Okay, it's not growing so fast now -- I moved it from indoors under lights, to out in the cold over a month ago -- but the possibility of taking a cutting shouldn't be too far off. And you're right, it could still have that sort of vigor and be tetraploid. As it gets older, I hope for more clues. Of planned crosses with Saint Nicholas, 11 are now little plants, having survived infancy without sickness. I used mixed pollens, so I can't tell which are which yet, except for the mossy-looking ones (Salet, or *maybe* Chapeau de Napoleon). Most of the others look varying degrees of Damask, and most are probably from Pickering FS, but some may have to bloom before I can be sure which pollens took. There are also at least 5 Autumn Damask seedlings which look like they'll make it, and so much OP Single Musk that the culling process is ongoing. About thirty OP Grandma's Hat also germinated, but over 90% were sickly and/or misshapen. I don't know whether they're sickly because GH selfs badly, or whether GH makes sick babies regardless of the pollen used, but its promising start has definitely tarnished. One seedling of Tuscany Superb looks like it will make it. About thirty plants, all told. Others mostly haven't felt like germinating yet, if at all. No thanks to the squirrels, my dinky Saint Nicholas pretty much saved the year. I wish I had more of it! Since none of those seedlings can be expected to bloom this year, I'm now planning a bunch more F1s. And I have to say, the closer spring gets, the more I'm tempted to try an alternative direction, which I think aligns with yours. Although I absolutely will keep working on Damask Perpetuals, I realize that the odds of getting one to rebloom are low, and that even having a fine seed parent for them, might not be enough to make future breeders want to risk trying it. Chinensis rebloom is just SO much more within reach. So this year I'm hedging my bet, and will also try my hand at (gasp!) Hybrid Perpetuals. Breeders will include, to be sure, Alfred Colomb, Ardoisee de Lyon, "Barbara's Pasture Rose," Eugene de Beauharnais, Gloire des Rosomanes, Jacques Cartier, Reine des Violettes, Rose du Roi (of commerce), Salet (again), and Sydonie. It *may* include too modern Hugh Dickson, too sickly La Reine, or too sterile "Glendora." The basic idea will be the same -- boost female fertility in old roses -- but I would want to keep up the outcross-backcross process indefinitely, with the goal of bringing successive generations closer to the ancient European classes, and farther away from HPs. Early on, they might still be useful for breeding Bourbons, HPs, Austin types, or species crosses. So expect the next batch to include things like: Saint Nicholas x Reine des Violettes Gloire des Rosomanes x Saint Nicholas Tuscany Superb x Alfred Colomb Hebe's Lip x Jacques Cartier (When looking for some other information, I came across and re-read a Paul Barden blog from 10 years ago, in which he wished for something virtually identical to Indigo, which had just enough chinensis in it to ease the breeding of (at least slightly) remontant offspring. Although he intended to try it using Modern Shrubs and a different breeding methodology, the basic idea is the same. I'm using old roses for that job in an effort to restrict how modern descendants can look and smell, since glossy foliage and some other modern traits are dominant. While either approach could work, I'm hoping mine will quickly produce some useful results, since I don't feel quite young enough to try Paul's method for this particular job, and don't have the acreage to rush it.) Last year's Damask Perpetuals will be going on as before -- Pickering, Pink Leda, Autumn Damask, Duchess of Portland -- with Indigo and another Pickering plant joining the effort. Hebe's Lip will be getting a lot of pollen, as I suspect it's where SN got its female fertility from. Every year I try a few long shots, using tiny amounts of pollen from functionally sterile roses on my best seed parents, and will continue doing so. (Though it's way too early to be sure, one of my SN seedlings looks like it could be from Duchesse de Rohan pollen I put on it; it has foliage as oval as any of my Autumn Damask seedlings, but far less thorns. After years of failing with roses like that, this gives me hope!) My Single Musk is much happier lately, so it can expect a bunch of pollens, mainly directed at the moschata x gallica needed for a Damask do-over. If you like, I'll put some Gloire des Rosomanes pollen on it too, and send you any hips which result. If there's anything you'd love to see tried with things which I grow, and I've mentioned no intention of doing such crosses, let me know. Some of my roses, like Gloire des Rosomanes, will have a lot more flowers than I will have plans for.

Here are some photos of our recent resurfacing, using PebbleTec Pebblesheen in Prism Blue. You can see how it changes color at different depths. We especially love how it goes from medium blue to dark blue as the sun moves to shade throughout the day. This color also has abalone shells so there is a little sparkle as the sun hits it.

