Plumbing is simple, here are the basic precepts: 1.) cold is on the right, hot is one the left. 2.) -hit doesn't flow uphill. 3.) payday is on Friday. I'm enjoying "The Great Mortality" and there has been recent discussion of medieval santitary provisions, or rather lack thereof. Hooray for Mary! (the operator's manuals for commercials sewing machines are often similar to that which you received with the sink... they can provide hours of humorous reading since they're pretty thick). And I'm quite sure our own little "survivor", Sue, is just tickled pink to wash out her flannel Union Suit and be done with the no heat phase. Praise be good friends! That's great news and I sure hope you realize improved comfort and savings in the coming season. I would like to see Phoebles and Clousseau cooking up some mischief together, too. I suspect no counter would be high enough with the two of them in the same room, lol. Mary, do you make the absolutely sinful Christmas Pudding made with suet and steamed and served with hard sauce? Mum used to make that and I've not had it in years but it's so delicious (a cardiologist's dream/nightmare). The mould is quite old, belonged to my grandmother and quite possibly her mother, too... should look for it on the next trip to THTTF. Eden, you and I share the same appreciation of just what a can of paint and some elbow grease can do. :) I smiled when you said you shopped for new stools and then decided to spiff the old ones up. We have that in common, too. If you lived down the road we could trade furniture when we tired of what was in our houses, lol. 'bug, the hearth is raised from the floor using 2x10s, 2x4s, and a layer of 3/4" plywood atop that to provide lateral stability. There is also a layer of 1/2" cement board on top of the plywood (non-combustible). Atop the cement board there will be mortar and tiles (non-combustible). The skimcoated chimney is inside the room and that is non-combustible. The stove will be positioned just over 36" from the walls and trimwork around the windows. This meets and exceeds the code requirements our town uses (they are very strict), requirements vary somewhat with the sort of fuel a "stove" uses, propane, pellets, corn, etc.. Additionally, the stove is outfitted with a metal heatshield on the bottom of it. When in operation the tiles below the stove remain cool to the touch. Interestingly, the company offers a complete line of heat shields for sides, back, and stove pipes to assist in more challenging installations. Our insurance company has been great; we've provided them with all the specifications of the stove, the hearth, and a copy of the signed inspection. OK, gotta run and deal with those miserable restaurant benches. I managed to get a splinter of the plywood in the pad of my right thumb yesterday. It began to fester and became quite sore. I increased the discomfort by picking away at it with a pin, but I THINK I got it (tiny!). But "Thumbkin" is still annoyingly tender. Make it a productive day, you guys.

My personal favorite is The Squire. In my humble opinion, Oklahoma is better than Mr. Lincoln. The flowers are darker red, more refined, and smell stronger. There are huge healthy ten foot bushes of it around Santa Cruz. I've grown Papa Meilland budded and own root, presently I have a virus indexed own root plant from Vintage Gardens. In all these years and different permutations, it has grown in small zig-zags, and the flower color has been more magenta red than blackish crimson. I keep hoping it will improve and look like the pictures of Papa Meilland, but it won't perform unless coddled and given high culture. I've given up this year and ordered Charles Mallerin instead to replace Papa Meilland. Depending on your needs, these red roses are worthy of your attention: Black Baccara Oklahoma Royal Canadian Crimson Bouquet Lavaglut Sympathie Linda Campbell Black Jade Climbing Altissimo Doorenbos Selection (Camara is one of my favorites, but its coloring is vermilion with tips blushing black -- not a true red)

Accept advice from those of us living here in California with great caution. We don't have the summer humidity you face. While we do have diseases, our blackspot pressure is much less than yours. Many years I only spray once or twice at pruning time, and my garden is usually pretty healthy. In part this is because I remove any roses that need much more than this kind of treatment. Having said all this, I'll throw out my random bits and pieces. You can take them for what they are worth. When you say 'dramatic red', I'm not sure what you mean. Scarlet reds can be dramatic, and so can crimsons, and so can dark purply reds, and so can brilliant cherry reds,but putting them in a bed together without other colors to tone them down can be a disaster. Ask me how I know. Dame de Coeur and Alec's Red are both unusually healthy roses in my experience, but are a light, bright red, not a deep dramatic color. The healthiest fragrant dark red HT I have any experience with is Oklahoma. Also fitting that description is the HT Barcelona, but it is usually sold as the tea rose Francis Dubreuil. You can get that dramatic deep color from some of the HPs, but I can't imagine growing HPs unsprayed in North Carolina. I've had good luck with Austins Prospero, The Prince, and am now planting Tradescant, but these would probably need spray for you to grow them. The most dramatic healthy red climber I've ever seen was a mature Cl Etoile de Hollande. The most dramatic healthy red rambler I've ever seen was Chevy Chase. Both are stunning. Dortmund is healthy too, no scent and a brilliant cherry red. It is indeed dramatic, but would clash with most of these other reds. Now here's a trick. If you really, really, really want intense drama do this. Try out several different roses to see which you like best, and which is healthiest in your neck of the woods. Then do a mass planting of only one kind of rose. This is incredibly hard to do, and hardly anyone can force himself to do it, but nothing gives more impact than this. Rosefolly

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