Day 3 of my Captivity. I had some difficulties last night. I had a bit of a cough and felt cold. This morning the human that captured me did not look happy to see me. Again my throat was swabbed and cleaned with the clear liquid. I was fed the warm cereal as well. The tube passed with ease down into my crop. As I was being fed, the smaller human had water coming from the eyes. Now I understand. Of course their ground cover would be parched with such an inefficient irrigation system! No amount of water from the eyes would be enough to sustain the expanse of growth they attempt within the dwelling. I am taken into a smaller holding cell with clear solid walls. A tube attached to a canister is attached. Some sort of heat source is placed beneath this holding cell. I am surprised. Soon I am able to breathe well enough through my nose I no longer need to gasp and I feel warm again. I feel these human captors are concerned about me until I hear them say: Hope Who makes it. I see. Their concern is for my ability to work. They will transfer me to some sort of sweat shop and put me into forced labor. I will have to make "it." I do not know what this "it" is. I have gathered more information on these humans. The large one on supports is the mate of the smaller human. Laugh if you will but I still believe he is housebroken. The other inmates have given me information. Name: Oooooooo Mmmmmmiiiiiiikeeeeee Rank: unknown at this time Cereal: Apple Jacks The information on the sprinkler human is yet undetermined. I was given something called scone today. I ignored it when it was given to me. Must not look to anxious about the rations. When I was not being monitored I tried this scone food. Very sweet. Very soft. Very good. I finished it quickly. These are humans. They will not remember they have given me scone. Again this Ooooooo Mmmmmmiiiiiikeeeee gives rations and cookies to the prison population. I am fed on a regular basis with the warm cereal. This afternoon the larger human took me from the small cell and held me for an extended time following a feeding. How does he know how to manipulate the new feathers on my head to reduce the itchiness? Comrades, I would be lying if I said this was an unpleasant experience. I fell asleep shortly after this treatment was begun. No. I must resist! This is part of the brain washing. I am pleased that my messages are able to get out. Contact Central Command and the Ministry of Misinformation and Maple Syrup Production. They know the coordinates near this institution. I have learned it is Camp Nappy #13. I spoke briefly to a Canadian Goosi that was part of the mission that bombarded the human dwelling near by. A nice chap, from Labrador I believe. Our conversation was short as he was on a mission. I am now glad I may have made a contact prior to my capture. There may be too much collateral damage if bombings begin. I must establish communications with the other prisoners and warn them of the escape plan. I am warm and was given my last feeding for the night. Oh. More seeds. They are much easier to swallow now. Breathing is better too. I have paced and paced for a long time this evening. I wanted more cookies food. Mmmmmm. Scone! Must not let the captors know I like this food. Must resist the brain washing. Thank you all for your concern and ideas. Very good. I will be sure to save this diary. Following my escape I will one day read my adventures to my great grand egg. I will write again when I can. Who _________________

The internet has changed how everyone buy goods and services and led to the commoditization of a surprising number of things. But good home design is not a commodity; it is a very personal and regional endeavor. It does not translate or travel well. I think that complication is demonstrated on this forum every day. I often find it difficult to work with younger clients because they want to design by email when the we are only only a few miles apart. I've designed large commercial projects from Minnesota to Manhattan but I would not design a home farther than 50 miles from my office (relatives excepted). I would also not design a home if construction phase observation was not included. The idea of designing a home on the other side of the world with no opportunity to meet the owner or visit the site or observe the work seems ridiculous to me. Its difficult enough to design a house with an architect in the same community where his/her work is available for inspection and building delivery methods are well understood. Why would anyone want to make it more difficult? I suspect any design fee savings would evaporate when the contractors open the bid documents. But the issue here is shills who post deceptive advertising. I've seen a lot of it on this forum in the last 9 years and I don't appreciate it any more than I do the tele-marketing calls that have forced me to give up my office land line.

I am very new to CAD programs, but since you are, too, I'll tell you a little bit about my experiences with Chief Architect Home Designer Interiors. It's only $80 but once I figured it out, it seems to just what I needed, which is play with a design until I have one I will pay a pro to produce properly. First, I started off with graph paper and a ruler, and measured everything and made a sketch. I used an electronic measurer with a laser pointer so my dimensions were exact. This also allowed me to not have to get my husband to help me with all the measurements, because he complained mightily when he did have to help me. Not that's he's a jerk, just that for the measurements I couldn't get he had to move things or stand on the step stool. After that, I downloaded the software and started trying to draw. Watched tutorial videos. Downloaded the user manual and the reference guide. Sometimes I had tutorial and manual open at the same time, one on iPad, one on PC. A couple of dumb mistakes I still haven't learned to fix, like somehow putting exterior doors in interior walls. One thing I still haven't figured out, the best way to start is on the lowest left part of the screen. Hard to get the mouse exactly in the right place. Zooming in helps with placement. The ideal spot should read 0,0,0 for (read this on bottom right of screen) x, y, and z, but that doesn't work in Interiors, which assumes both an exterior and interior wall, so you have to add that measurement to all your measurements, which you specify as inches when you are looking at the x,y,z when you draw, but turns into feet and inches on the plan. its not going to be perfect, but I wasn't looking for perfection, just good enough. It wasn't until I displayed as 3-d that I realized about the external doors. Doh. I drew the rest of the house and that let me turn them into interiors. Don't know if there is another way. About me. Using a computer since 1983. On the Internet when one used Edline and could program your own Autoexecbat, was a graphic designer for years but before computers, when you did it all by hand. Which is to say, I knew what I wanted to produce even though I didn't know the software, and knew I could teach myself a new skill if I really tried. There was much cursing, screaming and hair tearing. If you decide to go that route, I will share what little I have learned. Oh, and the program exports plans as jpegs, which you can easily upload here.

Found this beauty at a local green house, it wasn't in bloom but had a tag with pictures of the flowers. It's currently in a container and I plan to repot in a larger pot with a trellis, because I don't think it will survive upstate New York winters outside, I'll bring it inside in the fall. It's been living on my front porch for a month and is now full of buds. Yesterday the first one opened.