I decided to check out 'Cheyenne Spirit', as afterall, it did get Fleuroselect & AAS, award... Produced by Kieft, the germination rate was rated at about 70%. Also, with a 'Utilty Patent', whatever that means...Rights to its production name, for the next 20 years, for the years of time, work, efforts, care & money, that went into it? It appears the producer had originally started it, as a cross between 'Magnus' & 'Knee High' & then more complex breeding after that, over quite a few years (over ten?), to come up with stable uniform plants in a variety of about 7 different colors. At a cost of about $5. for 15 seeds (not to mention shipping costs), it may be easier to buy another pot of your favorite colors, if you really like it ! I did not see if it is actually an F1 hybrid, but if so, then any seeds you collect, may not be quite like the named variety, in the size & series of colors of what you have now. If I liked it that much, I'd buy another pot full, as opposed to trying to chill (vernalize the sown seeds in the fridge) & then have to wait, until next year, to see which colors you get. For those reasons, I would be opposed to buying & sowing seeds, not knowing what colors appear. Instead, since they are locally available, I would go back, selecting a pot of four more, in colors more to your liking & preference, separately plant them & have fairly nice sized plants,& a great looking collection, next year...

The advice of not letting your VFT flower is always suggested because most people are not experienced or are new in growing CP, so these people barely have their VFT thriving. Flowering takes a lot of energy and if your plant is week, it can die. But if you have your plant growing very vigorously, theres no problem. I always let them flower, never had problems. When I was a beginner, of course I lost my pants until I was told to cut them off. Now I have no worries letting them flower. I had one VFT grow a flower stalk this late of the year but once I started to induce dormancy, the stalk aborted and died. That VFT is now dormant. To induce dormancy, just place it in a cool part of your house and give it less light. Now, most summer leaves will die and stop functioning, also your VFT will start to produce some smaller traps with sluggish movement if you trigger them. Those are winter leaves. Once the plant is dormant, cut down on the amount of water, just keeps its media moist to keep the bulb from drying out. I keep my dormant bulbs in a pot and simply place it in the coolest room next to a window. They will receive some sunlight but its not enough photoperiod to break their winter dormancy. I always let my VFT grow on the same media for 2 years before transplanting them on a fresh media. Or you can dig out your bulbs after it has become dormant, cut the old leaves to avoid rot, wrap it with moist LFS moss to keep the bulbs from drying out, place it in a Ziploc bag, and then put it in the fridge (not the icebox!). Always check now and then to make sure you keep the LFS moss moist but not wet and you can check on the condition of your bulb. The bulb should be white and crispy. Come spring you can plant them on fresh media to begin its new growth season. Good luck!

