I've painted trees w/ full strength latex and not noticed any problems. I have seen fissures in the paint, but I've not noticed any problems from it. I quit painting trees several years ago. We don't get cold or snowy enough winters to experience SW injury. I do get some sun scald on the tops of scaffolds if I open the trees up to much during the hot summer. I've found vigor will heal anything but the most severe bark injury in my area. We had a terrible hail storm this spring which chewed up the bark badly. Most of the trees already have the wounds closed up. Re:DDT I can live without it, but it really wasn't responsible for decimating the American Eagle. Eagle population was dangerously low before widespread use of DDT. Eagles and other large predatory birds were considered pests in the early 1900s. Farmers/ranchers would shoot them on sight. DDT did destroy their eggs, but people hunting them was their biggest blight.

>My wife works for Honeywell and can get the THX9321R5030 Prestige 2.0 RedLink thermostat for $179. I don't think this is the same as the IAQ, although Honeywell's product lineup is confusing so I'm not sure what the difference is. That would work fine, but you would need to buy the interface modules separately. The Prestige IAQ is similar in functionality to the 2.0, but comes in a bundle with the module and supply/return duct temperature sensors. >we actually have a 3rd forced air system for the finished space above the garage (additional space above and beyond the 3600sqft). its a 40kBTU trane system with separate AC compressor. the space is 4 rooms, and about 800sqft. so if you thought our system was over sized before.... Actually, that doesn't sound quite as bad as the 90K for each floor. Especially considering that 40K is the smallest size they make. Of course, everything I'm saying here about sizing is just speculation, since I've never been to your house or done any calculations. However I'm starting to think it might be a better idea to forget about the 2 stage stats and just lock the furnaces on low stage.

O.K. I get your POV, rpsinfoman. I happened to be at Home Depot yesterday and saw the Maytag Epic washer and dryer in black. You were right, they are the exact same machines as the KA Ensembles. However, they were not priced lower than the KA Ensemble washer and dryer. They were priced the same as the original price of the white or black KAs (not the floor model price I got) at Western Appliance. Home Depot didn't have the Whirpool Duets, so I couldn't compare the pricing there, but the Duets were definitely cheaper than the KAs at Western Appliance. Maybe Maytag is trying to raise the profile of the Maytag name? I also understand the "prestige" factor in a label. I was all set to buy a Kenmore DW and FD refrigerator, but my sister-in-law said I couldn't have Kenmore in my kitchen because it wasn't appropriate to the value of my house (her family is in real estate). I went to Western Appliance, and found the same appliances but with a Kitchen Aid label - and negotiated a lower total price than I was going to get at Sears, and my sister-in-law was happier with that choice! Very funny!

There's a lot of things involved with laundry. There's no perfect solution for all situations. These websites that claim to tell you what things cost are seldom accurate for more than the one or two instances they show. You CANNOT say it will cost you $___ to do a load of clothes since there's all the variables. Let's start with water temperatures. How much heating will depend on the temperature of the water in the first place. Anyone who lives in a northern climate knows that the water temperature from the tap is far different on Christmas Eve than on the 4th of July! Then comes the issue of terminology. "Hot", "warm" and "cold" are relative terms. Some laundry is fine to wash in "cold" water, but not in nearly ice water! "Cold" water in laundry terms (check your detergent specs) should be 70 - 80° so many times to get "cold" water, you would need to heat it! Plus keep in mind that detergents do work anywhere near as well in temperatures below 60°. Powders especially, don't dissolve as well in truly cold water and even liquids don't dissolve as well. If they don't dissolve, they don't do the job as well. And then there's the issue of cost of heating. If you use steam, natural gas, propane, electric, wood or your mother-in-law's flaming breath, it'll have a different cost to heat it and many of them will vary from time of year. So be careful getting sucked in by these websites. They can be used as a guideline for educating yourself but don't take everything as gospel. Some other things here that are interesting: I'm always amused with people using bluing. Why? Do you know what bluing is? It's not "whiting"! Bluing dyes your clothes blue and it's an optical illusion to make you think your clothes are more white. Similar in concept to different lighting making things look different. Bluing washes out and has to be replaced to continue the illusion. As far as hot water shrinking clothes, well, that's seldom true. "Hot" water to many people in laundry is only 95°-120°! Your dryer gets much hotter than that so how can body-temperatures shrink clothes? Now if you boil your clothes, that's different but I doubt many here use near-boiling water temperatures. I think most would be surprised how cold their water temps are. I haven't even addressed heat losses in the pipes and the machines yet. Many people have their water heaters set too low. Only some washers have built-in heaters. So if you use a frontload, have your water heater set at only 120° or less, and factor in the pipe losses, then the loss in the machine since the colder machine tub will cool the water and since FLs use less water it'll cool more than a toploader, you can have some really cold washing temps. Take a thermometer and measure the water in the drum sometime. Some washers have a warm rinse option but they're fewer and fewer with the regulations now mandating energy efficiency. Mine doesn't have a warm rinse option. Occasionally I run a short wash cycle to fill the tub, then switch to rinse and spin. And my machine does a spin drain. I'm skeptical about the debate over neutral drain vs spin drain allegedly putting dirt back into clothes. After all, in a spin drain (like front loaders) you're essentially forcing the dirty water back through or into the clothes again too, instead of letting it settle on them. This is part of rinsing clothes IMO. And part of the detergent's job to lift and suspend the dirt. I'm also skeptical when people say they use so much less detergent in a front load. Look at any HE detergent and you get the same number of loads from a bottle or box. And by the comments of the laundramaniacs in the laundry forums, you need to use enough detergent to get the maximum effect from a front loader. Insufficient detergent, too much softener (which I don't use anyway), too cold a water are all contributing factors to smelly washers and mold buildup. Warmer water cleans better. That's been proven. Now there's an issue of how dirty do your clothes get as to how much cleaning do they need. Some people don't get their clothes dirty and really a rinse would "clean" the clothes sufficiently. I used to use cold water washes under the theory of saving money but after reading the science in laundry, the truth about temps and realizing hot, warm and cold are ambiguous and undefined terms, I was most things now in 130°-140° water and use a tap cold rinse (since I don't have another option) most of the time and occasionally will warm rinse things if I feel it necessary. Saving money? I laugh when I see people spend upward of $1.50 per load on imported detergents and then quibble about a few pennies to heat some water. I tend to save money on detergent and not feel bad about spending a few cents to clean bacteria out of the clothes a little better. I use Tide Free & Sensitive detergent and pay only a few cents per load for detergent. I refuse to use softener, another saving and no dryer sheets, savings again. Plus the reality is I can't really see a difference since going to warmer wash temps in my bills, but I see an improvement in my laundry.