Hi Kay, This is exactly the place for all the off topic things we want to talk about! So nice that GW realized we might want to chat about more with each other than just painting. I'll head over to check out your farm site, bet those ponies are so cute!!;o) Good luck on cutting the gourds. I've seen some really pretty designs on the web and in magazines. Hope you are going to do the cutting first--just in case, would hate for something to go wrong and ruin something you've already painted! Wouldn't that be awful? Can't wait to see your next projects. Luvs

Ditto what SILVA said. Viewed on closeup on Flickr, this is mind-boggling. Those teeny weeny pieces and the details are awesome. This kind of work w/drive me crazy. I'd never have the patience to work on something so detailed. I read back over this thread, and I don't see anything about an auction - is this gonna wind up in an auction for charity??? If so, how w/you be able to part w/something so beautiful, and something that took so much of your time and thought, and wouldn't you want to display this in your home?

@dhygarden, I'm sorry I didn't see this sooner. It's so hard to recover from the loss of a good friend. I also lost a good friend and neighbor at the end of October last year. She was fighting ovarian cancer and seemed to be doing quite well when she suddenly passed away from a stroke. I see her husband and their little Yorkie, Oliver whenever I walk by the house. Oliver sometimes comes running over to visit if his "dad" is working in the garage. He has a crush on my Siamese. I hope you are healing. I enjoyed reading everyone's posts and seeing your photos as well. I also fell in love with Ingrid's little dog! I adore cats and dogs.

Getting back to the subject of furnace replacement: I replaced my furnace and A/C units last month. I upgraded to high efficiency units although it means that I won't be able to trouble-shoot and repair my furnace as I did in the past - too much electronics. Also, I must have yearly inspections made to keep the 5 yr warranty in force. I am anticipating a 10% reduction in my gas usage, maybe more. A local company did the installation and met building codes. They also pulled the building permit. I arranged for the final inspection after job completion. My old furnace was 41 yrs old and the A/C 16 yr old. What triggered this job was that the AC quit this summer. This package included: 100,000 btu/hr furnace, about 95% efficient (Replaced a 125,000 btu/hr furnace w/about 70% efficiency) 3 ton AC, SEER 14 (Replaced a 10 SEER unit) Furnace and A/C made by Carrier. Inlet and Outlet PVC pipes installed. Chimney liner (for the gas hot water heater). Added a dedicated 20 amp circuit for the furnace (reused existing 40 amp 240 V for A/C. The old 40 breakers were replaced with 30 amp breakers to match the lower demand of the new A/C. About 8 ft of new air duct was installed to fit the return duct to the new furnace. New digital thermostat installed. Installation time: 1.5 days. Cost: About $8400 Major change: increased efficiency and much reduced air flow up existing chimney. I may find that I will need to increase basement circulation. Both units work well. The real test comes for the furnace in a few months. After about 2 winter months, I will be able to calculate the fuel savings. This can not be done merely by comparing last years fuel use to the present due weather variability. My fuel bill includes degree heating days and this can be used to make a fair comparison. Calculate btu per degree-day to compare. The one missing variable is wind velocity. My heat demand is sensitive to outside wind. To reduce possible wind variation, make calculations over several months and average the results. The more months used, the smaller the wind variance. What forced this work was the failure of the A/C unit. The old unit had lost most of its refrigerant. The cost of testing and repair of the of the old unit was not a good investment. I would have had a patched unit with maybe the old compressor on a 41 yr old furnace. These new, updated units increases the sale value of the house and that is a real consideration. At our ages, we may be faced with moving out within 10 years.