I'm wondering if he just used a very unfortunate choice of words to express the idea that it takes him time to do an estimate and that's a loss if you're a casual inquirer. Is the same as the "qualifying" process idea, but any craftsman, designer or similar person just has to have some kind of sequence of involvement that they can rely on that saves them time but still attracts new customers. I don't know how this works, of course, since the problem is, with many such efforts, you can't come up with an accurate estimate unless you know most of what you're being asked to do, so if it takes you 30 min, even, to figure that out, and you do that several times daily, and the return is low, you're broke. If someone is well-established in a fairly high end business, he might well charge a fee just to talk and see your wish list and give an estimate, and then that cost will be applied if you buy. For cabinetry, I would wonder if the person could have any kind of brochure or book of work with some example prices, even if price range was kinda broad and there were multiple disclaimers about "prices subject to change". I mean, you might be trying to figure out whether a custom built-in hutch costs $3k or $30 k, or whatever. My point is just that, it would be more straightforward to be told it'll cost me to sit down with the guy and get an estimate, since that is just the business of how he values his time, and that would not be offensive, as I can then make my decision about whether I value it the same amount, and includes the sensible idea that people agree on fees before doing any level of business, compared to the "if you have to ask" approach.

Why in the world would you hold back the flavor pack because it contains salt, then add sea salt?? Contrary to the popular belief sea salt is not healthier. Salt is salt wether its table salt, sea salt, or rock salt. In fact, a strong case could be made that table salt is healthier because sea salt is made by evaporating sea water while table salt is made from natural deposits of sea salt that evaporated millions of years ago. The difference is that when the natural salts were evaporated from the sea, the sea was not yet polluted like it is today and on top of that, table salt is generally fortified with iodine, an element that is vital to the body and found in very short supply in our diets. But don't believe me, read what the Mayo Clinic has to say about salt..... http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/sea-salt/AN01142

Cameron, interesting bees! Hard to tell what kind they are. Bug Guide is a good place to find bug IDs if you want to go to the trouble. You can do a search for 'striped bee', 'black shiny bee' or whatever. Alfie doesn't mind telling his age... :-) He's a little over a year old. For me his 'birthday' will always be Mother's Day since he was found hiding on my front porch on that day a year ago. Omar, everything is looking wonderful! Love how those pavers define the flower beds. Very neat! Your oregano cleaned up real nice (seems you have a knack for that :-) if that's the same one you posted before that wasn't working. The little one you sent me is happy since I moved it to less sun and is also blooming. The 'Fireman's cap' (I think) in your first photo is gorgeous. Dang, I bought one years ago, couldn't find a place to plant it, so planted in my neighbor's yard. I can see it blooming over there. Oh well ... Oh, and "have I told you lately that I love ..." having flowers to cut and take to friends when the occasion arises, like today?

Some of the costs of the collapsing housing bubble in the Toronto area have now been quantified: an average of C$157,000 for each of the 866 homes that were "sold" but didn't close in 2017 and then were relisted by the same owners and sold this year. Toronto suburban home "sold" for C$2.25m in 2017. Next year, not so much. Photo: Toronto Sun And for some of the "buyers" who walked away from closings last year, the total can be much higher. Like the couple who "won" a bidding war for a C$2 million home by bidding C$2.225 million. Then as market values dropped, financing became unavailable. The seller "mitigated" damages by selling into the new market, sued the defaulting "buyers" for the shortfall and recently won a judgment for C$470,000