Wow, thanks for the info! I didn't even realize that there is a hybridizing forum. Gardenweb really is amazing. I've been reading some online literature that I've come across on google books which is really cool(fyi); it lists tons of archived books, each photocopied from cover to cover, available for anyone to read, at their own leisure. Right now I've started to read Fundamentals of Plant Breeding: written in 1914 by a man named John M. Coulter. Albeit a very scientific novel, it's just the kind of thing that tickles my intellectual fancy, and I look forward to finishing it. Thank you for the compliment on my collection, I do very much enjoy seeing it thrive (although right now it's on the rebound from some very serious pesticide issues). I hope that by the time spring rolls around they will all be healthy and ready to bloom so that I can cross them. I'm thinking that the feather method is probably a much more reliable way to get results that I'm hoping for, rather than just letting nature do all the work. Thanks again for the input, I will have to check out the hybridization forum! -Chris p.s. If your trying to expand your succulent collection, I just recently stumbled onto a super cheap website that will even ship for free (on large orders) check it out! Here is a link that might be useful: High Sierra Nursery

hi vickie! The two-needle pinyon, pinus edulis, is the most commonly available one. Forestfarm has them, and I've only had real luck with the pinyons planting from a container, not bare-root. Full sun or light afternoon shade is fine, I have one that has been against a southwest wall in a desert bed for two years and it has grown very nicely, has candles on it right now, they pretty much grow out as much they grow up. No disease problems at all, doesn't seem to be fazed by humidity. Mine are planted in raised rock beds, no more than a foot high, filled with sand-gravel mix, very rocky with just a little bit of organic matter like crushed bark or pine needles added. I watered them weekly the first two summers here, but they might need it less now. They also don't seem to mind the heavy winter rains as long as drainage is excellent. very slow growing but each tree is unigue even at young age, and they only get more twisted and gnarled. I have one pinus monophylla, got it as seedling in central Nevada mountains 6-7 years ago, grown in pot that whole time, really never took off until I moved here and now it puts on a couple inches a year(torturously slow) I keep it in light shade most of the day and it does fine, almost impossible to find online. I;ve only ever seen seeds or tiny seedlings offered good luck and thanks for the welcome! N.

I don't know if this info will be helpful or not -- our shower has a sloped ceiling. The lower side is 90" and the shower wall (its a solid piece of swanstone) goes right up to where the ceiling starts. So while the ceiling slopes up from there, we did keep the shower walls (the rest of them) at that same height. We have the exhaust directly above the shower in that one and hope it does the job (wanted to suck the moisture out before it traveled up the ceiling; not finished yet so not sure how it will work). Before we remodeled (shower was in the same place) it did not feel "windy" with the cathedral ceiling. We just remodeled another bathroom, its a tub/shower and toilet room, and that's a space about 5' x 7'. We have the exhaust fan in the middle of that room and it gets the job done (90cfm panasonic), but when we come out of the shower, the walls are definitely damp. It does not feel like a 'wind tunnel' when the exhaust is running. We don't have heat in the shower floor but most of the previous discussions I've seen on it seem to feel its moot in that once you run the hot water on it for a minute or two, the floor is warm. Its possible to google "architectural standards shower height" and get a number of responses. Good luck!

This thread is so interesting. As others have said, it's really personal preference and you can decide if a rain head is worth $2000. We put one in and had one in our shower in the previous house. We love it and vastly prefer it over a regular shower head. Our has plenty enough pressure to wash hair and body. I don't have the problem others have said about having to step in and out. I just tilt my head forward and back and it's fine. I don't feel it's wasteful at all. My showers are quick. I think ours comes from California Faucets. We do have a secondary wall mounted hand sprayer but that was only installed to help me clean my shower. I need it to rinse the cleaner off the walls. I do think $2000 extra for install is excessive however. I'd still probably pay it or do it DIY later. I love my rain head. And by the way, ours comes our from the wall not the ceiling. This is not our shower or head, but something like this.