Dear Monique - what with one thing and another I've been unable to get here to wish you a very belated but Happy Birthday. But here we are - some flowers from last year to remind us our gardens will bloom again. very best wishes, Mary

Happy Birthday Jessica, Evil One, and swap partner! Hope you got something new and fun for the tool box...LOL! RR, I remember her coaching the boys with laundry at Canny Camp...I'm guesssing they are well trained by now. David

Death Valley is a very good vacation place, and so far we've seen lots of French, German, and Japanese tourists, as well as a few Canadians. Saturday we went to Zabriskie Point, Golden Canyon (drive through), and Dante's view - all before lunch. Then we met my friends from Utah, who had to wait to get into their room, and after lunch we went to Rhyolyte and Beatty NV with Mark and Greg. Yesterday we got an early start to go to Ubehebe Crater and decided to stop by Scotty's Castle on the way. We could not get a tour for the inside for an hour an a half, and so we only did the outside self-guided tour, which I felt was enough. Then we went on to the craters, which Kevin and I had explored before, but Mark and Greg made quick work of hiking down and back up the 500 feet of elevation change in the crater. Kevin and I went toward the smaller craters. Next we went to the racetrack on a very bad gravel road that took three times as long as it should have, but we got some great photos there of the "floating" rocks. After that, we decided to make a loop across Hunter Mountain to have dinner in Panamint Springs, instead of turning around and going back the way we came. The six mile road from Teakettle Junction (where we had lunch) was a dead end, but we decided to take the other road, which Kevin and I had taken 12 years ago and almost got stranded in mud from melting snow at the top of the mountain - and we got lost along the way at a "Y" in the road that went to a dead-end at a cliff where there was a dilapidated building and a rusted out 1920s car. To be continued - computer and internet service acting up! Lars ETA: The road we chose to cross Hunter Mountain was closed due to damage from rock slides, floods, and landslides, which removed or covered parts of the road. There was no warning of this from the Teakettle Junction end of this road. Thanks for the warning to stay safe, but it came perhaps a bit too late! Here is a link that might be useful: Typical road in DV This post was edited by publickman on Mon, Feb 25, 13 at 13:01

"Gary, out of sheer curiosity, what wholesale HVAC warehouses did you look into around our area (though I believe you bought it in PA, didn't you?)? Is there one for Trane/American Standard you checked out (do you think you could somehow get equipment from them?)? I think I recall you saying you priced an American Standard system for around $3k and was curious where this was." Ryan: I did indeed get an A/S quote "back in the day" when I first started looking. It was a Heritage 13 3-ton (don't think the air handler was v-s) with 15 kw strip heat for $3600. It was from Northeast Plumbing and Supply. They weren't too happy that I called them for pricing as I am not a pro. I wound up geting a 14 SEER, 12 EER, 9 HSPF Goodman. Copeland scroll, and a full 36,000 btu cooling and 35,000 btu heating. I went with the 3-speed air handler and TXV. Also got a hard-start cap, bypass humifier, filter/drier, sight glass, and condenser mounting pad. Paid $2500 for everything from DESCO, over the MD state line in Hanover PA. I picked everything up from their warehouse with a tow trailer. They provide the 10 year parts warranty. My wife works for a Property Management Company so I paid one of their pros $1200 to install it. 2 guys, 8 hours each. He had to fabricate 2 custom duct pieces for the installation. $3700 total for the new heat pump. So far so good with the Goodman. Take care.