Thank you dfr24. It's good to hear a vote of confidence for the Elite. The 10x12 HFGH sounds pretty good but I'm not sure my husband would think so when putting it together. Seems like the next best deal is the Elite from FarmTek and if your friend is happy with his/hers, that makes me feel better about buying something sight unseen. I really like the dutch door due to all the critters running around our yard... dog, cats, guineas, and soon peacocks too. I just wish it had a window in the back. I'm sooooooo looking forward to having one. I've spent hours online comparing and reading about them. Thanks for responding!

SCENIC PLANNER MAKES THE CASE AGAINST ALIENS June 11, 2009 (CHARLESTON, SC) -- If we fill our parks, lawns or scenic byways with non-native plant material, we might as well pave them over, according to planner Edwin Gardner of Heritage Strategy Group in Charleston, South Carolina. Gardner is an advocate of the concepts Douglas W. Tallamy discusses in his book 'Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants.' In a recent post to Heritage Strategy GroupÂs blog -- heritagestrategy.wordpress.com -- Gardner says he agrees with TallamyÂs central point 'that we owe it to the environment to plant only native species, which provide food for our increasingly beleaguered wildlife and avoid apocalyptic risks to the ecosystem.' What are native species? Gardner agrees with Tallamy who defines Ânative as 'having the ability to support a large number of insect and animal species.' Exotic plants brought from other countries that have been 'naturalized' here even for hundreds of years are not native, he insists, since they canÂt support native insect life. For example: 'Our North American caterpillars have not developed the ability to eat leaves of most alien plants,' Gardner says. While that may be music to the ears of nurseries and landscapers who seekout insect-resistant plant material, to the natural ecosystem chain, itÂs disastrous. 'In fact, the caterpillar is a most generous beast,' Gardner says. 'It provides food for most birds, especially during critical nesting periods, and forms the base of a food pyramid thatÂs critical to the whole ecosystem. A yard full of foreign nursery stock may look green and natural, but it might as well be paved with asphalt if youÂre a caterpillar, or an animal thatÂs looking to feed on one.' As a heritage planner, Edwin Gardner develops recreational areas and scenic byways so that growth and prosperity do not interfere with the cultural, historical and natural heritage of the effected areas. That mission drew him to Douglas TallamyÂs book. 'As we develop byway beautification plans or park management plans or anything that involves plantings in a developed area, we have a responsibility to urge that non-native species be eliminated and replaced with true native species,' he insists. Gardner cites several examples of 'environmental destruction wrought by alien organisms and invasive plants that were brought from overseas to beautify America.' To read the entire discussion, visit heritagestrategy.wordpress.com and click on ' A New Philosophy on Landscaping.' Here is a link that might be useful: Heritage Strategy Group's blog

Terry, You are in the same boat I am/was. The Costco in St. Peters, MO just got their first six. The manager is holding one for me through today. So I've never seen a Virco Classic in person. There is one on eBay with a BIN price of $1100 or so. I know that the smaller MM grill has/had ceramic flame tamers. I have been looking at the big one and can't remember. But size and feature-wise all three are very close. The smaller MM is about 31.2 by 19" deep. The big MM is 33 by 19" deep so you don't gain that much primary cooking space. From what I've read on this forum, that is about the same amount of space as the Virco. The smaller MM doesn't co stock with the warming rack either. The size difference is that the $1500 MM has a shelf added on to the side burner shelf. So yes you get extra width and a couple of drawers instead of just two doors, but is it worth the extra 9 bills? My father just picked up the $600 MM. He said it took him about two hours to put together and he likes it so far. I'll add my two cents on the Virco later. I am hoping that the hood is all double walled SS instead of the single wall like the MM. If you don't care about having the rotisarie then check out the Kenmore Elite at Sears. It has a list of $1200, but you can find it on sale for $999. It is basically the same as the big MM with the extra toys (rotis, back burner, cover, smoker box/burner). Grand Hall makes several other grills for Sears as well. Personally, I am going for the large primary grilling surface as my main criteria. Followed by hopefully longevity. As far as SS burners go. I currently have a 5 year old Char-Broil 8000 and it's on third set of burners. But I usually grill three time a week year round.

Glad you all enjoyed them. Tumblr is a blogging platform that is similar to Pinterist. I'd say 99% of the content you see on it is people 'reposting' photos which is how the platform is intended. I'm only posting original photos. I 'heart' something you just set up an account which then allows you to do that and follow someone. The woods really is tiny, probably smaller than a quarter acre. The original owner - now in his 90's, planted many of the original flowers. I've been here about five years and spent several years removing buckthorn and garlic mustard which the last owner allowed to flourish. I've also been adding lots of new plants which I've either started from seed, root stock or plants I've gotten at various nurseries. I've also been activity splitting bloodroot, ferns etc and moving things around and expanding some of the patches. Last year I cut up some sod and expanded out a section of the woods to add some transitional sun/shade plants and grasses. I'm also looking at converting some of the other sod areas to short and mid grass prairie plants. I also have three small flower gardens which is where I have most of the tulips, alliums and other non-natives that I take photos of. All together I have close to 100 species back there. Looking forward to the spring when things start coming up. I'll be posting new photos and doing a lot more commenting. Here is a link that might be useful: Northern Natives This post was edited by misterpatrick on Fri, Feb 6, 15 at 13:38