I have been researching pool heat pumps for several months now and have learned more than I ever wanted to know about them. I just purchased the new Aquacal Super Quiet SQ155AHDSBTJ, which, through my research, I have concluded is the most efficient and well built unit currently on the market. This is their newest model and it uses R-410a refrigerant instead of R-22. The Government has passed a law which requires all manufacturers on 1/1/2010 to stop using R-22 and switch to R-410a. This model also has the best C.O.P. and BTU ratings out of all the pool heat pump manufacturers. (Trust me, I have looked at them all) Here is a great web site to help in your decision: http://www.ahridirectory.org/ahridirectory/pages/home.aspx It is from AHRI. (Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute). Once on the web site, In the center of the page, you will see "Residential", select "Heat Pump Pool Heaters" from the drop down menu. Now select a manufacturer and click search. You don't have to fill out anything else on the page. Many pool heat pump manufacturers seem to stretch the truth on their efficiency ratings, so DON'T TRUST their brochures! AHRI conducts their own testing under many different conditions and posts the actual data. Kind of like Consumer Reports does for products. I have learned that unlike a heat pump A/C unit on your house, there is no regulation for pool heater manufacturers to comply with when they post their efficiency ratings, so they tend to make them up, but this is soon to change! This web site helped me narrow my search fast. If AHRI didn't test it, then I didn't consider it! If you are considering a heat pump that is not on AHRI's list, I suggest you call the manufacturer and ask them why they have not submitted their unit to be tested. Most likely they know it wouldn't pass. I have called a few manufacturers and you would not believe what they told me. Wow, these people should be politicians. if they can spend millions advertising their product, then why can't they spend a couple thousand and have their unit tested? Anyway, all the units on the AHRI web site seem to be good units, I just liked the Aquacal units the best. Just make sure you select a heat pump with a titanium heat exchanger so you don't have to deal with any corrosion problems in the future. Also, the higher the C.O.P. (coeffcient of performance), the more efficient the unit is. Most C.O.P. and BTU ratings are advertised at 80/80/80. 80 degree air temp, 80 degree water temp. and 80% humidity. When tested under these parameters, most units perform equally well. This is why manufacturers post these numbers. As the outside air temp falls to 50 degrees, or the humidity drops to 63%, the performance numbers change drastically. This is what separates one manufacturer's unit from another. The Aquacal comes out the champion under these conditions. No other manufacturer comes close to the performance of the Aquacal! The reason anyone purchases a pool heater in the first place is to heat the pool when it's cold out. So why would anyone purchase a heater that performs well at 80 degrees, but performs inefficiently at 50 degrees? Hope this helps.

Scootermom - Our kitchen is not huge, but they traffic flow is not through my work space, so it functions so much better than anything i've ever had! The kitchen footprint is about 10'-4" deep by 14'-10" long (these are the wall to wall dimensions inside the opening separating the kitchen from dining, which includes all the cabinetry). My clear workspace between range counter and island is 4 foot, all other clearances are 3 feet. My island is 3'-7" x 4'-9". You can see where I house my dishes and glasses below. On the bottom, the spice pullout is immediately to the right of the range. To the right of that is my baking cabinet and flatware drawer. To the left of the range are all my pots, pans and lids and the cooking/baking utensil drawer. My island holds 2 cabinet boxes, one 39" base that we swapped one drawer for the sink and a 18" cabinet base we converted to a double trash bin pullout. The junk drawer is over the trash bins and the knife/gadget drawer is in the middle. The drawer face at the sink flips out to house srubbies. (Excuse the dishes in sink...) BlackChamois - I like the idea of the vapor bar stools (and the Ghost Stools too), but have been nixed by the husband... He fears they will get scratched, thus ruined, from pocket items, buttons, kids, etc. We both agree we need backs on the stools for comfort and our small children. And we agree the stools should not be black... Here's a close up of our cabinet doors and hardware: see link below for hardware! I bought them in HD at special order desk so I could use my 10 or 20 percent off coupon. The shipping was free, so it was a win/win! white doors SW "rainwashed" doors. this is a very hard color to accurately photograph! It is soft, subtle and changes greatly throughout the day with the different lighting conditions, natural and artificial. *will post another post with Knob link... can't figure out how to do 2 in one post OR do i have the time to figure out the html code Here is a link that might be useful: MSL Pulls