on if it needs service and probably easier to fix (as with the NXR). How big is the range hood? The rule of thumb for rangehoods is that you want them to extend three inches or so beyond the sides of your stove. IOW, it is preferable to have a 36-inch hood for a 30-inch stove. A 30-inch hood over a 30-inch stove will work but will not work as well as a wider hood because steam and etc. can flow out to the sides. How much cleaning will have to be done before you install it in your place. What size venting does it use? How deep and how tall is it? Will you have to modify or remove existing cabinets? If you already have a venthood, will the DCS hood fit with the existing installation? If you do not get this array of stuff, what do you plan for a range-hood if you get the Berta? Do you have an existing range hood? How much cleaning needs to be done? Who will remove the equipment from the owner's place (if it is not already removed.) How will you get the equipment moved and installed? Have you checked on parts availability? If not, I suggest you get the stove model number and see what SearsPartsDirect carries and what (if anything) is no longer available. In the area where you live, is there anybody who sells and//or services DCS appliances. I suggest calling them up an see if they will tell you anything about parts availability and the need for service on this year and model of stove. Maybe they can give you a sense of market values for the array of stuff being offered.

Alex If I wash any ingredients, I usually do it before mixing them (I sift them more often than rinse - but either way is OK). But np if it is already mixed. If very wet, I would leave it in a big sieve over a heating duct to dry up (I made a frame and put in it a screen from a discarded window - with the frame; that gives me larger area in case I want to dry something). If plants have very wet rootballs and ends of the trunks, I would let them air dry longer before potting. What is your mix made off? Do not water for a while. If mix is wet/damp - that should be probably at least 1 week. Check mix deep down in the container using a bamboo skewer or chopstick to make sure it dried up. If your mix is totally dry, still wait for few days since there was some washing of the root - at least that's what I see in photo (not a problem, just use your judgement how wet it is). I would pot them before further pruning since there are not that many leaves left. They help to 'feed' the plant. There are many branches I see that I would definitely prune off still, but that can wait. I think that trunks are quite distinctive and should be potted to show their best; and wold dictate future shaping. (I totally defoliated plants. and repotted at the same time, but maybe it is just too much with such big plant unless you are more daring :)