Thank you CELESTE,it sure is a puzzle to me of where my photos went to.I will take some more photos and get a couple of my other kitty, s Blacies daughter.. She is almost twice the size of ms zblackie.but, Now, she is a inside cat. she use to be inside--outside cat, until she disappeared one day and gone for 3 weeks,and finally made it back home, so dirty and skinny i didnt know whos cat she was, didn't know her at all, and she was also dragging a hind leg behind her.zi took her to the vet, and he gave her a antibiotic shot as he said she had some fe.ver, he said she had been hit by a car and crushed her hind leg and it has to come off, but, I have to bring her home and put some weight on her so she could survive the surgery, told me bring her beck in one week. so zi did what he said, and she has 3 legs now, and I was very upset about it for awhile wondering how she can get by with one leg gone. but, she is doing great now,and some times runs throught the house at full speed.but, she can not scratch her head when it itches and she comes to me snd meows for me to scratch her head for her. she is spoiled now. jean

With respect to the duct diameter: There have been rules for commercial kitchen ventilation ducts that attempt to minimize the amount of grease that condenses on the duct walls (a bigger problem for commercial kitchens than residential kitchens, but still relevant). The goal was an air velocity of 1500 ft/minute, as I recall. Commercial systems typically run at one speed, so this would correspond to full power. More recent study suggests that higher speeds are better for warm ducts, and lower for cold ducts to reduce duct wall impingement due to turbulence. In any case, the flow rate (CFM) divided by the duct cross-sectional area (sq. ft.) yields velocity in ft/min. What will the flow rate be, he asked? Well, we might guess that a 600 cfm rated blower having to pull/push air through a duct at 1000 ft/min and through hood transitions, the silencer, and the baffles, against some (hopefully small but unlikely to be zero) house negative pressure, will only move an amount well under 600 cfm. One would need a fan curve to calculate net flow rate, assuming that one knew all the losses including the baffle loss as a function of flow. Lacking that, I would assume maybe 450 cfm max, given a screened open window equivalent for the MUA, and that the duct is fairly short. 450 cfm in an 8-inch duct (0.4 sq. ft.) is 1125 ft/min -- a good value for the desired span of flow velocities. I wouldn't use a 10-inch duct unless there were a near-term intent to upgrade the range and the hood to a larger size. You can fit an 8-inch silencer more easily into the six feet of duct length that you have. With respect to in-line vs. roof blowers: In this case where there is not a lot of duct length to play with, the possible need for offsets to get the blower away from the edge of the roof, and given the weight of an in-line blower that would have to be supported somehow in the duct length, and maybe some day repaired, I would tend to prefer a roof blower, unless there were some overarching reason for not mounting on the roof. kas

That is way too large a pot for your Astrophytum myriostigma. The lower part of the plant is a tap root. The old soil line should be easy to see. Anything green and spotted should be above the soil. The problem with the current pot is that its volume is great, and will stay wet much longer than a smaller container. Using rocks as a top soil is a good idea and will help stabilise the plant until new roots form. If the plant has been in that container for some time, it may be wobbly because the roots rotting. In any case, remove it from that pot, find a more suitable container. About half the current diameter should work well. Brad

There's no "standard" for what's included. You have to talk to each person for their answer. When it comes to construction contracts, there are several different types--fixed sum, time and materials, percentage, etc. Each has it's pros and cons. A number of threads here explain the differences in construction contracts, so you'll find them if you do a search. There's also differences between a tract builder, a custom builder who will build something he has built before and a custom designed home by an architect and built by a general contractor, where the project may be bid competitively or awarded based on a negotiated construction contract. Good luck on your venture--exciting times ahead!