My seedlings have mostly sprouted, all of the sweet pea and most of the calendula. It's about time to pot them out, and the probably last real rain of the winter has just passed. The veggie seeds were a bust, every last one. The sun comes in and out and the crocosmia are in their glory. So far everything I bought or planted is still alive, and believe me that's a first, especially the basil and lobelia which I kill regularly every year. The come back from my sojourn in the States has been rough, and I'm starting to feel as if I barely understand what I went through there in my heart and head, but slowly it is working it's way through my soul. The future, reltionships, wants and needs, plans and expectations, all are slowly fermenting, and I might not like all the answers, but hopefully I can trust them. The tickets for our yearly Folk festival here are bought, and so are the tickets for a special once in forever concert with Joan Armatrading, who is visiting here in the summer, and will be worth every penny. (BTW Kathy , June Millington and her band were especially delightful and exciting and wonderous onstage at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival for so many years, and please thank them for me for their talent and humor and courage). The kids are all fine and blossoming on the three continents where each one is right now, and my eldest, whom I haven't seen in over a year and a half, will be here for three months soon. We're all healthy, and working, a real blessing that we often gripe about but I am eternally grateful that I have a decent job. The hummingbirds are out in the day, the bats are out at night, and the neighborhood rats haven't come out yet, and neither have the skeeters. Life is good.

Hello Everyone I was surprised that the telling of my story would end in the yanking of the thread. But, I was pretty glued to the thread there for a couple of days. I am glad to find that there is a follow-up thread. So, updates. I have not heard from Capital to tell me they are sending the new wok cover yet. I will post as soon as I do. Until this is taken care of, my issues are not resolved. I bought some wenol metal polish paste on the internet after reading how to remedy scorch marks on a gardenweb thread. All the burners have scorched the wok cover sides and the two back burners have scorched the back of the stove also. I tried to use it, but thought it was just too toxic after reading the directions and using a small bit on the stove. I would really like to clean the marks, but a green scrubby sponge scratches the stainless steel and so does bon ami. Capital sent me some scrubbies and told me to clean going in the direction of the metal grain. I guess the new scratches you make somewhat match the grain of the metal? Any suggestions of how to remove the scorches with a somewhat natural cleaner? Also, for the record, we bought this stove new. It was NOT a floor model or demo that we know of. I bought it from The Plumbery in Auburn, CA and it was shipped to us from somewhere in LA. I bought it because of the gardenweb info and also based on an appliance news website that rated it very highly based on seeing it at a convention. I cannot remember the name of that website, sorry. The self-cleaning and wok feature sold me. I did make porcini lamb chops this last weekend with the convection and was happy with how they turned out. And, I do love the wok burner. The roller racks are nice in the oven, but have gotten stuck or off-track about 50% of the time I use them. When they work, they really move beautifully. I have photos I just took of the wok cover, but I cannot figure out how to attach them below. Oh well, I will try later. The wok cover is actually bending away from the 4 burner sides. The wok cover is essentially not straight angles, but curves inward beside the burners. This is in addition to the wok cover warping when the burners are on. Something new to share. I will be really happy with a newly designed cover. If anyone knows a good non-toxic way to clean a stainless steel stove without excessive scratching, please tell!

Yesterday, they said it was fixed. Today, they say it is still down. Oh well. BTW, the search feature here has never been very good. Google has a much better search, which you can direct toward this forum by adding the following to your search terms: site:ths.gardenweb.com/forums/build If you want to search all GW forums, just leave off the /build

The amendments are now a part of the constitution, so of course they should be included in interpreting the constitution and enforcing its protections. However, I believe the constitution (including the amendments) needs to be read based on the plain language of the constitution, based on what the words of the constitution clearly mean in light of the text and historical record. The constitution should not be read in light of what the judges think is good at the time. The guarantees of rights should not ever change to be either expanded or curtailed (unless amended) and the plain language should not be contorted to create "rights" which the founders did not intend nor to abridge rights which the founders intended. The court should not be ushering in social change (no matter how good that change is), as this places FAR too much power in 9 unelected judges and it also makes those so-called constitutional rights fragile to changing whims of the court. Social progress should come from winning hearts and minds, which in turn can cause legislatures to change laws or can lead to amendments (which would then become a part of the constitution). Of course the constitution has to evolve and change. However, there is a difference between going through the process of adding amendments (which is a complicated process for a reason) and having 9 unelected and unaccountable people suddenly make up a right out of whole cloth. You can look at the commerce clause as an example. It says the federal government has the power to regulate commerce between the states. That is ALL it should mean, but it has been dramatically expanded to permit the federal government to weigh in on just about everything in life. For another example, while I personally am strongly in favor of gay marriage and abortion, these are not constitutional rights because the constitution says nothing about these rights (neither prohibiting nor guaranteeing). Perhaps they should be constitutional rights (actually, I think the government should completely stay out of regulating abortion other than as necessary to ensure the safety of clinics, and the state should have no involvement in sanctioning any marriages, gay or straight) but if they should be rights, then this should be done through the amendment process. If you want to learn more, you can look up originalism or read about Scalia's judicial philosophy: http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/news/2010_spr/scalia.htm Lawyers “are not trained to be moral philosophers,” which is what it takes to determine whether there should be a right to abortion or assisted suicide. “History is a rock-solid science compared to moral philosophy,” Scalia said. “All these questions pose enormous difficulty for non-originalists, who must agonize over what the modern Constitution ought to mean with regard to each of these subjects, and then agonize over the very same questions five or 10 years later, because times change,” he said. During the last assisted suicide case, a majority of the court said it was “not prepared” to announce a constitutional right to what at the time was universally criminalized conduct. “Stay tuned,” Scalia said. Similarly, in the course of 16 years, the court changed its decision that juvenile capital punishment was permissible and declared it cruel and unusual punishment. Originalism is not a guarantee against judicial abuse, Scalia admitted. “But originalism does not invite him to make the law what he thinks it should be, nor does it permit him to distort history with impunity,” he said. The honest originalist will sometimes or often reach results he does not personally favor. “All of this cannot be said of the constitutional consequentialists.