I didn't think it would be a good idea, like you said, to run it under or over the sidewalk, bad enough to run a hose across it for the soaker hose my neighbor loaned me last year and this. But it's so long, it has 3 turns and having to lift it in and out to hoe (I will mulch when I get to it), is almost more than I can bear. It's heavy and drags across plants to move so last year I never weeded except a few by hand, but with tomatoes in cages, it wasn't too bad. The soaker worked great for tomatoes in neat rows but is not going to work well for tiny plants and roses scattered more randomly. My roses are one long row but the companion plants are scattered. Do you know what I really wish? I wish I had an old-fashioned pump and a cistern to collect all this water. That is not feasible but it would sure bring back memories, and I would love doing it. My grandmother couldn't have watered much of anything except her African violets inside, and things grew ok for her. She didn't mulch either, just probably did a little hoeing and had boards to walk on to get down the rows of what she had planted. She had a long perennial bed with shrubs and spring bulbs but no roses that I can remember. If I get fed up enough this summer and depending on my health, I can have a guy come and install a faucet on the other side of the back sidewalk (front is a 'nuther animal but could have another one in the basement going through another outside wall on the other side of the sidewalk). Then I could irrigate all of it. I will remember Drip Works, usually think long and hard before making such a change especially in light of expensive repairs I need done, can afford some of it but not all at once and hard to prioritize. Irrigation would not be that expensive if I do it myself but takes thinking, planning and time. I really really want my arbor put back up, right this time, heard a jackhammer going at the neighbor's, was hoping they could come here when done and blast out four concrete footings so we can start over. No such luck. Of course I would have paid a reasonable amount. It was a fence company and I saw they had augurs of different sizes in the truck. That would be so nice, that arbor was a dream come true, and it's all come to nothing for now, my son and the neighbor down the street think vandals knocked it over but it wasn't installed right, I knew it, and was frantically trying to find out how I could anchor it better, didn't make it in time, actually paid another guy to try to screw it in the footings using a masonry drill. That failed, too. My son is good at things but so busy. It is thundering and raining again . . .so far just a shower. The beds that aren't mulched yet dried out already after that record downpour, probably damp deeper down. I will mulch but want all my seedlings in and big enough so I can see where to put it all without ruining some plus I want to hoe first. I can neaten up the edges later.

122) Chiggers love the sweet perfume of OFF! Wear it well at clothing openings and about the ankle. (Deer ticks are optional here but plentiful.)

"TDS and hardness are not the same thing at all...completely different measurements and considerations. I've not seen any "drinking water" sold anywhere measuring 250 ppm TDS. You don't know what you're talking about." =================================================== Actually TDS and hard water are one in the same, TDS is what makes HARD water HARD DOH! Sometimes it is referred to as GPG (Grains per Gallon) but it is the same thing they are measuring, "Minerals in the water" Both units of measurement refer to the amount of hardness in the water tested. Simply put, multiplying a GPG hardness reading by 17.1 will tell you what the hardness is in PPM and conversely, dividing a PPM hardness reading by 17.1 will yield the hardness in GPG. As for drinking water, Perrier for instance since it is "mineral Water" is actually around 450 PPM Fiji "artesian" drinking water is 210ppm Arrowhead drinking "spring" water varies between 81 up to 260ppm If you get bottled water that states "purified" then it will not be more than 10 PPM But spring water can be up to 260+ PPM Mineral water can go all the to over 1000PPM So there are many types of bottled water and TDS in them. Me thinks you might need to take a chill pill with some of that pure drinking water.

Bob, I think you've experienced what MANY people do when traveling and eating food, drinking wine, etc.; which I think is a fine demonstration that how much you enjoy when you're eating is only partially dictated by how good something actually is. Company and atmosphere can actually matter much more than the taste of the food you're consuming (ask anyone if that bottle of wine they had on their honeymoon on Italy tasted as good as the bottle they brought home, or scoured local wine shops for 6 months later). What I see here is actually a two part confirmation of the supposed "foofaraw" -- one, that freshly ground beans are one of the most important factors in determining the quality of the cup (you received ground coffee samples which go downhill in a matter of hours); and two, sweating the details when it comes to coffee matters. Your host has probably tried a number of different brewing methods (sock, boiling, FP style, etc.) and settled on that particular method for the tools on hand (e.g. a really coarse grinder) and the beans available. Of course, this isn't to belittle your experience in Trinidad! I'm sure the coffee was wonderful - something that many of the coffee lovers among us are ever pursuit of, which is why we sweat the foofaraw, because it does matter. Oh, and to contribute to the discussion, I use a Rancilio Rocky grinder and it's quite nice. I originally bought it for espresso, but discovered that I care a lot about the grind in all the kinds of coffee I drink. It was a wonderful discovery to notice that my FP was MUCH more enjoyable with an extremely consistent grind and very little fines.