Adam, orchids, unfortunately, are expensive, in most people's opinion. I've always loved houseplants, but when I bought my first orchid two years ago, I was an instant believer! Home Depot and Lowe's sell them for an average of $19.99 for a 4-6 inch pot. But. . . when they bloom, they are well worth it! I have rebloomed approximately a third of my 40 plants, and had to wait over a year and a half for the first rebloom, but when it happened I was turning cartwheels with joy! They are just awesome, and there are so many different varieties - 40,000 or so and this doesn't include hybrids! So its easy to get carried away, because you can never have them all, and it drives you crazy! I guarantee you'll get addicted the minute you buy one plant! Don't even do it if you don't want to be hooked for life. I have one Strep (Joker) and it hasn't bloomed for me yet. Its getting big though. I love streps. Syngonium also goes by the name Nephytis (sp) or Arrowhead plant. They are really easy, and you'd know one instantly if you saw it. They are common - but I love the new colors they are coming in now. Alocasias are in the aroid family. So are colocasias, etc. Really fascinating plants. My waxes are doing great indoors. Growing and blooming all the time. They made me fall in love with begonias! I like the bronze leaves the best. I don't do anything special with them - just mist them every morning and let them dry out between waterings, and fertilize once a month with Peters 20-20-20, half strength. How are you doing with your episcia? I haven't tried those yet - I'm chicken since I heard they are tricky, and I don't have enough humidity, I don't believe. I've ordered from Rob's Violets before, but for some reason I can't keep AVs alive, and I finally gave up on them. Didn't matter if I got them from a grower or ebay or a friend - they always end up croaking on me. Especially the minis. I do still have a couple of standards currently, but I know its just a matter of time before they wilt and die. They even bloom beautifully, but then all of a sudden, its curtains. :( So I no longer let myself get excited about them. Do you like bulbs, and do you grow any? I have some Ledebourias that are just toooooooo cute. (Also known as Scillas). They aren't real common in culture yet, but can be treated much like cactus, and I think they're the neatest little things. Mine are miniatures. I could go on about plants all day! Will look for your new thread. And come on over to the orchid board! Randi

ttac, http://www.garden.org/zipzone/ I am zone 5b. I keep my worms in my celar all year round. Nodoubt my compost heap holds compost worms in the summer and maybe the frozen winter. That is where my worms came from. Methods I would use to winterize a bin in my zone are: Put the bin in a green house. Put the bin in a hoop house, a type of temporary green house. Put the bin in a hoop house, in a second hoop house. Put the bin in a barn with larger animals for a bit of heat. Put the bin in a barn with rabbits and chickens for a bit of heat. Use stryofoam outside the bin to keep it warm. Use BSFL Black Soilder Fly Larve to keep the bin warm. Use christmas tree lights in a system below the bin. I would prefer not to do that due to having to use electricity. One could build their bin outside, right out side of a celar window and keep the window open a bit and sort of a lean to shelter. South side of the house would be best for this. Hope I answered you question. One mostly needs worms to eat extra garden waste. So summer is when we need them most. The compost heap grows a new batch for us every summer right when we need them most. The Boys Life article was a start. I am so glad you did your own research on the topic and found us. Keep asking questions and we will keep answering. You get to decide if we are right or not. I can mostly answer from experience of what not to do, having throughly tested every way not to do it right. Although you lost all but two worms I bet before the others died they left you many cocoons to hatch in the spring warmth. Have you looked through your entire bin? If you start to feed the area again, think cantalope rind, watermellon rind, corrigated cardboard, jack o lanterns, monster zuchinni, fallen to the ground tree fruit, they should come back. Either way two is enough. Ask Adam. :-)

Bee, yes. That is the company. I actually considered the Claudia, which is the same as the Chloe but in leather, when purchasing but went with the Blair instead since it was much more comfortable and better suited for everyday use. The reviews online are great and one of the sales people(not the person selling it to me) even told me that he had never had complaints in the many years that they have carried that line. That had to be a blatant lie. In less than a year I have gone through three of these sofas (my story with them is a loooong one) - three different issues. As I said, I did not expect the sofa to last me a lifetime, but I certainly expected more than six months of use from it. I would not advise anyone to purchase furniture from this company. You may have a wonderful experience with the sofa, but you may also have a year of nightmares which will end in you having to find a replacement. I have found many sites with complaints about their furniture - after my problems began and I performed a search of course. If you do decide to go ahead with the purchase and happen to have problems that the regular furniture and bedding customer service will not help you with, let me know and I will be more than happy to give you their corporate customer service number. Had I not called corporate, I would probably still be waiting on a replacement cushion on the sleeper sofa (same Blair group) that was originally purchased. The up-side is that I get to hang on to their dreadful sofa until the replacement is delivered. I am scared of buying anything new regardless of the manufacturer, because you just never know. I am very tempted to buy an older (retro/vintage) sectional and have it reupholstered. I have seen a few that I like. My thought is that if it lasted for 20 years or more and is still in great shape, then it will probably last another 20.

If going up and down stairs frequently isn't an issue for you, then do it. For me, personally, I'd rather go up and down a full flight of stairs a couple of times per day rather than go up and down a fewer number of steps 30 times per day. I have family members that own a 4-level house. They make it work but ugh, I could never do it. When you enter you're on the main floor which is also the 2nd level. This level has the family room, powder room, laundry room, and garage. If you walk up 3 steps you get to the formal living, kitchen, and tiny dining nook. From this 3rd level you then go up about 10 steps to get to the bedrooms and guest bath. Then there's a basement which has around 8 steps maybe. Constantly going up and down stairs all day long, even if it's just a few at a time. It also really breaks their house up and my sister-in-law has commented that it's difficult having a lot of people over because they have to spread out on different levels to fit comfortably.