Hi everyone! Just checking in to read your comments and to respond... Rita, I remember you have a watergarden too. The frogs around here are really tame and stay all summer. We have even had them lay eggs in the spring and it is fun to watch the little tadpoles turn into froggies. We also like to listen to them rippeting at night...it seems like they are calling back and forth from one watergarden to the other! Sometimes after a heavy rain we get some new frogs, which I think come from across the road since there is a bog there. They are fun to watch, especially when they sit on the rocks in the sun. I feel like I should put some sunblock on them or something so they don't burn their froggy skin...LOL. ngraham...My frogs actually let me get right up to them. I don't know if that's because they have lived here so long and they trust me or what. One day there was a huge frog that I was taking a picture of and I got right up in his face with the camera and he didn't even blink...so out of curiousity I wondered if he'd let me touch him...so I did. And he just sat there like he was used to being petted by a human. I had to poke him to get him to jump back in the water! I have funny frogs. Jean...yes, Connor is walking now and enjoys running around my yard but funny thing is, he is very careful around my flower gardens. He likes to sniff my flowers. He does like to look in the ponds so I have to hold his hand real tight so he doesn't take a swim with the frogs...LOL. I don't have any fish in there because our winters are too cold and the ponds are shallow and freeze in the winter. I don't want to have to deal with taking fish inside over the winter, although some people do it. Judy...thank you! I hear all the time that Tiffany is a little 'mini me'! It's funny because she looks like me but I am so much taller (I'm 5'8" and she's only 4'10") so she's like a condensed version...LOL. About the rose: are you talking about the pink one? Larissa is actually a large-sized bush but the blooms are small, only around 2 inches but they come in enormous clusters. I had cut all my roses back too, because of the japanese beetles, but now that the weather is cooling off most of them are starting up again. mantis...I did not keep the seed packet from the zinnias, sorry. My husband owns a hardware store and brought me a bunch of seed packets and I just planted everything here and there and didn't mark them. About 'Larissa'...this is a wonderful rose and I regard it highly. It is from Kordes and I got it from Palatine Roses about 3 yrs. ago. This rose blooms almost all summer and the japanese beetles have mostly ignored it which is unusual for a pale rose. Winter hardiness is excellent and I do not protect it. Leaves are very glossy and highly blackspot and mildew resistant. I do not spray it and I have never noticed any disease on it whatsoever. The flowers are small, about 2 inches, but they are plentiful. It blooms in enormous clusters (one cluster would make a huge bouquet!). Heat tolerance is good...this is planted in the border by the road in full sun. Longevity of the blooms is excellent, both on the bush and in a vase. The blooms have quite a substantial substance and remind me of little plastic roses. There is only one downside to this rose and that is that it is scentless (at least to my nose) but with all it's attributes I don't miss that. Val...Thank You so much. To me it feels like slim pickings only because I have so much blooming in June especially that now it seems meager. The up side though is that I don't have as much work! Thanks again to all of you! Celeste

That looks great, smashing programme Nature illusion, be nice when they get the rain and snow going in gif, they tell me their working on it.

For all intents and purposes, your range is definitely an "island" or "peninsula" range. The half-wall will help a bit, but the majority of the effluent will still be in the open. Regarding the wall, it should be at least 9" thick -- that's the bare minimum you should have behind any open range or cooktop. If those are stairs directly behind the range, then I would be very careful about skimping on ventilation -- people going up/coming down will have anything not caught by your hood in their faces -- think billowing steam from boiling water, smoke from any browning/frying, splattering grease, etc. I'm with you on no downdraft -- they're better than nothing at all, but not much better! (Experience speaking!) They only work for items right up next to the fan -and- shorter than the top of the fan by several inches! They're also loud! (See that item in the video above -- tiny and short! Did you also notice in the video that even at the highest speed not all the steam was captured - quite a bit escaped above the fan? If that were a typical pot -- say 8 quarts or 12 quarts, even more would escape!) Regarding the need for venting...there are two primary things that affect what you need for venting: the type of cooking you do and the type of cooking appliance. Cooking is the most important with appliance second. If you do any grilling, you will need a very effective and much larger/stronger hood. If you fry, stir fry, brown meat, etc., you will need a good hood If you just steam or boil water, you will need a good hood, but the fan may not have to be as strong. Gas, especially high BTUs, will need better venting b/c of fumes and higher heat "Regular" electric still has heat, but not the gas fumes Induction does not introduce added heat from the burners, but there is still heat from the food -- much less heat overall, though BTW...others are correct, it's more expensive to vent in an open space like your situation than when against the wall. The hood is more expensive b/c it has to be finished on all 4 sides Venting can often be more difficult -- having to go up, turn a corner, and go out an exterior wall (be careful about venting through the roof) You need a bigger and stronger hood b/c you have more and stronger air currents that will make capturing the FOGSS (fumes, odors, grease, steam, smoke) more difficult....plus anything missed will quickly spread throughout the home. The lack of cabinets flanking the hood and a back wall to help corral the FOGSS is also an issue. So, how to minimize the impact since you are dead set on having the range in that location. First suggestion: Would you be wiling to leave part of the wall up? Say the width of the range + 9" to 12"? That would give you a wall to help your hood work better and to cut down on the FOGSS spreading. The hood size won't be as big an issue as well. Keep in mind that you spend far less time standing in front of your range cooking than you think -- only about 10% of your time. The rest of the time is spent prepping at counters & sink next to or across from the range (about 70%). (The other 20% is spent cleaning up -- at the cleanup sink, wiping down table & counter, loading/unloading the DW, etc.) Sizing of Hood: Width...The hood should be at least 6" wider than your cooking surface. So, for a 30" range, the hood should be at least 36" wide. This provides an extra 3" on each side. FOGGS do not just rise, they also expand as they rise. Since you don't have cabinets and a wall stopping the expansion, your hood definitely needs to be wider. (I might even consider 12" wider since it's going to be so open.) If your hood were against a wall with cabs flanking the hood, then 6" wider would be sufficient. Depth (front to back)...The hood should be 27" deep for the same reason as the width above. If your hood were against the wall, then it would only need to be 24" deep. Height...you want the hood to be able to corral the FOGSS for expelling to the outside, so the taller the hood body is, the better. Fan...I would go for at least 600cfms. Note: You might need makeup air (MUA). Some municipalities are starting to require MUA. I know you don't want something so big, but if you really want the range in the open, then one of the consequences is the need for better/bigger venting.

@gsciencechick you should update us! Are you still following this program? Do you do two meals a day? I know we had some type diet thread and I mentioned that I was kind of doing IF but unknown to me. I do not like to eat early in the morning. I most often eat around 11:00 ish and will either do breakfast or lunch foods, whatever I am in the mood for. I rarely have caffeine, but I do like a hot drink in the mornings if I'm having breakfast type food. I usually don't eat again until dinner, although many days I will have something mid-afternoon, usually an apple or nuts, or sugar-free cocoa (during cold weather), etc. Once I started hearing so much about IF, I became more intentional. I try to eat between 11:00 am - 7:00 pm. Right now I'm really working on getting in more water. I have not lost any weight recently, but I have not gained, even during the pandemic.