My recommendation would be to call pioneer gravel and sand, and get a price from them for soil. It's much cheaper when you are buying it in bulk. They will bring it by dump truck, and you'll have to haul it wheelbarrow by wheelbarrow to where you need it at, but it should be much cheaper. If you tell them the dimensions of your bed, and how deep the soil needs to be, they can give you a pretty good estimate of how much more soil you need, and how much it will cost. They have a very nice soil mix that I've used for my rose beds, that is much less expensive than buying it buy the bag. I think I paid $100 for a dump truck full when I bought mine several years ago now. It shouldn't be much more than that. Good luck! Easy

Hi FoodJaunts, No, my cooktop is not the matching GE, it is a KitchenAid that I got from a scratch and dent dealer new, in a badly beat up box, but the cooktop did not have a scratch on it. It's MSRP was $2800 and we got it for $1200. Like you were planning, our blower motor is in the basement, so there is no need for a bigger base cabinet. So you are not flipping this house, you are buying it to live in, from a flipper, and because he has not yet done the work, he is willing to install the appliances of your choice if you pay the difference, right? If flickering gas was the only problem with downdrafts, I would say that getting an induction cooktop with a wok burner would be a good idea (they do make burners shaped like a bowl to accommodate a real round-bottomed wok). HOWEVER, my set-up does not pull grease and steam from the front burners. It gets most of the steam from something cooking on the back burner, however. I would not expect my set-up to work for stir frying. DH agrees, saying, "not unless it was a really short wok and really close to the downdraft!" Anyway, here is an inexpensive portable countertop induction wok burner: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004UI882A/ref=asc_df_B004UI882A2252470?smid=A294BYNQDK07T&tag=nextagusmp0355811-20&linkCode=asn&creative=395105&creativeASIN=B004UI882A and a discussion about that burner and about cooking with woks using gas, electric, and induction that I found very interesting. http://www.cheftalk.com/t/68139/adcraft-wok-induction-burner I also found this expensive built-in separate wok burner: http://www.katom.com/084-MWDG1800.html?CID=Nextag&utm_source=Nextag&utm_medium=CSE&utm_campaign=CSE&zmam=29342707&zmas=1&zmac=3&zmap=084-MWDG1800 But look what Dacor is now making - a 15" high downdraft pop-up with up to 1000 CFM external remote blower. They show it on a serious gas range and talk about "capturing smoke and steam from all of the burners:" http://www.us-appliance.com/erv3615.html And Miele has one that rises 14": http://www.us-appliance.com/da64901000.html You can always look into getting the 48" downdraft with your gas cooktop, then put the induction wok burner beside the cooktop, right under the downdraft. The chef in the discussion likes the induction with the round wok bottom better than residential gas burners and a wok. So things are looking better in the downdraft department. I wish you the best of luck in your endeavor to find the right system to work for your family. Here is a link that might be useful: Built-in induction wok cooker

I saw an intriguing book at CostCo the other day called What If: THe World's Foremost Military Historians Imagine What Might Have Been" by Robert Cowley. Here's how Amazon describes it: Amazon.com Counterfactuals--what-if scenarios--fueled countless bull sessions in smoke-filled dorm rooms in the 1960s. What if Sitting Bull had had a machine gun at Little Big Horn? What if Attila the Hun had had a time machine? What if Columbus had landed in India after all? Some of those dorm-room speculators grew up to be historians, and their generation (along with a few younger and older scholars) makes a strong showing in this anthology of essays, in which the what-ifs are substantially more plausible. What if Hitler had not attacked Russia when he did? He might have moved into the Middle East and secured the oil supplies the Third Reich so badly needed, helping it retain its power in Europe. What if D-Day had been a failure? The Soviet Union might have controlled all of Europe. What if Sennacherib had pressed the siege of Jerusalem in 701 B.C.? Then the nascent, monotheistic Jewish religion might never have taken hold among the people of Judah--and the daughter religions of Christianity and Islam would never have been born. So suggest some of the many first-rate contributors to this collection, which grew from a special issue of MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History. One of them is classicist Josiah Ober, who suggests that if Alexander the Great had died at the age of 21 instead of 32, Greece would have been swallowed up by Persia and Rome, and the modern Western world would have a much different sensibility--and probably little idea of democratic government. Still other contributors are Stephen E. Ambrose, Caleb Carr, John Keegan, David McCullough, and James McPherson, who examine a range of scenarios populated by dozens of historical figures, including Sir Walter Raleigh, Chiang Kai-shek, Robert E. Lee, Benito Mussolini, and Themistocles. The result is a fascinating exercise in historical speculation, one that emphasizes the importance of accident and of roads not taken in the evolution of human societies across time. --Gregory McNamee There's also a What If II.

