I sell to a few restaurants and a health food store. I grow on a little more than 1/8 acre, which is part of my back yard. I earned a bit more than $5,000, so I don't depend on it to pay the mortgage. Anyway, I found that the smaller mom and pop restaurants in my area are mostly concerned (as are their customers) with price. I have found the greatest interest among chefs at high end restaurants where the quality of my produce is most appreciated. (I grow heirloom tomatoes and basil.)However, even though they appreciate good produce, I found that they are still concerned with price. I plan on charging around $2.85-$3/lb for tomatoes next year and $10-$12/lb for freshly picked high quality basil. I have raised my prices for the past two years in order to determine a fair price for myself and my customers. I'm still not sure if I'm charging too much or too little. That's my two cents. Mike

Good luck, anything in a quality column that size is going to be quite costly (and those capitals will add very handsomely to the total cost). I personally would suck it up and but fiberglass and chalk it up to experience for designing a home that really has to have large tall columns.

We just returned yesterday, from a few days in Charleston, celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary. Love that area! I always manage to go to Rue de Jean for their mussels and frisee lyonnaise salad....lunch time...it's more affordable than dinner, and a real treat for me. If you don't mind driving a good bit and like down home cooking...there's a little run-down looking restaurant on Hwy 17 out of Mt. Pleasant going north toward Georgetown, must be about 15 miles or so, on the left, you might like. Good prices, plenty of seafood and a ton of side dishes. Their desserts are homemade; I've seen "mammaw" carrying in homemade cakes on a dome covered plate, numerous times, although I'm never able to eat dessert. DH and I ordered fried shrimp from the seniors menu, I think it was $8.95 and I counted 12 shrimp. One side was included and I ordered cole slaw, extra. Certainly good on the tummy and the budget as well. (Bad on the hips, though)LOL We also found a new little French Bakery on John St. just a couple of doors from Rue de Jean restaurant. They have only been open 5 weeks, so they said. Enjoy your vacation! I have to say I'm partial to Charleston but I love Savannah too. jude

FOAS, I disagree. When a man does something himself to save money, that's being polite. When he asks his wife to make a sacrifice that inconveniences her and not him, it has a different effect. I don't mean to sound like a princess here. I go out of my way not to spend the amount of money my bf tries to spend buying me dinner, and also to research restaurants so that he spends his money well rather than on disappointing food. I mostly order tap water, and he tends to drink several liters of designer water. But, I take for granted that my choices would never be criticized. I think that when one person is being polite and considerate, the other one should be too. NancyLouise, that's exactly how I feel. People should be good company to each other. Riverrat, I don't mean to say that I've written off their marriage or think that Raymond's a bad guy. I said he needed a reminder of how to be polite company. To me, a wife who's worried enough about the cost of a beverage to make a post asking if it's polite to carry water enhancers implies more than just a playful argument from someone who really doesn't care at all. Given the considerable dining-out budget, it seems that this isn't an issue of not being able to pay the mortgage if she orders a soda. I consider these the factors that are relevant to forming an opinion. The fact that he's a good husband with dimples who is generally a gentleman is really good news, but I don't see how it changes the question. Since this is unsolicited advice on an internet forum, and Mustangs and her water-preferring husband are fully entitled to ignore me completely, I'm not sure there's any need for offense. Of course, you're entitled to feel however you feel. I stand by my pro-beverage stance.