I just check on the Nutro website as well and they have notice on "rice gluten" saying that while it is an ingredient in their products they did not purchase it from the same company as Natural Choice, that company was Wilbur-Ellis, a huge agri trading company. Hmmm, now I'm a little worried. Just because they didn't buy there's from Wilbur-Ellis doesn't mean that the supplier they bought theirs from didn't also get some of the same tainted product. I don't know what else to feed my one old Border Collie in the meantime, he has very bad digestive problems and any change even a slow changeover gives him near uncontrollable diahrea. Nutro Lamb & Rice is the only food I've found that he can eat and be regular and I've tried different brands of L & R plus other things. What ticks me off is it's a well known fact, if I know it then people in the agri-biz have to know it. That China has so badly polluted nearly all of its agricultural land that the only way they can get any food to grow in order to feed their people is by using such heavy concentrations of fertilizers including melamine apparently. Concentrations so huge that most food grown in China would be deemed unsafe for human consumption by the FDA, Health Canada etc. for sale here.

I'm resurrecting this topic as I'm in Elk Grove (south of Sacramento) and we are in the beginning stages of doing an owner/builder pool. We are having some plans drawn to incorporate a nicely finished yards with the pool. We are going to do the pool first and then the landscaping. Our yard is very small, so we wanted a professional to design it all to make the best use of space. Anyway, all the info in this forum has kept me busy reading/researching most of the day! I'd LOVE LOVE LOVE to hear from those of you who are in the Sacramento area that have a good list of subs with approximate costs and things you did that you liked. Also, would anyone be willing to let me come over and check out your finished pool? I'll probably try to contact a few of you privately to get some additional info, but if you can post it here, that would be very helpful. Looking forward to this new project!! -Anne in Elk Grove

Thanks for all these responses--very helpful! I'm looking at Cambria Torquay online now, and it looks like we have a few local Cambria dealers. I'll also check out Caesarstone and the others mentioned. Deeageaux, tks for explaining the difference between Corian and quartz. I'm at the very beginning of my research on this, so having only touched one man-made sample (Corian) I assumed they all felt like plastic. Good to know there are so many options. BTW, my 3 cm Vermont Danby Olymipian White marble was reasonably priced than many other white marbles like Calacatta Gold (my Danby was about $85-90 sq ft installed) and I love it. Just had to give the Danby a plug. But I think the Camb ria or another quartz might be the answer for my parents' cottage, because my mom would hate to have to worry about etching, etc. Thanks again!!

I just saw this. I have to tell you, stained cabinets never spoke to me. I'd come across a painted kitchen and "ooOOOoooooo," I'd softly quiver. ("quiver?" OMG. I said "quiver.") Anyway, that was until the day I stripped some vintage, beaded inset cabinets down to bare oak. Holy moly were they pretty. I antiqued them with a gray stain, then 2 different tones of brown to reach an incredible finish. Then, I stripped some of those horrible dark red/black cherry cabinets, again, down to bare wood. So absolutely beautiful. I've actually done the same finish now on 4 antique doors, too. LOVE IT. Now I have such a mix of wood in my kitchen it probably looks stupid, but I call it "eclectic." (No, it's not nice just because I did it. It's just that I can't decide now what to do!) But I don't want to repaint them. My point in all this? I love the pictures this question is provided. Thanks for asking. Also, don't be shy about Citristripping the finish off your cabs and restaining. It's a PIA, but incredibly do-able in place with Citristrip. Messy, but no longer flesh-eating. Just a thought.