I have a shelf full of gardening books, Eliot Coleman, Ed Smith, and others. I'm sorry to say that although all these books have useful information, they also all contain erroneous information. I have not found one source of information that is authoritative and current. I suppose it's the currency of the information that's the issue. You'd think that after how-many thousands of years of farming and gardening, we'd have learned something. But they are still finding out some very important lessons that have not yet made it into consumer-level print. For example, the information about mycorrhizal relationships, and how to nurture them is still mostly found on-line. If I had to pick one, I'd go with one of Eliot Coleman's latest books. But this forum is one of the best sources of information and ideas. Check out posts by loid (pt03), borderbarb, dan_staley, cyrus_gardener, digdirt. I'll have to check John Jeavon's book from the library.

I recommend reading Suzanne Somers book: The Sexy Years. I did and ended up with bioidentical hormones. While she doesn't specifically talk about subcutaneous pellets, that is what I have. I wrote a thread here with alot of detail. It's called Bioidentical Hormone Pellets" In short, I get estrogen and testosterone pellets implanted in my hip. They are the closest to what I make, not metabolized by the liver and does not have near the breast risk that synthetics or pills do. The deliver a consistent low dose. I get them every 3-4 months. I do not believe in suffering with symptoms when there are options. I would never use synthetic from a pregnant mare. I've read how they are abused to obtain the urine. I have never felt better in my life. I'm 54, had a hysterectomy 20 years ago, have never had kids. I also recommend seeing a doctor that specializes in bioidentical hormones and menopause. Good luck! njw

I just returned after spending several days up at the family cottage. Having finished "House Thinking" recently, I had a look around the room with those ideas in mind. I had always considered this room cozy. It originally had two twin size beds and two toy chests. The bed covers and window coverings were printed with a pattern that resembles a quilt, with small squares of brown, green and gold. The walls are white and the boards on the ceiling are painted with a white stain that still shows the wood grain. The carpet is the speckled brown sort that hides sand. That is where I stay with my husband, sleeping in the beds of his childhood. One still has the sticker he put on it when he was knee-high. When the mattresses started to give us backaches, due to the "hammock effect" of worn bed springs, I asked his parents at the breakfast table if we could put some boards beneath the mattresses. That was my huge mistake. I should have just run out to the hardware story myself for some boards. Instead, we got something we never asked for. My MIL, who is getting more and more manic in her increasing age, decided to get a new, queen-size bed. And for some reason I cannot comprehend, other than the compulsion to have bigger and bigger parties by fitting more and more people into her cottage, she kept the two twin-size beds. So now it is wall-to-wall beds in that room. Hardly comfortable and welcoming. Oh, and there never has been a time when all the beds in that room have been occupied. So it is also useless to have so many beds in there. I now refer to that room as the "bunk house." I used to open my suitcase on the floor, and use the top of a toy chest for the clothes I'd be using that day. With the current arrangement, there is nowhere to put your suitcase, except on top of one of the unused beds. If my MIL ever does get her wish and fill the room with four adult guests, suitcases will have to be stored in the hallway, and opened in the hallway. Don't even think about the snoring situation. The dresser in there has always been stuffed full of MIL and FIL's clothes. I used to use the closet, but since this room seems to be a dumping ground, the shelves became full of old, abandoned toys that the grandkids have worn out. The hangers in the closet hold the extra life jackets that never get used, and old, dusty army jackets and rain jackets that you would never want rubbing against clean clothes. Hardly a restful place to occupy. If you get up in the middle of the night, best bring a flashlight, because you're bound to run your toe into something. Oh, and the worst was that MIL got new curtains to match the new bedspread, and they allow even more light, which makes it impossible to sleep past 5:30 am, when you're supposed to be sleeping in on vacation. After I tried to explain to her that I need darkness for sleep, she brought back one of the old curtains. I put it back up. But the two smaller ones appear to be lost. All we have are the new ones -- white and flimsy. The remaining original curtain is brown and green. A mismatch. And now that I see the white ones and the brown ones side by side, I prefer the brown ones. Why did she have to change it? We were there for nearly a week this time. I was sick of the clutter. So I did what I could. I crammed the broken toys into one of the toy chests, and played musical chairs with the blankets that had been piled on the chest. They went onto the shelves in the closet. The life jackets went into another junk closet. It will be a while before the older generation discovers them there, and insists on putting them back into the "bunk room." which also seems to serve as a "junk room." The next guests who will stay in that room will at least be a bit more comfortable. They'll have a place to hang their clothes, instead of draping them on the bed frames. So, by doing a bit of moving around, I have increased the spaciousness and utility of the room as well as I could manage. I think this is a very important aesthetic consideration. Add that to the list. "Room to maneuver." Is that one considered to be in the realm of the sense of touch? Or sight? Next time I go there, I will not have a vacation because I am going to do something about the light coming in through the curtains. I have a roll of sun block drapery liner. Instead of swimming or reading, I will be sewing, which is an OK thing, since I love to sew, and can look forward to some sleep. Oh, I have a sleep mask, but those things always slip off in the night.

I can't recommend any books but if you have those tools I'd suggest you buy a stick of crown. cut 2-2' sections, take them to the miter saw, place the top of the crown DOWN and cut one in the middle at 45 degrees left, cut the other at 45 degrees right. You will end up with a set of inside and outside corners "Testers" mark them for your reference. See how they fit at you corners, you will find most are not true 90s and that's where beginners run into problems. Also mitered corners are relatively easy, it gets much more complicated when you have to make coped corners as that takes real experience. So I suggest you play with some material and see if you really want to take this task on, crown molding can be very frustrating. There's also lots to think about relative to scarfing, how and where your miter/copes will open due to movement. The alignment of the profiles (can vary within a batch. And lastly the size the bigger it is the harder it is. remember putty and paint make up for what the carpenter aint ;)