Paul said, "If HMF wants to have a way to prioritize the most useful photos, then putting a system in place for participants to vote for image merit is a good approach. Voting for an image based on its "art" merit may or may not serve a purpose in achieving that goal. What is your opinion? How can HMF promote the best photos without turning the process into a beauty contest?" After reading the HMF Admin responses on the thread, I realized that the rating system is a tool to manage over 150,000 photos, with more being added every day. Instead of taking that on himself, he made it possible for site users to make that determination. Maybe the rating feature needs to be tweeked to meet the site users wants and needs better and one of the best ways to do that is to share your thoughts about it in this thread. Steve has said over and over in the thread that he is open to suggestions. Keeping the data management issue he must deal with as the site continues to grow in mind, give him your feedback. In a sense, he is second-guessing us if he is working without that feedback. Your opinions and suggestions do matter. Paul also mentioned something in one of his responses on the thread that I think is important. The current premium-membership is not large enough to support the cost of the site. Whenever we ask for changes, there is a cost associated with implementing them. Some of the changes that might make the rating system more in line with what you want to see may require more server costs. Becoming a premium-member and supporting the site just because it is an incredible rose resource is also a way of supporting the changes you want to see on the site. I didn't mean for this to sound like a lecture, because it's not. I just tend to get kind of intense about wanting feedback from site users. Smiles, Lyn Ps... here's a link that may let you see how Steve sees your participation on HMF Here is a link that might be useful: HMF Participation

Oh....I have decided that most plants are invasive, some are just worse than others. (grin) I already have to thin the liriope, contain the mondo grass, prune off the crossvine shoots, prune back the pink indigo, prune the fringeflower regularly, prune the stone pine annually, cut back the asian jasmine, etc. Anything that grows will either grow taller than claimed, wider than claimed (or both), or will be an invasive spreader. So......buy good tools, and keep 'em sharp. So, most of gardening, after planting, is pruning, trimming, and shaping, which is a continuous practice.

Good grief. I hope you'll forgive me for saying that I think you need a different developer. It's your house! You bought it! You should be able to put whatever light fixture you want on it. I would never buy a house where someone could order me to installl such a ludicrous monstrosity at the front entrance.

I so want a dish rack off of the counter myself. The options I've found so far are really rails from which hang various accessories, like knife racks, bowls, spice or book shelves, ect. Examples are Haefele (link below) or the Franke "Active Kitchen" rail accessories. momelife.com also makes a rail system, but I don't think they have a dish rack. Also, I've seen several photos in magazines lately of a traditional, wooden plate rack that spans across a window (the July/Aug issue of This Old House has one on page 73). Unfortunately, I've not seen any of them in person. Please report back if you do! Here is a link that might be useful: backsplash storage system