This can be a problem if you buy seeds from a small individual who makes his own seeds and messes up. I like to get seeds that originated from a big seed wholesaler. If he messes up the news will get out and I will have a better chance to find out about it. I also like to save seeds because all too often the seeds are not available the next year. Seeds keep being dropped. ***** When dealing with OP seed there's not a company that hasn't had problems from time to time, but it really does depend on which companies you chose to deal with. And that's b'c some companies produce almost all their own seed, some subcontract out and some buy wholesale from the company that bred certain varieties. And some companies do a combination of those. Dan, I don't think you were here at GW when I used to do a wrong variety thread each year, which I did for several years, although I know you've posted here for a couple of years. There were those companies that rose to the top re seed purity, seed quality and service. At that time, and I expect that to be true today, the top companies included a couple of large ones as well as several small family owned companies. It's not whether a company is **small or large**, per your comment about not wanting to deal with a small company,rather, it's the specific company in question and their sources of seed as I mentioned above. The greatest amount of Xed seed at that time was seed that was traded between individuals and if I were to do those Wrong Varieties threads today I'm sure, from my readiong at several message sites, that that situation would still obtain. When I did those threads I was the one who contacted the owners of those companies that had wrong seeds b/c I knew many of those owners and still do. Some companies were glad to hear that they had a problem, but there were a couple of companies that wanted the persons who had problems to contact them directly so they could affirm that indeed the person had purchased the seeds from them. The ultimate responsibuility for reporting wrong purchased seeds rests with the person who bought them but I've also found that many folks just don't want to report errors. YOu aren't going to hear about seed problems any more frequently with a large company as opposed to dealing with a smaller family owned company. It's the seed purchasers you may or may not hear from on a public message board such as this one. There are those companies that have discovered a problem from feedback and then waitied until they got good seed and then replaced, at no cost, the bad seed with the good seed. It's a complicated issue, that's for sure, but I cannot agree with your contention that it's better to order seed from a large company versus a small one. Carolyn

Good Friday all, From frigid frozen and bitterly cold NH!! Wow, so much for our little January thaw. She's going out like a lion with a vengeance for sure. Yesterday we had just enough snow to cover the ice making things really slick and dangerous. Many accidents and one death locally after the truck when careening into a river during a white out. So sad. Temps plummeted 30 degrees overnight....and the wind is howling. It's so windy and cold today that I closed the doors on one side of the barn to give the animals a break. Not nice. I saw on the news that we are not alone with these conditions - out in the mid-west is crazy too. Ah Winter. As cold as it was before dawn this morning (3 degrees) I must say I was taken by the beauty of the full Wolf moon setting over the pasture. It has illuminated our nights for so long. Jan and Dee, the winter months bring out the interior decorator in me to so I am thinking of repainting the downstairs bathroom and making some other significant changes there. Cabin fever brings this on I am sure. DH is home this weekend so that will be fun. I will probably not be riding the horses!! LOl no way, too icy and cold. Last Saturday was dream to be out and now.... Marci, Milkdud, thanks for the ideas. I will have to just dig in and start organizing the letters and figure it out. It's fun but I always have a slow start until I get truly inspired. Has anyone read Food, Inc.? It's a must read for those who truly care about where there food comes from and how it gets onto the table. Fascinating and disturbing too.

QOD: Friday: A date with DH! We haven't had a date in 10 months, but finally found a lady who is fingerprinted and back-ground checked who can watch Baby V once a month. Besh, maybe we'll light a fire later...right. One DD has a slumber party and one DD has a dance, so we are going to dinner on the waterfront! Saturday: Book fair at 9. Pick up pre-ordered tree at 10. Community Santa party at 4 to get Baby's pic with Santa,-if he will tolerate it! (Baby, not Santa...) Maybe a visit with prospective adoptive parents. Sunday: Off the rock to choose light fixtures for the new place. Maybe another visit with adoptive parents. Then DH leaves to go to the city for 2 nights and I have big plans to organize THE WORLD--(insert evil laugh here.) Donna- Hugs for your mom. Wow! That sounds painful! I slammed my right-hand pointer finger in my glovebox last Friday and took off the top of it. It's been pretty enlightening, learning how much I use that pointer! It's getting better after getting worse! Patti-Enjoy the scrapbooking. Dave has the right idea, for sure. Have fun with water! Peg: Your aunt is trying to keep you busy so you don't get into trouble! Everything happens for a reason! She sounded like she loved life and has everything planned out for leaving it. I love pre-plans in the funeral biz. It makes decision making much easier. I saw so many families aginize over the deceased and their funerals. PLAN AHEAD! Besh: I never miss "The Year There Was No Santa Claus" Heat Miser and Cold Miser are the bomb! Milkdud: The Friends of the Library here does SO MUCH! They also have a book sale in teh spring at the elementary school that earns a ton of money. People donate books all year and the "Friends" organize them on the risers at the school and sell them for a dollar an inch. NHSuzanne: you and your "Where did the year go?" lol. It was you who, a few months ago, couldn't wait to get through 2008! I remember because I felt SO STRONGLY the same way! Now we have almost made it. Raeanne and Milkdud: I still take the ferry and drive to my old town for dentist--an 8 hour drive plus the time in the chair. I take my kids there too. I can't bear to part with my dentist. I have found a new hairdresser but it's a ferry ride away and a short drive. I sent my kids as guinea pigs for the first visit, but I will go myself this month! Raeanne- PROMOTE YOURSELF. Your work is amazing. But the "shy" you would be fascinating to witness, I'm sure....lol. Have a geat weekend, everyone!

suburbanmd: Normal cycle in Warm wash without heater is warm enough to clean my color cotton real good..... as long as I use those Persil color and don't open the door after the program started... :) And Yes, Normal do a full (high) spin between rinses Exactly like "extra white" does... I've find that in Custom cycle, I can't add as much detergent as I can do in Normal cycle... For some same old stains on cotton, Normal Cycle actually out clean Custom Cycle at the same temperature. ps: I haven't test that with a meter yet.... But I suspect Hot at Normal will get that heater on, as the wash time longer than all other temperatures setting... ostieca: "No because the dealer never stressed this point when asked why I should pay more for the 4840, " Bad dealer! should loss their jobs in this economy.... "and how can somebody say that it's normal that a 2K$ washing machine won't let you rinse only?" Because Miele IS a much better build machine inside out. For the same money, Miele still out done those colorful machine with fancy computer.... W4800 and W4840 use exactly the same main control board, and all other hardware in the machine. The only different between them is the user interface board.... "Even the Miele tech was speachless when asked to explain this. " He SHOULD come back to you place link his laptop to your W4800, and turn on "Maximum Water level" for you. Also ask him to turn off the Bleach dispenser, so you'll get a jet rinse on the first rinse..... Because no one here know to get inside W4800 programmer mode and do that ourselves... "Oh, the car is not designed to handle Quebec's roads." I was in Montreal last summer and see your roads.... ah! west coast is so much easier on cars.... :p Yes, this thing really need and design with concrete floor. Never waste too much time try to balance the load or ask you for help..... They just go ahead to do high speed spin!