Jodik says: The coir might look dry on top, but down in the center of the pot, it could be quite moisture-laden! I have found it helpful to insert little wooden skewers carefully into the soil to about root level, and leave them there... I take them out and press them against my cheek to test for dampness... if they feel at all damp, I wait to water... but if the skewer comes out dry, it's time to water. My coir is 4" deep in a closed pot. I put the skewer to the bottom of the pot. When I take it out how many inches of bone dry top "soil" should there be before it's time to water again? Is it 1", 2" or 4"? I just went 10 days without water and only 1" of the top was dry so am I supposed to water this direct sun pot once every two weeks or so to avoid over watering, really? And how much water for my 6" closed pot? I had been watering 1 1/2 cup or so once a week and my plant was fine but I'm now worried that was too much so I'm re-evaluating. I know what conventional wisdom says (water deep, not shallow) but that advice doesn't seem to apply to my situation. Also how long should it be before I see new leaf growth in the summer time (first season outside)? My 18 month old Red Lion so far has only grown new leaves once a year. At potting and at dormancy end.

Hi Cynthia, Yes I did add about a cup of extra flour. It made the cake much more solid when done. I also baked it longer but I 'm not sure of the total time. I just checked with a tooth pick for a couple more times before I took it out. I don't usually mess around and change recipes I have never made before but I thought there was too much moisture in the cake when I finally added all ingredents so added extra flour till I liked the feel of the batter. It was very 'thick feeling' when stired. I may try it the correct way and see what that looks and feels like when done. I may prefer it that way although my version was very good. Another reason I changed the flour was because I added more cut up fruits than called for and I didn't measure the apples just used all I had prepared. I don't bake as much as I did when there were more around to eat it! My H and I don't need the extra goodies. Connie

All of your inswing toilet room doors should be changed for safety, but esp in bd 1, where you can clearly see you'll have to stand atop the toilet to close the door. Outswing or pocket is the way to go. I still don't understand your back hall. Is there a reason to have 2 doors going to the outside within 5 feet there that I just don't know? I think I'd rather salvage that little space between the garage and the backhall (where a door enters the hall by the bathroom) and recover it as bathroom space or more mudroom, or more office. As it is, it just seems weird (and like a potential wind alley) to have 2 doors to the exterior right there. Has your architect maybe drawn in 2 DW? There appears to be another Dw to the right of the sink. Bedroom 2's closet, without dimentions, but just estimating, doesn't appear to function the way the "clothes" are drawn in, and I expect will function much smaller than as large as it appears. The back left corner will be dead space/difficult to get things into/out of. I'd rather have that corner occupied by the "s" in the bathroom than the front corner to keep things more accessible. (what is the "s"?) I like the feature of the seating area with railing on the front side, but do you think you'll use it? Right now, it kind of reads as wasted space and creates a really awkward entrance to bedroom 3 because of the limitation to keep the hallway to get to it. Just a thought. Finally, I think bedroom 3's entrance is very awkward. I think I'd try to rearrange the MB bath and closet spaces so that bedroom 3 has a nicer and more separated (from sound of MBath) bedroom and entrance. If you have a separated WC, you may not need to enter the closet from the bedroom, for example. And, that would open up some possibilities for a better arrangement of that mid-space between Bd 1 and 3.

Well in fact, we do have an "orangerie", which is generally another name for a conservatory, as I learned from the British firm that built ours. However, it is open on one side to our indoor pool. The indoor pool air is kept dry through the use of an enormous piece of eqp called a Dectron. It is the reason no one ever feels any humidity when they come into our house, despite the indoor pool. But, it makes it very hard to grow plants in orangerie/conservatory/greenhouse. We have a disco ball in there and hula hoops instead, LOL. It's a great place for the kids to play loud music that we can't hear!