We're almost a year into a full-house renovation, which will probably end up about 90% DIY. We'd DIY-ed smaller reno projects on our previous home, plus a full refit on a 40-foot sailboat, and all those previous projects had gone quite well, so we felt competent to take this BIG project on. I have to say there have been many times we've regretted it!! To be fair, there have been a lot of unexpected major surprises, though. We thought we'd be totally done (interior + exterior) by now, but I'd say we're about halfway. I think the WORST part is that we've had absolutely no time for our daughter.Every single weekend and after-work free time has been spent working on the house, often in dirty and stressful conditions. The house has been mostly piles of parts, materials and debris all year. Poor kid!!! I have been the project manager and GC and it's been nearly a full-time job at many stages. Researching, sourcing, and ordering parts and materials takes a long time! I've also been the designer for some pretty major changes, with input from architect friends and the talented folks on GW of course! I spent months and months at a drafting board last spring trying to figure out how to add another bedroom and make a workable kitchen, living, dining area. I concur with those above who say that even when you hire subcontractors, you have to be prepared to spend time and mental energy supervising. The times I did NOT do that were the times things had to be ripped out and redone later.... so even when you spend the $$ you still need to do some of the work. I guess that's why people hire General Contractors to do that for them. I'll add a tool that's indespensible for any major project: a compressed-air nailer!! We had access to both a framing gun and a finish nailer, and MAN did they make that work go so much faster!!!!! Tools, I agree, are so important. You just can't do a good job without the right tools. Or maybe you can but it takes a lot more time and frustration! In my Christmas stocking I got a pliers set and under the tree was a screwdriver-tip kit and a new screwdriver set from DH. Romantic, huh? But now he won't worry I'm borrowing his work tools (he works at a boat yard which is GREAT for us since he has access to the whole woodshop there with awesome woodworking tools.) Books: We find that the Taunton pro series is best for really useful info. Here's the scope of our project and what we've done so far: Landscape drainage- 25% DIY, 75% subcontractor Main living space (kitchen, mudroom, dining, living) reconfigured, including moving several bearing walls): -demo: DIY, including walls, tile flooring, subfloor, plumbing & electrical -rough framing: subcontractor -sheetrock: subcontractor -plumbing: DIY, major replace entire kitchen -electrical: DIY, major, rewire 4 new rooms to code -cabinet install: DIY -appliance install: DIY -counter install: subcontractor (marble) -hardwood flooring install and finish: DIY -slate tile flooring: DIY -window/door trim: DIY (ongoing) -backsplash tile: DIY (not done yet, she says sheepishly!) -paint: DIY -woodstove install: DIY -pantry cabinetry build and install: DIY -built in bookcases buiild and install : DIY -heating/radiators install throughout: DIY Master bedroom/master bath/new office-bedroom- -demo: 50% DIY, 50% subcontractor (it was a mold issue and the insurance paid for much of this work to be done in order to eradicate the mold) -framing: subcontractor with close DIY supervision! -sheetrock: ditto above, plus we had to DIY a bit of it. -electrical: DIY -plumbing: DIY except for basic DWV layout -heating: DIY -tile: Bill Vincent!! -radiant heat floor install: DIY -window/door/finish trim: DIY -tub, toilet, vanity, etc install: DIY -paint: DIY Exterior- remove all vinyl siding and re-side with cedar shakes; paint all exposed concrete areas; install 3 new windows; build 3 porches and one deck; paths and landscaping: all DIY Phew. Now I'm really tired. Ugh- back to painting trim and installing toilets and lights today!!!

Alex Chicago: Some washes come out cleaner (smelling fresher) from the Little Giant, even though it's the same wash length, nominal temperature and chemicals as in the W4840. I'm thinking particularly of pillow cases, washed at Very Warm in the W4840 and 120F in the Little Giant. There's a long lag getting hot water to my W4840, but the internal heater is working, I always do an Extended wash (1 hour wash tumble), and I have seen the machine further extending the wash tumble to give the water more time to heat. In the last few months I've run a nearby faucet to bring hot water to that end of the house before doing a wash at Very Warm or Hot, but the Little Giant still seems to do better. The 5000W heater really shows itself here, even with cold fill. The Comforters program in the W4840 is excellent, but it doesn't go above Warm, and I don't think a program like Custom would wet down a comforter. The Little Giant Cottons Universal program with raised water level has no problem wetting them down, and can go up to 140F. I've seen the results in cleaner comforters (yes, duvet covers are recommended, and no, we don't use them). Cottons Hygiene could probably handle comforters also, but I haven't yet wanted to wash one at 160F or higher. On the negative side, the Little Giant's smaller drum is at a disadvantage with thick comforters. All our comforters do fit in, and most of them settle down when wet so there's room to tumble. But I just washed one that didn't, so it kind of just spun around inside the drum. It did get washed though. The W4840 is overall excellent at spinning, but I'm not crazy about its pulse spins. They throw a burst of current into the motor to rev up the drum quickly, but with no apparent concern for balancing. The machine is heavy enough to shrug this off in most cases. But I've had some loud bangs, and even some movement, with a very unbalanced load like heavy cotton bathroom mats. Can avoid it by setting a lower spin speed, but if you don't, watch out. The Little Giant does pulse-type spins in a more careful and controlled manner, so it doesn't have this problem. A couple of weeks ago I wanted to wash the garage floor. I was going to buy a new mop, rather than using our cleaners' mops that they use inside the house. But then I realized I have Sluice Low on the Little Giant, so I used one of the mops and then threw both mop heads into the machine. Might be able to get away with that in the W4840, but the Little Giant is made for it. Really, you can't compare the W4840 and the Little Giant, they're a completely different class of machine. Water levels, heating, configurable options, array of programs. As for the Asko: Well, I returned it, and I'm keeping the Little Giant, so that's one answer. But say I try to answer based on an Asko that worked the way I imagined it would. The difference between that Asko and the Little Giant would be less than the difference between the W4840 and the Little Giant. But the Little Giant is a true commercial machine that costs 50% more, is much more flexible and configurable, and has a heater 2 1/2 times as powerful.