Harvestman; No, we don't grow apples commercially here in Riverside, although someone could corner the early July apple market with Anna and Dorsett Golden; the problem is that at that time of year people are usually more interested in the peaches and nectarines that are in full season. Granny Smith is good here when left on the tree until December, when they're a nice balance of sweet-tart that most people are not expecting. Right now Williams' Pride catches the most attention with the deep red, almost purple color it develops in the heat; the hotter the weather, the deeper the color. This is one we're testing extensively in the tropics as most of their apples they try to market are pale green due to the warm nights. If someone can grow a red apple there with at least a bit of taste (more than the Chinese Red Delicious they get) it will be a gold mine. Applenut

Here in Mobile, I lost a couple of my bananas totally. The others I'm seeing new growth coming out of the dead stalks. Glad I did not cut them to the ground as I'd thought of doing. The large colocasia/alocasia mostly mush, but a couple of little heart leaves are peeking out of the pine straw in a few places. The really old generic elephant ear which was here when I moved in, it is up tall already. I lost a short confederate rose, forget which one, because it had been planted late last fall. I lost all of my beloved abutilon (flowering maples). I did not lose any canna lilies, especially the Phasion and Pretoria are doing great already. The purple jackmanii clematis is in full bloom and gorgeous this week, first time it's EVER bloomed. I had some heuchera in pots outside, just covered with some hay, and they were still green after the cold spells ended. My aloe vera clumps in huge pots, mostly mush, but a few pieces doing fine enough that a bloom stalk shot up this week on one of them. Of course the crotons are gone. But the asparagus fern...well, it and the holly fern, I cannot say enough about how durable those plants are!!! And also the aspedistra/cast iron plants. My white flowered bird of paradise (I have two) are stricken but surviving and beginning to grow. The two huge split leaf philodendrons are no longer huge on leaves, but I will have to cut their tubs away and let those roots seeking more soil have what they want. Both of those boys are doing great with mmuch new growth. Most of my container plants are outdoors under the ligustrum TREES shading my New Orleans style bricked courtyard patio. I am pleased that things did not look half bad after we cleaned up the back yard and removed all that extra mulching. This winter was a valuable lesson. I really do need/want a greenhouse.

NCRealEstateGuy, It is normal and correct for auxiliary and compressor/heat pump to run simultaneously. The definition of auxiliary, aka supplemental heat in that scenario, is that supplemental heat supplements/boosts the output of the heat pump (meaning both run together) when the heat pump can't by itself maintain the desired indoor temperature. A bare-bones heat pump with a plain-old thermostat and no outdoor temp sensor ... the indoor thermostat is what controls when auxiliary/supplemental triggers by way of the indoor temperature dropping sufficiently below the setpoint. For example, a 2F differential ... if the desired room temp is 72F, and the heat pump can't maintain 72F, and the room temp drops to 70F, then the thermostat triggers the auxiliary to boost the heat pump. This is a self-regulating scenario -- the thermostat automatically triggers the auxiliary any time the indoor temp falls too far below the setpoint (OR if the homeowner manually raises the thermostat setpoint more than 2F at a time). With such a bare-bones system, the heat pump is never locked-out from running. However, the homeowner can himself decide to engage the emergency heat switch on the thermostat to manually shut off the heat pump so that only the auxiliary runs. Emergency heat is normally engaged if the heat pump (compressor or condensor fan) fails and the only source of heat is the auxiliary, but it can be deliberately engaged by the homeowner if/when desired. An example is during wet/rainy/humid weather if the compressor coils are quickly and heavily icing-over between defrost cycles. Optionally adding an outdoor temp sensor to the system, with a compatible thermostat, allows setting lock-out temps depending on the capabilities of the thermostat control. 1. Auxiliary lock-out. The auxiliary will not run (except it will run during defrost) unless the outdoor temp is lower than the lock-out. This means, for example on a lock-out of 35F, that the auxiliary will not run if the room temp is 2F (or 5F or 10F, or whatever) below the setpoint, unless the outdoor temp is lower than 35F. Some thermostats also may trigger the auxiliary on a time-based algorithm. If the heat pump has been running for a period of time and the setpoint has not been reached, the thermostat "figures" that the heat pump isn't able to keep up, so it triggers the auxiliary to go ahead and reach the setpoint so the system can cycle off. Auxiliary lock-out can avoid running the auxiliary to "top-off" the setpoint unnecessarily, if the indoor temp is not uncomfortable and the heat pump would "catch up" by running a while longer than the thermostat's control algorithm allows. Understand that auxiliary lock-out does not mean that the auxiliary will always run at outdoor temps lower than the lock-out. It just means that the auxiliary can run if the thermostat calls for it. 2. Heat pump lock-out. The heat pump will not run (meaning *only* the auxiliary runs, in which case it can be referred to as backup heat) when the outdoor temp is lower than the lock-out. This means, for example on a lock-out of 25F, that the auxiliary will run and the heat pump will not run when the outdoor temp is below 25F, no matter what is the indoor room temp in relation to the setpoint. 3. At outdoor temps between 35F and 25F (in the above-described example), the auxiliary and heat pump may run at the same time if the thermostat senses the room temp being sufficiently below the setpoint. The point of the lock-out options is for the installer (or the homeowner) to garner additional control of and efficiency from the unit based on specific, local conditions such as electric rates vs natural gas rates (if the auxiliary is natural gas). The "correct" lock-out temps for your system depends on specific local conditions, the design, components, capacity, and performance of your system. Your system, not mine or Saltidawg's or anyone else's here. I have a low-end, builder-grade, 1-speed Carrier heat pump with electric-strip auxiliary. It initially did not have an outdoor temp sensor. Running setbacks on the programmable thermostat when working 12 to 14 hrs per day, I found that the auxiliary would trigger during the last 10 mins or so of the recovery because the thermostat wasn't "happy" that the full setpoint wasn't quite reached at the target recovery time. Letting the heat pump run for maybe 30 minutes longer would finish the recovery, but the thermostat "insisted" on triggering the auxiliary. I had an outdoor sensor added so I could lock-out the auxiliary and thus prevent the unnecessary triggers of auxiliary at end of the setback recovery periods. It's still a low-end, builder-grade, 1-speed system but at least I have control now to prevent the auxiliary from triggering unnecessarily. There's no provision on the thermostat options to set a lock-out temp for the heat pump in favor of auxiliary. FWIW (which isn't much), my auxiliary lock-out is 25F.

Thanks for all the replies. srjohnt, I need to clarify more; sorry for the confusion. It's not the car's exhaustion smell. The car had the exact same smell when the heat was running inside, as the house's. In summer, when the A/C is running, there is no funny smell either in the house or the car. The smell is not like bad emission, exhaust, engine burned, oily, or any industrial kind of smell