Like the other Texas members, I do NOT feel your pain. Large areas of Texas have been declared eligible for disaster relief because the extended heat and drought have wiped out farm crops and cattle forage. Those big round bales of hay sell for around $80 dollars apiece, and they feed about ten cows for about two days. I feel a little guilty about the water usage (from our well) that it takes to keep our large yard alive...there is a vivid line around the yard that shows where the sprinklers stop---green on one side, brown and crunchy on the other. We have a large pond, and I often think it would be very interesting to have a motion-activated camera out there at night, to see the parade of desperate wildlife. There is a deer that brings her twin fawns out to drink and search for a little grass on the far side of the pond from the house, in broad daylight now. Guess she can't wait for dark in these temperatures. I don't much like hummingbirds (I know, you bird-huggers are horrified) but I finally put out feeders for them after I saw a hummer trying frantically to get his beak into a collapsed morning glory bloom. Nothing is blooming outside the yard. It'll be interesting to see whether the winter brings opposite extremes. Laura

from the link below: "... one of Burke's lawyers, said he was happy for Burke and his wife. The finding could also benefit other residents and force the city to take a more proactive stance on inspecting trees in its right of way ..." ===>>> no it wont.. it will lead to the city simply removing the trees .. causing a barren landscape .. why hire tree workers for life.. theirs or the trees.. when with one application of the chainsaw.. the problem is gone ... i got sick of the article at this point ... and didn't find out.. what the heck he was doing under the tree after a 4 day storm ... a similar thing is happening right now in my area ... storms cause power failures ... sometimes for days .. which isnt fun in the great white north in winter with no heat .. nor toilet ... so the peeps whine and moan.. and claims it all the power companies fault ... and demand something done ... so the power Co exercises it 'easement' .. and starts clearing all the trees the idiot people [mostly prior owners mind you] ... planted UNDER THE FREAKIN POWER LINES ... so what's the result.. slap on the back.. thanks for protecting our power source.. oh no .. diatribe after diatribe about how they are killing/maiming all the trees.. what a travesty .. OMG.. the world is going to end.. to which my reply is.. check your mortgage map .. YOU DONT OWN THAT PROPERTY.. nor have any right to have those trees there.. and you are in denial to whine and moan about it all ... well that part is in my head.. and what i say aloud is.. well.. as a gardener.. all i see is 'opportunity' .. for something new ... let me know if you need suggestions on what to plant there ... how about a nice line of lilac.. which will block your view ... and never really reach the power lines .. in your lifetime ... anyway.. the first thing they taught us in law school.. was.. bad facts make bad law ... and the fact that he was out under the tree after a storm.. is a bad fact ... most nearly as bad as the fact of the horrific injuries .. put those together.. and all i see.. is the city removing all the trees ... ok.. how do you find all these tree articles .. lol ... do you have some search engine alert you?? .. man o'live.. if ever a name was appropo ... you do love your trees .. lol .. ken ps: BTW.. do some research on palm roots.. i am pretty sure.. they barely have a root system as we tree peeps would think ... and whole large trees can be moved by cranes due to such [the machine.. not the bird] ... as i recall.. and that is always questionable ... lol ... they fall over rather easily ... but i would defer on this .. just some vague recollection.. as obviously.. we dont do palm in MI .... Here is a link that might be useful: same as the second link in her post

Kankakee River report: No ice sheet above the Wilmington IL dam. Last winter the slow flowing sheet was breaking over the dam almost 6" thick. Below the dam not even edge ice. Mallard Ducks, Canada Geese and Mute Swans love the available seaweed along the shores. 3 days ago Bald Eagle caught a nice fish and ate it on a high branch across the river. Folks who have summer homes down river at the Interstate 55 bridge so far have not flooded like they had the past 3 years due to lake effect snow melt in NW IN and NE IL. No annual open air ice hockey tournement this year. No ice on scheduled January day OR on the rescheduled day in Feb. Not even open skating. I have only had snow cover maybe 5 nights this winter. I too worry about too early breaking dormancy. But the hostas always survive. WGN weather (Tom Skilling) reports the hottest winter in 56 years in Chicago. So it has been this warm B4. Only a cycle? Les

When it comes to quartz must fabricators do not have a full line of full slabs on display. There are many reasons for this, one being cost. With any quartz material, you are purchasing it based on color and pattern consistency. I do agree that your two samples are very different. If you can find a fabricator that carries full slabs, fantastic. But if you cannot, then I would ask them for a couple more samples of the same material so you can check color. Good luck.