In general, my favorites are the viticella hybrids because they are easy to grow and even though they have smaller blossoms, they have a lot of them. Also, in my climate with a long and hot growing season, I can get rebloom on them, but I don't know that this would be true in your colder climate. Little Nell - lots of cute little white flowers with mauve edges - a good contrast for darker colors Maria Cornelia - white flowers with a somewhat unusual shape. It is only a year old and hasn't bloomed as much as some new ones, but still more than some others. Little Bas - just masses of blooms with a dusky purple color and wide open bell shape Galore - very fast to establish for me - nice somewhat dusky purple color that is vibrant, but still soft looking - not as red as Etoile Violette John Howells - new for me, but already has nice red blooms with a white reverse Pendragon - a real energizer bunny (just doesn't stop blooming), but it does tend to get naked legs (could partly be from a location pretty close to a large pine tree). It is a reddish purple bell with a shape similar to Betty Corning - flower size and color varies a bit with the weather Emilia Plater - by far the most vigorous for me - I just moved it from its prime spot to a not as nice location because it was just too large for the spot it was in. It has a pale violet blue color that really glows in the dusk, and had at least three bloom periods for me. Prince Charles - pale blue color similar to Emilia Plater, but a smaller growing vine I also like some of the non vining clematis which I grow with support, although some people just let them scramble: Zoin (aka Inspiration) my first non vining type with pink flowers. It probably blooms more for me than any other clematis I have - there are very few time periods when it doesn't have at least a few flowers. Petite Faucon - I really like this even shorter growing one. It has dark purplish blue flowers and repeats well, often having both large seed heads and flowers at the same time. Juuli - I added this one partly because it was highly recommended by others on this forum. It has lots of really nicely shaped flowers in a medium lavender blue color.

Although it's getting OT I too think this is bringing up some interesting discussion. Before going off, I'll comment on: Definitely better the devil you know. So many are poor workers, thieves or worse so if it's a small issue then probably better to do little or nothing but the whole point I tried to make before is if it's a big thing to you Jae_tn, then for your sake, something should be done. And BTW, glad to see you posting - I remember seeing you around the forums! Hope things are well with you. Now for the off stuff! I guess being normally pretty moderate leaning in most things, pragmatic on virtually all and try to be guided by common sense and other values of "Cynics", I know that it's good for the world to try to conserve resources but there's practical times when it makes more sense to do things for my benefit. I use a water filter on the kitchen sink but also I buy bottled water and won't hang my head doing it. Fiscally it's responsible for me since I buy it for anywhere from $1.50-$2.50 per case of 24. I also try not to exaggerate things. The water I buy is *not* simply "tap" water from someplace. It is filtered, sometimes I buy spring water. I do not buy much in the way of soft drinks, though I have been getting hooked on the iced tea from Aldi. The bottles are convenient to take with me and I don't buy drinks when I'm out, even if I go through a drive-through for eating. One saved can or bottle pop purchase pays for about 1-2 months of bottled water. Good tradeoff for me. Plus with physical limitations, it's not as easy as for most to just "get up and go to the sink". And BTW, I recycle all of the bottles so they're not going into the landfills as so many try to say too. Please don't blame the bottles when people won't recycle them! I sometimes use cloth, sometimes paper, for cleanup. I use CFLs for nearly all of my lighting and bought LED lights for Xmas decorating. I do not buy or use disposable diapers. Now these are *not* recyclable and they *do* all go into the landfills! What a waste of resources in so many ways! I could see using them on occasion, similar to using cloth and paper cleaning items but diapers are a big peeve of mine, especially when someone complains about resources. Many are quite hypocritical there IMO. I don't do 20 loads of laundry a week. I'm willing to wear something more than a few hours. Heck, if I'm just sitting around I'll wear the same shirt and pants for a couple days. I'm not a surgeon needing to change gowns after each operation. I don't need to shower 2-3 times a day most of the time. And I don't have to marinate myself in colognes and sprays to keep myself from offending peoples' olfactory systems. I'm quite proficient at offending people in other ways! :D Along with money, keyboards, phones, steering wheels, doorknobs, TV remote controls are all grubby. Period. Few people, admittedly myself included, clean them often enough though I've always had a thing about a dirty phone. That's where I approach "OC". People also seldom realize some of the filthiest parts of the body are eyes and ears. People wipe them all the time and (shudder), well you could probably be better off bacteria-wise to scratch your butt! I like to use tongs or scoops for things when multiple people will access it. I keep sanitizer by the computer if I am going to eat by it. I keep some sanitizer in the vehicle too but I don't use it all that often. I know what it did to Howie Mandel, but that was his own OC that got him into trouble. Misusing things isn't the responsibility of the product. And also I'll use certain resources but I also contribute in other ways too. I use reuseable bags at the stores often, but not always and never for drippy meat. I have planted literally hundreds of trees, and saved trees on properties which helps clean the air, save moisture, promote wildlife and other things. I don't use tons of fertilizer & weed sprays. I think an occasional dandelion is just fine. And I haven't run a sprinkler on my lawn in 20 years. Rain and snow wash my vehicles. So if I use a paper plate or two, and enjoy the convenience and savings of a bottle of water I'm able to sleep at night! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get a sandwich and a salad (from a plastic bag) put it on a paper plate, grab 1/2 a paper towel and have my din-din! :D

I have a 36 inch hood over a 36 inch range and haven't ever had a problem. I think it depends on the way you cook, in part. For example, we grill on the barbecue outside and we don't do "blackened" anything. But we do stir fry. I don't agree that the hood MUST be wider than the cooktop. It's nice if you can do it, but not an absolute requirement. The height of the hood above the countertop is a function of each individual vent. If you already have the vent hood, look at the specs. If you lost them, look at the specs on line. I put mine 34" above; my husband is 5'11" and he is happy with the height. I think you'd be fine with 32" or 33" if the tallest member of your family is 5'8". I think our local code has a maximum of 36", but your particular ventilation hood may say no more than 30". Still, I would personally still take the risk of a small decrease in performance and fudge a couple of inches higher than 30". We went to kitchen design stores and measured the heights of the hoods there to see what height felt good. One thing than apparently helps the draw of the vent is if you start it up before you actually start cooking. I don't really understand your light rail issue. I guess it is because my molding on the bottom of my cabinets is flush with the cabinet edges, so it doesn't intrude into the range space. The specs to your range should specify what the clearances need to be.

Welcome to the forum. We are always glad to see someone else that the addictive plunge. I think your main problem is that you are using the wrong mortar. You are not laying bricks. You need thinset. Go to Lowe's and go to the tile flooring dept. You will see a whole aisle or two devoted to this. Get Mapai Polymer-Modified Thinset Mortar. It comes in 10#bags all the way up to 50# bags. Most of us use the grey as it is pretty neutral. When you grout use the Mapai grout too. It works great outside. I hope this helps. Just east of Memphis? Arlington? I used to live in Cordova but am in Texas now. Here is a link that might be useful: Mapai at Lowes