Maybe tasting the water wasn't such a good idea. I drained the water off and left the shells sitting in a stainless steel bowl for a couple days. Well today when I was getting ready to use them they smelled very GAMMY. I assume there is still very tiny fragments of meat attached and in the damp conditions they started to decompose. From now on I will drain my washed shells pronto. Just finished a Crete square little bowl using Perlite and the shells as my aggregate. The shell fragments are all less than 1/4 of an inch. Looks kinda cool, I just added a pinch of blue pigment to the white portland. I can hardly wait to see what a stiff brushing will do to remove the Portland haze. I'm hoping that pearly glisten of the shells is visible. It will be interesting how it feels to the touch. Very hard on gloves BTW.

"The Oyster Bar is a great place in NYC." Indeed!!! That menu hasn't changed noticeably in decades. It's an incredible selection and you can count on everything to be just excellent. All the preparations are classic, no chasing after trends. I'm always amazed at the oyster selection. Desert lovers will be happy there too. It has a unique business-like ambience with rather industrial, tiled, vaulted ceilings. Out-of-towners should be aware that they aren't open week-ends, so plan your days accordingly. It's hard to describe this restaurant adequately. It has style, history, a special type of charm and that astounding menu. I can't think of a place I'd rather eat. I wish I could get there often. Jim

Thanks, folks. We looked at that one too. Maybe some additional photos will help out (when that cable gets found - we lose ours ALL the time). We too are looking at the brushed nickel finish. One of these days I gotta put up some in progress pictures. The space is opened up, rough plumbing is done and electric is in progress....

boxerpups - I am so sorry for your loss. Pets are family and provide so much love and affection that is unspoken and unconditional. We lost our beloved lab of nearly 10 years this April just shy of his 10th birthday. He developed a splenic tumor and was very sick. We opted to operate b/c the other choice was to put him down or let the tumor eventually explode (which it was close to at the time). We knew the chances of it being a cancerous tumor were very high but we wanted to give him every chance he could at life and there was a small chance it was non cancerous which gave us hope. We operated and he had a rough time recovering b/c of the size of the tumor and b/c his heart had been so stressed due to the tumor. We checked him out of the hospital against medical advice after nearly a week in the vet hospital b/c he wasn't eating on his own or really perking up if we weren't there. We brought him home and he was never happier to be home, went out in the yard, went upstairs (even though he wasn't supposed to - he always slept upstairs next to my side of the bed), snuggled with all of us and ATE! We thought he was going to be okay, drs were amazed he responded so well to being home. Well he passed away the next morning. :( Sometimes pets need the extra time with their owners as much has we need the extra time with them. Our dog NEEDED to come home and one extra night with us, check out the yard, go all over the house and make sure all of us were okay too. Turns out his tumor was not cancerous after all. We are glad we operated and glad we got one more night. So just because YOU needed the time, don't think your beloved pet didn't need the extra time too to say goodbye and spend with you and your family.