Thank You Sylvia and Ceth... Glib, I have done Decomposed Granite from the outset, so I don't know any difference, I learned before I built my beds the possibility that it enhances Clayish soils while also contributing to the soil food web, this is my initial take on it and what motivated me to try it, so far ,it has worked splendidly ;-) Decomposed granite is a rock powder and is an excellent amendment for clay soils. All rock powders are great sources of minerals and micronutrients. All growing soils need them. As the microbes and macrobes like earthworms, digest the insoluble minerals, they break down into the various soluble micronutrients that all forms of plants need. For example, limestone rocks are rich in calcium. Granite rocks are rich in potassium, etc. Seaweeds of course are the king of micronutrient fertilizers and soil amendments. There can be up to 70+ trace elements in seaweed. In locations where seaweed is not readily available; rock powders is one answer to the problem. Research continues to reveal that insoluble tiny particles like rock powder minerals, can be easily digested or absorbed via microbial activity, over time, into the anatomy of growing plants, thriving in the presence of rich organic compost. Obviously a heavy clay soil is very difficult to initially dig, whereas a sandy loam is much easier. Heavy clay soils can be improved considerably by adding a lot of sawdust and mason's sand. DO NOT use beach or river sand! Mason's sand, being crushed granite, has sharp edges and actually loosens the soil. One of the least understood aspects of gardening is that of capillary action of the garden soil. It is a proven fact that compressed earth has a better capillary action than undisturbed soil. That is why gardening books tell you never to walk between rows in a regular garden, as that encourages weed growth. And of course people are told never to step in a French Intensive bed and thus compress the soil. But the capillary action is absolutely necessary to bring water up to the roots of growing plants to promote good and deep root growth. In regular garden rows, it is easy to roll a heavy 2 or 3 inch wide weighted wheel (mounted on an axle and handle) down the row directly over the freshly planted seeds, which will then promote deep root growth along that line. The spaces between the rows are than rototilled to eliminate footprints prior to the initial watering. The basic concept of French Intensive gardening is that raised beds are created which have humus added, and the whole bed is light and fluffy to a depth of two feet to promote fantastic root growth. The beds are typically 4 feet wide and 12 or more feet long, with 3 foot paths between the beds.

snork! at borderbarb & toxcrusadr. You might be a compost wacko if you... scan through the classifieds looking for "manure ads" have "manure envy" read a thread about manure ads & are so envious that you post a reply! sincerely yours, wacko #1 sylvia

Big tractor-trailers do have big mirrors that help. Some mirror sets have two mirrors per side to allow wider coverage. However, they cannot see directly behind the truck for a goodly distance. A surprise can be following them, one that suddenly veers into view doing something crazy in traffic, like passing on the right at the same time the truck is changing to a lane to his right. (The trucker did signal, or did he not?) Big mirrors may produce a blinding light to the trucker's face if a following vehicle has his lights on bright and may be mis-aimed as well. This may cause the trucker to adjust his mirrors away from optimum position requiring him to shift his body to get a full view. This negates optimum use of the mirrors and consequently reduces safety. If you drive in heavy traffic with a large number of trucks on a multi-lane highway, you may notice that the more civil ones are using codes to aid their fellow truckers. After a big rig passes another big rig, the passee may signal to the passer when its safe to pull back into the lane. This is accomplished by a quick flash of headlamp high beams. When the driver behind sees the image of the front driver's face in his mirror, he knows he can see the flash.

What I've come to find out lately is that for residential work, not commercial work which is higher skilled labor and more expensive than residential, almost all plumbing companies in the greater Seattle/Tacoma areas will not give you an hourly rate over the phone. They will say they only bid jobs. What they actually are charging is between $400 to $600 per man hour once there on your job. I have a friend who was charged $500 to remove and install a standard two piece toilet that he provided. It took the plumber one hour labor, plus one hour round trip to and from the job, plus a wax ring and bolts. Another plumber told me he was told by his company to charge a customer $600 instead of $400 which he wanted to charge for an hours work on a job he just finished. I was told by a plumber that the "Don't start freak'in" company is the most expensive. Once a journeyman, or not nessassarily a journeyman, plumber is on the job, the labor alone to remove and replace an exposed shower valve per line with Pex is $350 for the hot, $350 for the cold, $350 for the line from the valve to the shower head. That's $1,050.00 for around 2 to 2-1/2hrs labor. If it's a tub valve add another 1/2hr to 3/4 hr and $350 for the tub line. If it's ProPress with type L copper, or type L sweated copper it's $550 per line now. That's $2,200.00 for a tub valve. It takes about 3 to 3-1/2 hours to install a tub valve with sweated copper and half the time with Pex. 3/4 the time with ProPress. Two years ago labor ran $550 to $650 to remove and replace an exposed shower valve with type L copper sweated. An 8 hour for one journey can run $3,200 to $4,800 labor including travel time and use of tools and van. My son is a commercial plumber in Salt Lake. His company is union and figures it runs them $100 hr. to employ him with vacation, sick leave, medical, and taxes. Thats $800 a day cost for a commercial journeyman. I don't know what yhe company charges for his time. It's all competative bid work and they dont like to loose bids. My suggestion is if you need a resude tial plumber is to try and find a good independent plumber with a good reputation and referalls, or move to Portland. Portland still runs about $150 hr. for a journeyman plumber...and so does Texas!