This all depends on how much work you want to put in and if you have an irrigation system or not. (BTW I also live in NE Ohio) Unlike 10+ years ago, a top rated Turf Type Fescue Mix can be very soft, pretty fine, and a great dark green lawn. The benefits would be that it will take less fertilizer, less water, and it will be more drought tolerant. It will typically stay greener longer in mid summer heat compared to a KBG that will quickly go dormant. If a irrigation system is in place, this is less important. A top rated Kentucky Blue Grass mix will be the ultimate "soft & lush" dark green lawn, but it will need lots of water & fertilizer to keep it that way. The other differences, sometimes debatable, is that the TTTF should be cut fairly higher then the KBG. If you do not have an irrigation system, on that much property, I wouldn't consider a KBG and go with the TTTF. If you don't have an irrigation system, and don't plan on watering regularly, I would def. go with the TTTF but don't expect to have that perfect lawn you describe. ...I would also recommend organic fertilizer. Anyway, here locally, I get my seed from Gales Garden Center who carries Oliger Seed Company out of Akron. http://www.oligerseed.com/products/lawn-seeds/ I would recommend the "Fescue Plus" for a TTTF or either the "Best of the Blues" or "Fresh Start" for a KBG.

A few years ago there were supposedly bad ignitors used by a number of brands of high end ranges - to the best of my knowledge they were replaced by the manufacturers and now a different, better kind are in use. In my case on my DCS range, the ignitors would continue to click after the burners were lit. Since the ingnitors were replaced I haven't had the problem. The repair person explained to me that the old ones weren't the correct height and didn't always detect when the flame was actually on. I remember reading that Bluestars may have had a different problem with the ignitors spontaneously clicking even when the range was turned off - you can check the Bluestar threads to see how that was resolved. I agree with the previous poster - if your problem is just with the ignitors and I would start with getting them replaced rather than trying to rebuild the whole cooktop unless you have other problems.

I live in Massachusetts. I echo palimpset's comment that if you have an inswing door with a storm door, you have the same snow blockage issue because the snow would block the storm door just as easily as it would block your outswing door. I have that happen on my back door all the time in the winter (we use our front door as the main entry/exit all the time anyway). When we put in a new doorway to go out to our enclosed porch, I opted for the outswing door for the reasons to have more space in the room and swing out into the porch. We got a Therma-Tru door with a lovely glass panel for about $900. The only thing the contractor commented on about the outswing was the effect of the elements (rain, snow, etc) on the door. I wish I could recall his exact words--it was something about the significance of Therma-Tru's warranty and the fact that it was an outswing door going "outside", usually means that more of the door would be hit by the elements. If it is a door going to the outside, our guy implied that to not impact the warranty, then it would need to have a roof overhang or something to protect it. (If you think about it, when you outswing the door, the whole door gets pelted with the rain than when you inswing the door and the whole door doesn't get hit.) Our contractor said that because our outswing door was going into an enclosed porch, the weather effect was not an issue for us. It sounds to me like your contractor isn't clearly telling you exactly why he's unhappy about the outswing. Maybe it is harder for him to get it to 'hang' right in that location, or maybe it's because he has to do more up front treatment (paint, etc) for the weather protection. I suppose you could voice it back to him as a question "If it were your doorway, why would you install an inswing door in this location instead of an outswing one?" and see what he says. The "snow" argument seems less of an argument to me than a rain/storm door argument. If you can't have a storm door, then the finish on the outswing door is going to take the brunt of rain and might not last long.

Hi Kate, from what I have read it seems that Happy Child prefers a warm climate as she does not over winter very well in cold ones and vigour in cold climate seems to be an issue, but in a hot climate she is wonderful. Nancy, Evelyn's blooms can be peach or pink or Ivory depending on the age of the flowers and how much sun and heat she receives. As a rule give your Austins as much sun as possible and they will reward you with lots of blooms.