Hi Michael, another zone 5 PA brug lover here, Johnstown, PA! I am not experienced with them like others are here so cannot address the pruning for treelike growth but can share my wintering indoor experiences. Got my first brug 5 years ago and overwintered it in a growing state for 3 of them. After the initial shock of the environment change resulting in a massive leaf loss, we had no problems until Feb or March. Then I would inevitably end up with a whitefly and/or spider mite infestation that I had to battle. This was lessoned somewhat if I ran a humidifier constantly and misted the plant a time or two a week. Unfortunately this resulted in a dampness in the living and dining rooms so I then moved them to a basement bathroom. But this had the problem of no windows so I had to rig up plant lights on timers....and still run the humidifier. You know that old saying out of sight out of mind? It's true, I didn't see the plants all the time and so had a tough time remembering to water them regularly..... So for the past 2 years I have left them go dormant in the garage. My brug was very large, 5 feet tall and probably 4 feet across so it created other problems in the house. The garage also suffers from all the plants coming in for the winter (6 pots of canna, hibiscus, 4 or 5 pots of taro, jasmine and more) but we adjust to it. This year I thought I lost my original brug but lucked out and it came back so I am not sure what I am going to do this year. I have a couple of new ones that I bought, they are still managable from the size standpoint so I think they may overwinter in the bay window this year and I will mist them daily.

Tom: OK, maybe you will have to water. Some pointers that may help. Do you have some kind of SUV? I have a Suburban, so I am lucky. I have been watering about 400 new trees and some that I planted in prior years, If I use my methods and had just 100 or so--"piece of cake." I got a shallow rubber-like or flexible plastic tray that fits in the back. I can line up 40 jugs on this and can re-fill them right there and drain off the spillage out the back of the tray by pressing down its lip. I have another tray in the side that holds another 18. I drive close to me trees and carry them by twos or threes to the trees. For 90% of them I created a nice berm to hold the water, so I can pour it out fast. 100 trees, if they are in rows close toghether, maybe 2 or 2 1/2 hours. With kids helping, much less. No problem! Good luck. If you water them and keep up their strength, they will get established fast. If you see good buds form and the thick leader develop, you are home free, and one good watering now could do the trick. If the buds are really small and the leaders don't show any thickening, you should water more regurlarly until fall, if needed. --Spruce

What a pretty puppy. Good luck with her and please be patient. Training a puppy is not easy, but it is rewarding. An 18 week puppy is still a tiny baby, and one who was separated from her mom at 7 weeks if I read your post correctly. That is a bit earlier than most would recommend. 18 week old pups are still babies so potty 101 is ongoing. She may not be fully reliable for several more weeks if not months. Physically she really may not be able to hold it as long as you would like. She is still a baby with a tiny bladder. Potty 101 requires taking the pup out every 2 hours minimally, and certainly immediately after every meal and whenever she wakes after a nap. It is best to have her on leash for potty training. Walk her until she performs. Give her a verbal cue to potty and give her huge praise when she does so. You will soon have her going on command. I agree with the potty before play recommendation above. Never scold for accidents indoors, just clean them up thoroughly with an enzyme cleaner. Why? Because the accident was not her mistake. It is yours. You have not anticipated her needs. Scolding her will likely have her not wanting to potty in front of you anywhere and hiding out of your sight to go potty indoors. You don't want that. Really. The smaller the crate environment the less likely the pup will soil it, but she should still be going out every couple of hours during the day. Tethering to you also works. Rush her outdoors if she even seems about to squat. Always praise for pottying outside.

gail - sorry I missed your question! My GC/carpenter installed the BB. Because I didn't get an IKEA kitchen, the cabinet makers would not install it. It is easy to work with if you have the right tools (big saws, I guess). They did cut and round over the edges where necessary. To save money, I sanded and finished the butcherblock myself with Watco Butcherblock oil and a few coats of mineral oil. I finished by rubbing it out with #0000 steel wool to make it nice and smooth. I pre-finished on all sides and then finished the top with a few more coats. I got IKEA numerar birch in 40" wide (for the peninsula) and standard 25.5" wide for the rest of the kitchen. I also found a local woodworker who makes hard maple butcherblock. I definitely would have loved to use him but he was just out of budget. next time I will! My GC also installed the quartz as that was the cheapest option (instead of getting the fabricator to do it). It was basically two 50"x25" pieces that they picked up at the shop and put in place before the BB. I had that slide in "appliance" sink so it made things pretty easy. I was REALLY worried about corners being out of square (something fabricator/installers with laser templates would take into account), but my contractor said it would be super easy to notch the drywall and backsplash would take care of the rest. So that's what happened and it's totally fine. rocksnroses, we have had no problems with the butcherblock around the stove. It's going on one year. I think stains could be a possibility. I did have a blueberry stain on one part of the counter. I soaked it in lemon juice and salt and it took it out pretty well. We use potholders/trivet and cutting boards. The advantage of butcherblock is it's fairly easy to repair -- just sand and oil. I actually need to do some repairs because my roommate has cut on the counters twice now. I asked him not to but cutting on wood seems to be irresistible for some people. If you have guests cooking in your kitchen they could pose a threat to your counters and you may wish to shove cutting boards in their direction. I don't consider this a huge downside because our alternative in that budget was laminate, which would have the same issues with cutting but be less repairable. Had we not found the appliance (slide in) sink on Kijiji I'm not sure what we would have done as it would have made using offcuts much more expensive (cost of sink cutout, longer offcut, need fabricator to install). Likely would have gone for the IKEA domsjo because it's one of the only reasonable full depth sink options. This post was edited by robotropolis on Thu, Jan 22, 15 at 13:47