Robin & Gudang's hep and advice... robin98(NZ(9b)) 23 hours ago Len, don't be too down! Of all your plants this one is the trickiest, if that's any consolation. How was he when you got home? 1 Like Bookmark Edit|DeleteLen M 21 hours ago Thanks so much for the reassuring words, Robin. I have to say that I am much better today than I was when I left out for work on my last trip. I returned home last night to find Fürguson was not as bad as I imagined he'd be. His leaves at the bottom of both stems were dry, curled up and pretty much dead. Some of his larger leaves had brown spots and he was drooping extremely badly....To the point where I'm wondering if his petioles will ever rebound & lift his large heavy leaves back up? Also, his stem seemed a little shriveled from midway down & the greener part of the stem toward the top was quite soft. Last thing I noticed was the soil was SOOOO dry almost throughout. Of course I refrained from watering him, but I do wonder if this is normal for the gritty mix or is it b/c I failed to soak the bark for an adequate amount of time? I sure hope to receive answers and advice soon. I'll sit tight until then. In the meantime here are the photos I took of him before flying out this morning... Not as brown & shriveled as I thought he would be... Dead looking shriveled bottom leaves :( Some browning on the larger leaves... The 2 new leaves that sprouted on top of the stem w j-hooked roots. Still very flacid. They're being supported by a branch I found in my backyard & I wrapped the limp new leaves with one of the only leaves that had broken off from the bottom of my Fiddle during the repotting. Again, thank you, Robin for taking the time to show interest in my Fiddle's well being. Len Like Bookmark Gudang TropEq 20 hours ago Yeah, seem good enough for plant that just got extreme root pruning. For healthy tree, i don't clean soil on the rootzone since too many root hair in there. I just fix root position and cut only the root that extremely circling, so after repot, no need to wait till it rebound to it's normal condition. On your case, the tree need to regrow root and root hair, so it will need more time to metabolism normally. During developing root, the leaves will suffer since no suply energy for them so some will fall. In extreem, it will reduce stems so only few inches of the trunk above the ground that it keep alive, with new buds as old stem replacement. On your case i ussualy give foliar feeding since root still unable to give nutrients for the leaves. Only few absorbed, but it's better than none. robin98(NZ(9b)) 20 hours ago You're very welcome. I'll try to give you some advice, but first off have to say I've never made or used gritty, hopefully someone experienced with that will chime in to help you. And I'm a bit useless with the root pruning - I had to smile when I read that part, because that's pretty much what I do : trim the long roots straight across the bottom but chicken out of doing anything major! It will be a week in the new mix by the time you get back, so I wouldn't pull it out again. He'll have been putting energy into growing new fine root hairs, and you'll just set that process right back again, making it harder to recover. It sounds it was best to change the old mix, if it was staying wet that long. That would have been trouble in winter. I'd let it recover now, get through winter, build up some energy reserves in spring then repot with more thorough root pruning in summer. I'd also suggest using 511 for the soil mix as it retains a bit more water (while still being aerated) which gives you more leeway than gritty. If it gets hot where you live in summer, and your job takes you away for a few days at a time, you might find the gritty dries out too fast. Right for now its care will be a bit different, while it's recovering. Put it in a warm bright spot, out of direct sun or drafts. Keep its roots moist while it is re-establishing (my understanding of gritty is that the top levels dry out pretty fast so you might need to water more often and/or put something on the surface to keep moisture in the upper levels, correct me people if I'm wrong...) Usually you're not supposed to fertilise until you see new growth, but that also might be different with gritty. New growth means roots have regrown and now energy can be directed to the leaves. When you see this move it to more sun and let it dry out more in between waterings. I wouldn't cut any leaves just yet. Hope some of that helps :)