I don't know if this is true or not but I always imagined that bulbs "suck in" nutrients from dying leaves that are no longer needed. Bulbs seem to get noticeably plumper while the leaves are dying and they are going dormant. I have yanked garlic out of the ground while it was herbacious, left it to dry on a counter in the dark inside, and the bulbs definitely got bigger/rounder as the leaves died. I also saw an experiment where a grass seed was planted in soil that was completely devoid of phosphorus, a vital nutrient. As the plant grew, it always put out the next leaf exactly as the previous leaf was dying, so that it could recycle the phosphorus. Finally the plant bloomed, produced a single seed, and died as that seed plumped up. So I would move them into dormancy while leaves are still on them, and just pull the leaves off when they yellow and come right off with only the slightest tug.

Interesting. We recently moved from a 1931 house with original bathrooms. Which we never go around to renovating. They had American Standard cast iron bathtubs that were very comfortable. Angled correctly for your back, higher up so you can get a good soak, and the cast iron kept the water hot a good long time. But they were a bit gross just because the finish was so worn off. The one in the kids bathroom was even beginning to bloom rust to the surface. Our new home was built in the 1980s. The kids bath has a perfectly nice tub/shower combo. Would you believe that my (college age) DD commented on what a bad tub it is to take a bath in? The MBR has this humongous 6 foot soaking tub in cast acrylic that is actually too large to be comfortable soaking in for me, and I kid you not, takes over 20 minutes to fill with water high enough. MBR has a dormitory sized shower that is separate from huge tub. When we eventually remodel, we know we want a large and nice shower. But if I could afford a really nice bath tub, I would probably want one too. But only if I could find one as comfortable as the 1931 American Standard. Probably no way to use vintage, as those usually were set in place before the walls were up due to weight. Being a realist, I would expect to probably not have the tub. More important to have a nice shower that is safe to use as we age in place.

Glenda, you do have a great memory! Kim Haas (wow that was years ago) The girl who supposedly had 4? young kids and she died (can't remember why) just before Christmas time and her husband wrote in hinting for some money to buy gifts for the kids. I remember the story slightly. Funny how no one could find the obituary notice or the story surrounding her death that should have been front page news at the time.

Annpan - you asked whether I had ever seen the Mapp and Lucia TV series - no, but I have heard good things about it... Does the series stay quite close to the story? I happened to find a title the other day which I am having an extremely hard time to put down. It was published in 1955 by author Brian Moore and has the appalling title of The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne. It's the story (fiction) of a (maybe) middle-aged (definitely) unmarried woman during the 50's in Belfast. She becomes enmeshed with one of her fellow boarders at the house where she lives, and, at the same time, is fighting really hard to keep part of her life secret. Really excellent read. She's not a particularly likeable character, but she stays with you. Reminds me a bit of Stone Angel's protagonist in some ways. And it has little to do with bodice-ripping type passion. BTW, just found out that there is a sub-category of bodice-ripping romance books focused on the Amish crowd -- called "bonnet-ripping".... :-)