In the past 4 years, I've tried a lot of different ideas. Trapping works best, by far. And I don't drive 20 miles to let the squirrels off. I drop them off about 5 miles away on my way into town, so it only adds 5 minutes (or less) to my drive. Putting aviary wire cages over/around my plants has been the only other thing that works. I'm growing many vegetables in 5 gallon containers, and I make a 3ft high cylinder around the container, out of the aviary wire (which is 1/2" chicken wire...squirrels can reach through regular 1" chicken wire) and crimp it at the top. It works really well, but can be a pain to reach inside...especially when you have bugs you want to inspect or pick off. You can spray Safer's soap and rubbing alcohol through the mesh, but if you want to do a thorough job of spraying you need to remove the cylinder. I've tried plastic chicken wire, and plastic hardware cloth(less expensive), but the squirrels can chew right through the plastic if they really want what's inside. For plants in the ground, I've build 36"x36" wood base frames (using 1x1 wood) and made chicken wire domes over them, 2-3ft high at the center. I've also made hardware cloth frames for young seedlings (usually about 12-16" high and 8" wide and as long as I need). For both the domes and the hardware cloth frames, you need to attach end pieces to close them off. With hardware cloth expect to bleed a lot, the wire points are always knicking you in the arm. I'm just now setting up a 4x8' garden box to plant some corn and I'm going to make a chicken wire cage around it with a chicken wire top that I can open up when needed. This is the best solution, something large enough where you can get inside and move around with ease. Fancy cages that look good are expensive to make (hardware cloth is especially costly), but I'm using 1/2" emt metal tubes/pipes (from Home Depot) for posts, and chicken wire for the top and sides. Not pretty, but effective. Everything else I tried was a waste of time. It's not fun to see your tomatoes inside a wire cylinder, but at least they are "my" tomatoes and I'm the one who gets to eat them. On top of all this, I have to deal with gophers (chicken wire floors under the dirt), and the occasional deer. Plus rabbits and a mysterious animal (flying rabbit?) that somehow get's over a 5 foot high deer fence and eats all the young branches from citrus trees without leaving any leftover scraps on the ground. Hope this helps your situation a bit. John

I don't have any of these, but I found this online HERE. "Founded in 1992 by Charlie Shaw and Ted Einstein, Dovetail has developed an expertise in sourcing an eclectic range of handmade furniture, accessories and textiles from around the world. The Dovetail DOV1000 Dining Room Montecito Dining Table at Goods Discount Furniture Stores in North Carolina. Solid Reclaimed Old Wood Pedestal Table Light Finish With Slight Grey Glaze And Sealed Top Classic Trestle Base Dovetail DOV2427 Alicante Dining Table Reclaimed Elm Base And Top (no mention of sealing on this top) Grey Toned Smoked Wood Finish Hand Carved Pedestals Hickory NC Store: (828)855-3220 Charlotte NC Store: (704)910-6096

Sharp eyes there, pmartin. I hadn't noticed it, but yes, the stripe in the painting is very similar. The fabric on the chair as is definitely has to go, though, and I have a few other patterns/stripes nearby so I'll work on something compatible for this chair if it stays. As for Baker furniture, it's always been in a class by itself as far as I'm concerned; especially the older stuff. If you google it you'll see lots of examples, and their furniture is only found in very high end furniture stores; the kind of place where you just drool over everything. My mom had one Baker chair in her home, and my sister got it when we divided her stuff. It's a classic, as most of their pieces are. So, as I said, I'm a sucker for the label, don't know if the chair makes sense for me otherwise. I thought I'd give it a try for the price.

An update for those who offered help: I sent DS the Mozart info and started looking myself. We've found some possibilities there and plan to talk to them about timing. We also found out that there are a very limited number of on campus apartments for graduate students. Most grads live off campus, but for the practice and rehearsal schedules he is used to, my son may actually prefer to be on campus rather than being a mile or more away. For the first year anyway. He is going to check into that as an option also but they apparently don't assign those spots until summer. Nothing decided, but seeing some options and thinking about how to furnish if we need to (have a desk, table, sofa and small dining table but will need chairs and a bed -- bed being the main thing). Feeling better for the moment -- but getting challenged on other fronts now. Always something, right? Thanks for the help.