I've used Liquid Fence in the past - living close to the edge of an in-city nature preserve. Problem was exacerbated by an oldster in the neighborhood who constantly filled bird feeders. Time was I'd have to start the spritzing program as the usual deer targeted plants first started emerging. Believe one of the coldest snowiest winters in our history must have seriously culled the herd since I've not had one in the yard so far this season. And I was on their regular dining route ultimately losing hosta, balloon flowers, lilies, day lilies, etc. I couldn't let the application program down - or the deer would get used to the product - never figured out quite which exactly. For those of you in the middle tier of states - as far West as Wyoming and East to Ohio, Menard's has a good product called "Deer Stopper" which has a mint added to the usual Liquid Fence formulation. Less expensive, totally pleasant to use and as effective.

I'm planning on buying more of a few things next year too. Chrysanthemums. I have been buying a 3 pack from Bluestone every year for three years now and I am really enjoying them. I need about three more 3 packs this spring and I can't wait for them to all mature and fill in. They are so dependable and since they bloom in the fall, they look good all season. I was so enthralled with Casa Blanca lily this year, that I decided despite the Red Lily Leaf Beetle, that I'm going to start adding more lilies. I just love them! I tried Angelonia for the first time last year and it performed very well so I want to do more of those this year. More roses. I seem to have finally figured out how to get the couple that I have to do fairly well, so I want to add a couple of climbers, but I'm not sure which yet. More boxwood. I have a few and I want to add a few more next year. More string beans and peas in the vegetable garden. I've been adding more epimediums, ferns, and hellebores among others but I think I have enough for the time being. I don't even remember what I added last year. I'm waiting to see what's what come spring. [g]

i've gotta say that it feels good to know that i'm not the only one causing himself physical burns with chiles on a regular basis I just discovered last night that even gloves don't totally isolate your hands from the heat if you plan on putting in contacts later.... I think the worst time was after de-seeding and tearing apart a bunch of dried chiles with my bare hands.. MY god.. besides the NS, anywhere i touched, even my girlfriend, got red and developed that painful burn for a couple of hours. i found that standing IN the freezer was the most effective temporary relief

Pllog makes a good point. Thank goodness for small mercies - no peeling, no flaking. Funny about that with the previous ovens. Rather surprised about that too as I hadn't heard anything about it. Must say, am a bit mystified by a convection oven whose fan cycles off. Why??? Not to save energy surely since the most energy-light part of the oven would be the fan! I downloaded the manual and saw that bit on page 17 that Rocs pointed out to you. A convection oven that may or may not convect. That's not averaging, I wouldn't say. Anyhow, Monogram has received good reviews and I will say that the forward/backward flow is a not half-bad idea to get good coverage. Not to sound totally condescending, but I just wanted to reiterate a few things that you probably already figured out cooking oh in the course of your life and re: convection anywhere (these are the things that I needed to learn): - pre-heat time. Never mind the beep; let it pre-heat 30-40 mins. - Selecting the correct racks and rack pairs when multi-rack baking. All specify to watch for this esp. with multi-rack cooking. - Air-flow: Take them at their word when they talk whatever their oven needs for clearances and to ensure laminar flow in their ovens. Yours says 1-1.5" clearances on either side from the walls, center the dishes on a rack, stagger them when one on top of the other (mine is v. tolerant about the last in convection mode but the clearances for airflow are definitely imp. I've found) - cooking to dish type: darks, vs. shiny vs. glass. Spills vapourizing to smoke is also surprising. Sounds like the bottom element was on and scorched the spill. I think using your drip try from here on out to help catch spills sounds like the best bet. I don't really know what to say though as it sounds a bit odd. Wouldn't have thought the bottom element could get that hot that it would char spilt pastry. No way that Monogram will come out to check the element to see if it is out of place somewhat? (Its a stretch but that's such an odd happenstance, I'd be dying to see what's under the panels ;-) ). Rhome, you'll figure out the ovens' idiosyncracies no doubt.