Thanks, all. The reason I'm mentioning sand is because the Johnny's catalog says to grow in a mixture of 1/2 spaghnum peat and 1/2 sand. So, I think I should include at least some sand in the mix. I'm just planning on substituting some FREE oak leaves and pine needles for some of the spaghnum peat, to save money. I can definitely also acidify the mix somewhat with sulfur, aluminum sulfate, or similar, and use an acidifying fertilizer with micronutrients and trace element supplement on them during the growing season. Bogs -- well, bogs aren't strictly required for growing cranberries, they just need decent, consistent soil moisture. The bog culture thing is mostly about conveniences -- as the Ocean Spray commercials dictate, the bogs are flooded at harvest time because the berries float like corks, making it much easier to extract them, they just suck them off the water's surface. I am planning on putting them in a low area where water naturally collects at certain times of the year for a few days at a time. I'm going to dig the bed out, line with a liner, perforated with just a few holes for a bit of drainage, and backfill with the planting medium. Dennis SE Michigan

Hi there I use a 12-36-14 fertilizer. It's quite strong for my hoyas so I tend to dilute it down probably to about a quarter of what they recommend, and fertilize maybe once or twice a month. My hoyas are doing really well (but I've abandoned them for a week, poor things, hope they're ok...) I've recently started adding it in with the beer fertilizer, again at reduced concentrations, and that seems to work well. Hope that helps, Hills

I have tile everywhere in my house except the bedrooms and I love it. It is harder than carpet and padding, but I don't have any trouble with the hardness of it. When we took up the carpet I couldn't believe all the fine sand like dirt that was under it. I have allergies and I feel a lot better about not having all of that dust/dirt around all the time. Same would be true if you did wood flooring. I like the tile you've chosen and I think it would be beautiful. Yes, the tile does go under the cabinets. I didn't pay attention to what size your tile was when I looked at it, but we used 16x16 tiles and it looks great. I like the look of larger tiles and the bonus is less grout lines to get dirty. I would have used a bigger tile if they made it in the color I chose. Some cons of large amounts of tile flooring: Where I live I have to keep up with cleaning the flooring more often because of the fine sand like dust/dirt, which means sweeping/swiffering, mopping, vacuuming a lot more often than with carpet. I do it every other day normally and everyday if it's been windy and I've had the doors and windows open. If you live in a climate where it gets cold, the floor will be cold in the winter unless you install heating under the tile. In the kitchen, you need to be careful with glass bottles. We had a bottle of taco sauce near the edge of the pantry shelf and DH accidentally knocked it off the edge looking for something else. Needless to say, it was a mess. Thankfully, it was contained to the pantry. I'm sure heavy cans will pose a tile breakage risk also, but we haven't had that happen yet. Recommendations and things I would do differently: The tile will be difficult to remove if you ever do want to change it, but don't let that stop you from choosing what you love. You stated, and I agree with you, that the tile is timeless and won't need to be changed. It's also neutral so that it will go with any other finishes you decide on. Speaking of which, what are you planning to do for cabinets in the kitchen? (color) Because the tile is neutral, I would recommend laying it on the diagonal to give it some character. It does require more overage, cost and cuts, but I think the end result is amazing! If I had it to do over again, I would definitely do that, but we did the whole tile job ourselves and we were on a budget. Make sure you see samples of the actual grout next to your tile. I picked a grout that I thought would be great for hiding dirt and not showing stains etc. After we grouted, it dried A LOT lighter than the sample swatch. I was not happy with that. On a floor, I think going as dark as you can with the grout is the way to go. If you don't want a contrasting grout, pick the darkest coordinating color. It would be best for you to have sample boards made with the tile and your possible grout choices. I wish I had done that.

hi OB2B, so nice to meet you today? did you enjoy the tour? I had a chance to see a few of the houses this afternoon. It was a great day. steph2000, thanks so much! i think you are right re: the semi-flush. right now I am going to take a breather until the hood is ready. I pushed really hard to get this done for the tour today -- there were so many people here this week. will be nice to take a little break. deedles, I purchased the wolf 20" riser with shelf for behind the range. it isn't up yet. the guys were having trouble sliding the range out. the riser has to attach to the back of the range (i would have assumed it could just attach to the wall) and so the range has to slide out. The marble countertops are very tight to the range with really no gap at all so it was difficult for them and they were rushing so much to get so many things done that I suggested we address it later when they can slow down a little (I was a little afraid of them damaging the doors on my range ... they were pullling on them trying to slide it out and that was definitely not okay with me!).