Sorry I didn't make myself clear. Our consumer organisation was criticising companies that were making their products appear environmentally friendly when they either weren't or they had a token benefit while still having undesirable aspects, and some of the claims were irrelevant or downright ridiculous anyway. Can't remember exactly but there were products that never contained the bad ingredient "b" and wouldn't logically require bad ingredient "b" that were being labelled "guaranteed b-free" just because "b" was in the news a lot. The dolphins were being put on products that had nothing to do with dolphins, oceans, anything like that. One product was promoted as producing an environmentally-friendly by-product which wasn't. It was nothing more than an exercise in feel-good marketing with absolutely no substance. Makes people confused and cynical. I've been interested in environmental issues for about twenty years. Lately it has become fashionable. In some ways that's making things easier for me but in other ways it's not. A lot more information out there, a lot more products. A lot more research. When we were looking for a new house we saw a couple advertised as solar- passive. One was tri-level with the two storey side almost all glass, the other was single level with lots of glass along one side. They had the "solar-passive look" that's for sure. One faced east, the other west. I don't take the realtor's word for it, I carry a compass. I think we are at a turning point. We can take it seriously or we can indulge in a feel-good exercise. When people who make a profit or are funded by our taxes to spread the environmental message treat it as a fashionable feel-good exercise I am concerned.

Looking for stink bug traps leads one to some fascinating information about these critters. One reason pheromone attractants don't really work very well is that though they're produced by males to attract females, this alone isn't enough to lure a stinkbug into a trap. They also need a vibrational song that is then transmitted through the plant tissue to help the stinkbugs find each other! How strange nature is. PDF report on Red-Shouldered Stink Bugs, and this excerpt: Substrate-borne vibrational signals. It has been known for some time that stink bugs produce substrate-borne vibrational signals for communication at short range... These signals are generated with a tymbal organ that stretches across the dorsal surface under the elytra. The vibrations are transmitted into the plant stem through the insectÂs legs, and are propagated along the plant as bending waves. The signals are detected by vibration sensors in the legs of the receiving insect. Both males and females appear to produce several different vibrational songs. To locate each other once on the same plant, males and females produce a duet of calling songs, with one or both insects following the signals to their sources. Once at close range or having contacted each other, the insects may begin producing courtship songs. There is virtually no airborne sound associated with these signals, and their primary transmission medium is clearly the plant substrate. Because these signals are transmitted through the plant, they may be less prone to eavesdropping by parasitoids and predators than a more widely dispersed airborne acoustic signal. Insects may be attracted to the vicinity of a trap by the pheromone, but if the shorter-range vibrational signals are not present, the insects may not move into the trap towards the pheromone source. This may explain observations by several researchers of bugs clustered in the vicinity of pheromone traps, but with few bugs actually in the traps...

In the South, we usually have some kind of pork, blackeyed peas, greens of some sort and maybe cornbread (?) on New Year's Day to insure our luck for the coming year. I think the greens are a symbol of wealth/money. Here is my favorite recipe for cooked greens: My Sister's Greens 2-3 16 oz. bags of frozen mixed greens, or a bag each of turnip, mustard, and collard greens (or kale or spinach) Cook greens in water to cover for 25-30 minutes per package directions if using frozen greens. [Cook fresh greens (a big pot of them) that have been chopped in boiling water until done to your liking.] When the greens are cooked, drain very well in a strainer or colander. Put back in the same pan and turn the heat onto very low. You want to evaporate all the water left on the green so that they are very dry. When this is done, add: 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 1/4 cup maple syrup 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar Pour each over the hot pot of greens and toss really well for several minutes. This tossing is really important! Use two large spoons to toss. You don't want the greens to be dripping liquid, but to be quite dry with just a hint of the oil, syrup, and vinegar. Taste the greens and add a little salt and a bit more vinegar if you think they need it (I always add a little more vinegar). Serve the greens right away while they are still hot. When I make a half a package of the mixed greens, I use only 3/4 TB each of the oil, syrup, and vinegar. You add the equal amounts of each, but the size of the amount will depend on the size of the pot of greens you are making. Happy New Year! Teresa

Colorfast- sorry... I meant to get back to you to ask about your kitchen mess! Anyway- yes, manufactured quartz. Chopped-up quartz bonded together by the polymer resin. Senator13- I looked the Schrock and Showplace cabinets over pretty thoroughly. Checked the load weights, warranties, etc. Brought samples home. They really did appear to be very similar & well-constructed... it was just by intuition that I settled on the Schrock. I also liked the Kraftmaid... but not quite as well. I sure as heck hope I'm not wrong!! Also- the kitchen is not *that* low-end. LOL It's just not 'high-end'. We're under 40' for counter space, so the Cambria is affordable. I've lived my entire life with the most awful laminate counters and floors, and decided that in my old age, I was going to have a nice kitchen. Small, but nice. Aries61.. about pricing out cabinets.... It feels like buying a car. The closest I could get to an individual cabinet price from 4 places was that 'cabinets run approx. $330/linear foot'. I will not have the price break-out until I put down a deposit and order them. Does that make me crazy? Yes. Is that the way it was at Lowe's, HD and 2 kitchen designers? Yes. All the prices seemed to fall into the same ballpark. Having said that... gulp... it came out to $8500 [inc. tax] for almost 28 ft. [linear] of cabinets. [That means top and bottom cabs.] [One wall is 11' inc. corner, around to another 8', another wall of 8'.] Oh- the Cambria + sink will be about $2700. Oh, no- I better stop. Now I'm so anxious that having said that, people will crawl out of the woodwork to shake their heads and tell me I'm completely crazy & have over-spent. I'm already shaking all the time!