Hi Bettina, I got an email from a Winter Sower who saw your post and wrote to me asking to offer you some advice. First let me say that I feel sorry that you were let down by this individual. It sounds like this person did not know exactly what the duties involved would be. Sadly, it's a hard lesson learned for both of you. If this person continues to harass you then definitely seek assistance from the authorities. If you do a team effort again get it all down on paper as to who does what and when, make lots of copies and everyone signs every copy. I do run an open-to-the-public tomato seedbank. I share OP toms. Many are donated to me, a good many I grow on my own, and I also purchase bulk seed stock. I do all the seed packing and labeling myself. 99% of my seeds are distributed to US Citizens. Once in a while I get a request for seeds from another country--it requires more postage and more time and honestly, it can be a hassle unless the person requesting is friendly and nice, then I don't mind much the extra work. If you start a seedbank I suggest that you limit it to Canadians because it will be simpler for you. You're doing the work, you are the boss of you. Make life simple for yourself and set limitations from the very beginning--otherwise you're a doormat. Being a doormat is never a good thing. I'm very careful about the seeds I accept. They have to be fermented or cleaned with a sani-scrub. Because I'm distributing some shared seeds I don't want to also be possibly distributing any pathogens that may be on the exterior of the seeds, I'm very serious about that responsibility. As as a matter of fact, when I do send anyone tomato seeds they come in a brochure that shows the sani-scrub method. I also have the method at WinterSown.Org How to Clean Tomato Seeds (Sani-Scrub) And, if you visit the GW Seed Saving Forum FAQs or google "How to save tomato seeds" you will find the tomato fermentation FAQ I wrote years back. So, I'm definitely serious on sharing seeds that have been cleaned well enough to reduce or eliminate exterior seed-borne pathogens. Fermentation and the sani-scrub will both do that for you. I prefer the sani-scrub because it takes 35 minutes--and you get a half-hour break in there too. Fermentation takes at least three days. Ick. Fermentation is an organic process and the sani-scrub uses bleach-based kitchen scrubbing powder (Ajax. Comet, et al) People who prefer organic methods can ferment. Either way, the risk of sharing exterior-borne tomato pathogens is hugely reduced. I'll paste in a link below to the "Your Choice Tomato SASE" so you can see how I list the seeds. I require a printout from my website. The requester fills it in and sends it with a two-stamp SASE. I send it back with the seeds and the sani-scrub brochure. No printout then no seeds. I had to do that because the list was showing up on freebie sites. I wasn't getting traffic to my website, people weren't learning about germinating tomato seeds with Winter Sowing, yada yada yada, printout is now required. I also like the printout because people write neatly--HOORAY! The printout also has a calendar date on it and I impose a week's time limit--mail it within a week of the printout or its void. Again, this helps prevent abuse from freebie sites--also, I update that list weekly, sometimes daily. I don't like to disappoint people because they've sent me a request for seeds from a stale list, then I have to make substitutes or complete replacements if I'm also out of a default choice. Freebie abuse makes me feel like a doormat. I'm a nice person, I'm not a doormat. I do not contract for seeds. I don't give seeds to people to grow out and then get back the seeds they save. I am the boss of myself and I am responsible for myself. Real life happens to everyone--crops fail, people go sour, something somewhere goes screwy. Anything can happen. So, my seedbank is based only on what I grow, what I buy, and what has been donated. The list changes as varieties are exhausted and/or I add new ones. Right now it fluctuates between 100 and 120 vareites. I do have some previous seed donators that I know are growing some of their tomatoes with the intention of saving those seeds to donate to WinterSown for inclusion on the list, but until those seeds are here they are pie in the sky. They happen when they happen. And only after they've been packed and labeled do they go on the list. I imagine that if you look around Canadian seed company websites you can find seeds in bulk amounts. Here, in the States, I order bulk from a few different companies. I like GourmetSeed International, Totally Tomatoes, Tomato Growers Supply, and NEseed. Gourmet and NE have great prices and they also ship very quickly. Unfortunately, I do not know if they ship across the border. If you're going to maintain a seedbank you can't do it on donations or your own stock alone, you need bulk stock that will be the backbone of your seedbank. Does it cost money? Yes, some, but not a hurtful amount. People that send a small monetary donation get extra seeds--they get their six first choices and the four defaults. Those donations add up and do pay for bulk seed stock and even some of the office supplies. I'll never make a nickel off of what I do (now that's pie in the sky) but those small donations have taken a lot of the "sting" out of running WinterSown.Org. Hope this helps. Kindly, Trudi Davidoff WinterSown.Org Here is a link that might be useful: Your Choice Tomato SASE

Contact Gene at Koi Village http://www.koivillage.com/index.html

Our contract is fixed price with allowances. Our builders approach is that changes in things like tile or lighting fixtures that don't change the work involved for him, are no issue- we are paying the difference in the cost of material. Obviously, if we make a change that results in more labor, this would be considered a change order to be negotiated as everything else was sorted. As an example, if we change from a simple, tiled backsplash in the kitchen to one that has much more elaborate patterns and an increased time to install, then I'd expect the builder to ask for a change order to cover this. To the OP, sounds like a discussion with the builder would make sense- for some areas, it would seem that a process could be worked out to at least help you understand the relative differences in the choices you're looking at? This could be done in a way to preserve the approach this builder seems to have with his suppliers but give you some information to help with your decisions? Maybe it's time to ask the builder to meet you at the tile store to make some progress?

Hi Sally! You're right - nobody agrees. That's because each has their own interpretation of the raw data. Some have their own preferences for one string of data versus another. Then again, sometimes the data itself is obscure. You will see more varied forecasts with day-to-day weather than with major weather events when most everybody backs off and goes with NOAA. We work for NOAA as spotters so they are our foremost source for data. But, we have been reading weather for decades as long distance off-shore boaters and are not afraid to make an on-the-fly decision on our own if we feel it is warranted. The data we provide shows up on weather.com and TWC's on-air programing.. Weather, unfortunately, is not a perfect science. New satellites, larger computers, better models, etc. have made weather prediction leaps and bounds better than, say, 20 years ago but there's still so much to learn. All weather is local. In my area, our official forecasts are rarely accurate to what's happening outside. That's because Mystic sits under a "stable air mass" that affects our weather significantly. Five miles away, in Groton, the weather is different. NOAA's offices cover a small region but within that region are micro climates that will not match the overall region's forecast, such as Mystic. Use NOAA's forecast for the big picture. Then, check your local newscaster for discrepancy. Finally, apply your micro knowledge of the area in question. And always allow for change. Right now, we are under a Special Weather Statement for fog. Outside, the sun is shining brightly but I've no doubt up the coast a couple miles they are fogged in. CT has received several inches of rain this week with frequent flash flood warnings. Mystic has not had a drop. This is why NOAA's spotter program exists. To take advantage of people's knowledge of what's actually happening on the ground. Doplar radar can often spot a tornado. But there's no substitute for a spotter on the ground. All of our data is reported directly to NOAA and they distribute it around to TWC, local news stations, etc. Many, many times I've reported something to NOAA and 5 seconds later my TV starts to beep and a red warning screen appears based on what I've reported. And, finally, there's no better way to check the weather than opening your blinds and taking a look outside! lol Many old folk tales are surprisingly accurate such as, "Red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning!" /tricia This post was edited by triciae on Sat, Jul 27, 13 at 8:52