Lisa, Yes, I agree with Carol... you are truly a nice person to assist those in need. I'm at 178th & Santa Fe just 1/4-1/2 mile from their location. I wasn't kidding when I posted the other day that it was flooding north, south, east and west of me. There were water rescues immediately south of us and residential evacuations to the west (probably your friend's neighborhood), roads washed away immediately north and flooding in several places east of here. A few years back, I remember being miffed at the "inconvenience" of having to navigate around construction from widening all the drainage areas around our neighborhood. Right now, I'm thankful that the city thought far enough ahead for the possibility of flooding or we'd be in much worse shape right now. Just a few swamped squash plants and I was already mad at them for not putting on any stinkin' fruit anyway(!). On a side note, if we ever move from this house I'm going to seriously study the 100-year flood table/zones before we even think about purchasing another place. Thanks for asking, Lynn

Hi. Tobacco varieties that are grown for commercial use are resistant to Tobacco Mosaic Virus. There may be pockets of TMV in some greenhouses that are growing heirloom varieties for their own use (or for decorative plants), but the smoker who uses commercial cigarettes/cigars will not transmit the virus. No problems there. I see some black specks on the leaves in the photo that's 3rd from the bottom. Could there be some pest activity going on there? Your plants look generally healthy. I think most of the problem is attributable to the need for fertilizer. It looks like you are doing a good job with watering too - not too little and not too much. Good on ya. The last photo, of the fruit, looks like blossom end rot. Most of what I've seen indicates that you need to fertilize the plants. With container plants, you need to fertilize regularly with a fast-acting fertilizer that has nutrients that are immediately available to the plant. Most potting soils do not contain nutrients and they don't hold nutrients because they wash out from watering. Get some inexpensive, water soluble, fast-acting fertilizer, such as Peter's or Miracle-Gro or one of the others. Dilute according to package directions for INDOOR plants. This is important. If you make it too strong, like for outdoor plants that are in the ground, it will damage the plants. Feed every 2 or 3 weeks or as suggested by the directions. Slow-acting fertilizers will not be useful to potted tomato plants so don't bother with things like Tomato Tone or bone meal or other amendments that take a long time to break down. They will be washed out before they get a chance to be useful. This should vastly improve the health of the fruit and leaves. Your fruits, with regular fertilizer and watering evenly, will stop getting blossom end rot. It should also help with the leaf issues. I don't see any disease. Maybe a little pest activity but that's easy to resolve with your favorite garden insecticide. Fertilizing is your most important issue. It will make a big difference. Enjoy!

We aren't doing laminate again. I despise laminate. And the cabinet color may be interesting, but for me it is undesirable, in my opinion it's too dark to go in such a small kitchen area. A green paint on the walls, white paint on the cabinets with new silver hinges and knobs, and a darker tan tile is the look we're pursuing. We are also not going to put any more money into this project than we have to, and that includes ripping off the counter top and replacing it. I guess the only choice I will have is just to try and cut thin vertical strips of tile to go around the outside edge, and I'll end up with a counter that looks like the edge of a quarter somewhat.

It seems that I have a different opinion on how to do this kind of work. I would use a saw like the PorterCable 4" trim saw as it is easy to fashion guides. Often I use precut guides of various materials, in a pinch IÂll use metal stud track. Pro & cons to each guide. Why this saw? Cause both sides can run along a guide successfully. To cut the shape that was posted, it would require 6 saw horses, sheet of plywood for the work area & clamps. Skill level needed would not be too high; as I would be able do this. And the cost is kept reasonable. After some practice, setup time is minimal. The only disadvantage would be that this saw requires more time, it isnÂt a monster, but is just a well though out design. If I had to produce a lot of the same shapes, then I might spend time building a full size jig for the sawÂI said my peace (without saying what I though of the previous tools mentioned) As far as stock, I might think of that high density stuff that is used for laminate counter tops & try it on a small scale to see how it would hold up. Well, like some guy said, everyone has an ÂopinionÂÂthink it is time for me to go back to the gardening forum whence I came from?