Been a little late getting back. I had a patio rehab project that turned into a full blown overhaul. I still haven't stripped the sod back from the trunk. Maybe tomorrow. Ok so I have made several mistakes so bear with me. It turns out I am in zone 5b. I think you guys are right. I do not believe it is a sugar maple anymore, but ill refrain from making anymore guesses, haha. My "fertilization" method was adding "lawn soil" to the yard around the tree. I've also got bad news. The tree appears to have some sort of foliage disease (maybe tar spot). The good news is that it doesn't sound that bad and most of the things ive been doing should help it next year. One of the problems was that the previous owners had a large growth of hydrangeas on the right side of the tree (you can see some of the ground I tore up removing them in the trunk shot) and there was literally a few feet of leaf litter piled up there. All of that has since been removed. Let me know if you guys have anymore suggestions, advice, proper ID of tree and/or fungus. Thanks!

This is a great thread and it is one I have been following earnestly since it began. Here is what is still blooming in my garden as of August 13, in no particular order: Lycoris chinensis Patrinia scabiosifolia Verbena bonariensis Echinacea 'PowWow Wild Berry' Calamintha nepetoides Allium 'Millenium' Allium 'Summer Beauty' Allium nutans 'Pam Harper' Agastache 'Blue Blazes' Agastache 'Blue Fortune' Agastache 'Golden Jubilee' Agastache 'Purple Haze' Hibiscus 'Summer Storm' Hibiscus 'Plum Crazy' Lilium speciosum album Lilium speciosum rubrum Phlox 'David' Phlox 'Old Cellarhole' Phlox 'Jeana' Phlox 'Caspian' Phlox 'Peppermint Twist' Phlox 'Mile High Pink' Helenium 'Mardi Gras' Geranium 'Rozanne' Geranium wlassovianum Rosa 'Quietness' Rosa 'Jude the Obscure' Rosa 'Rose de Rescht' Silphium perfoliatum Gladiolus 'Carolina Primrose' Gladiolus 'Bolivian Peach' Gladiolus 'Boone' Thalictrum 'Splendide' Thalictrum 'Hewitt's Double' Perovskia 'Blue Spires' Eupatorium 'Little Red' Nepeta 'Joanna Reed' Geranium 'A.T. Johnson' Knautia macedonica Solidago 'Little Lemon' Salvia 'Black and Blue' Geranium 'Blue Sunrise' Scabiosa ochroleuca Angelica gigas I have included plants in the above list whether they are in full bloom or have just a smattering of blossoms. We finally have pleasant temperatures and rain in my neck of the woods, and I think I can hear my garden sighing in relief. Here is a list of plants I have that still have not bloomed and/or are currently forming buds: Various sedums Helianthus 'Lemon Queen' Solidago 'Fireworks' Various asters Various Korean mums Aconitum 'Barker's Variety' Anemone 'Honorine Jobert' Artemisia lactiflora 'Guizhou' Various colchicums Various autumn crocus Helianthus 'First Light' Salvia azurea 'Nekan' Allium 'Sugar Melt' Allium tuberosum Allium thunbergii 'Ozawa' Allium thunbergii 'White Form' Scilla autumnalis Lycoris squamigera For the past couple of weeks, I have been putting in as many late blooming hardy chrysanthemums and asters as I can find and afford. Without a doubt, gardening will become more challenging in coming years due to climate change. Included below is a photo of the stunning Lycoris chinensis:

My Wolf fan (purchased at the end of 2007) was made for Wolf by Broan according to Wolf. A few other Wolf fans were also made by Broan as of 2007. I cannot assert anything with respect to other Wolf fans or more modern Wolf fans. Contact Wolf for fan curves for their fans you might be interested in and compare them to Broan fan curves published on their web site. Basically what one buys when buying a hood and fan from Wolf is the comfort of knowing that compatibility has been established and no electrical hacking is going to be necessary to make a doit yourself scheme function. Wolf could impose additional reliability requirements on Broan, for example, but may not need to; a NuTone upblast roof fan I have used for my kitchen since the '70s is still fully functional today. So at least at one time the NuTone branch of Broan could build reliable devices. Using a circuit architecture that I am pretty sure GE published in the late 1960's or early 1970's, it is possible to control the amount of power available on a line by excising part of the sinusoidal voltage available. (The circuit actually allows part of the sinusoid.) While I can address the transfer functions and other details of triacs and diacs (once I recheck old literature), the circuitry to support them is pretty simple. This information is probably on line. These same circuits are used on lighting controls. The main difference between motor controls and similar lighting controls is that motor controls click on to full power, with rotation to lower power, and lighting controls do the opposite. More complex lighting controls also exist, such as zero-crossing switching, and have advantages in reduced electrical noise. These schemes could also be used for motor control, but are not in the case of my hood. By continuous I mean the the control rotates smoothly between full power to perhaps 10% power (have not measured this) over about 270-degrees of rotation. Ignoring quantum mechanics and grain boundaries, the resolution of the rotary potentiometer that is used for control is effectively infinite between those limits. The phase angle that turns on power each half cycle is adjusted by the control angle to fall between perhaps 5-degrees (out of 180) to perhaps 160 degrees. Turning on even later in the phase cycle would send power to the motor at too low a level for it to keep running. Is "infinite" a brand name? Induction motors of the type used by many fans can ususally be controlled over a reasonable range by phase angle control. They can also be controlled by variable frequency control, but this will be more limited as they are typically permanent capacitor split phase and designed for a single frequency. The Wolf hood control is mounted in the hood and is wired to the motor on the roof. I have seen its guts and that is why I know it is diac-triac type. Other control locations are possible, including wall controls. In that case a hood that does not contain a fan control would be appropriate. kas

"And the more I think about your situation, I think a HP is a terrible strategy with your rates and you should be leaning toward a high eff boiler." I donâÂÂt believe .37Kwh and higher can be sustained forever without blowback. If youâÂÂll notice on a 2013 energy map, Northeastern states with RGGI have the country's disproportionately highest rates. Think about it for a second.... .37 for a Kwh in January! Gas prices in NY were as high as $3.60 a therm only two years ago. RGGI has made our energy prices wildly fluctuate. This makes any decision very difficult to gauge. We currently have a 50-year-old gas steam boiler with 196000btu overkill output :). Steam boilers are less efficient and comfortable than water boilers and are rarely installed in new homes. Going from a pre-1992 60-65% afue steam (possibly as low as 50%) to a 90% afue hot water isn't a simple drop-in install. It involves costly retrofitting to newer PVC in a 74-year-old house, also newer more efficient radiators. ThatâÂÂs 5K for the steam boiler alone and another 7K+ for the remainder. Suddenly it doesnâÂÂt make as much sense. Radiant floor heating would be the perfect solution, although for major dollars. Although I might consider it as a DIY project in the future. Except I have lots of carpeting and radiant won't work well in these rooms. As well a new hot water boiler canâÂÂt resolve the issue with winter cold spots as well as the constant static pressure of Greenspeed. Plus the a variable speed unit has the ability to alter the summer humidity/dewpoint and house comfort. Dewpoint is the more important number than humidity It also means a more optimal operational temp for the same price. At a price difference of $3200 between an authorized install of the Performance and Greenspeed, I almost think itâÂÂs a good buy even just as a backup. That's the cost of a small vacation. My only worry is a complicated system breaking after the 2-year labor guarantee, and will be buying an extension. Thanks for giving me some motivation and food for thought.