Does Detroit count as around Chicago? Similar climate, a little cooler in the summer, a little warmer in the winter, thanks to the moderating effect of all of the Lakes. Chicago has nothing to moderate the artic cold or summer heat when it pushes in the from the Plains, except perhaps right on the Lake Michigan shoreline. I have three of them, a Bracken's Brown Beauty, an Edith Bogue,and a Little Gem. They survive. They do not thrive in the sense that they will never be what they would be south of the Ohio River. They are stunted and probably won't ever get over about 8 to 9 feet tall, since that is the limit of my ability to protect them. They tend to get winter burn on the foliage even with the protection of a leaf shelter, and then partially defoliate with some tip dieback. They look ratty in early spring and I feel sorry for them. However, they have an amazing ability to regenerate quickly, put on a lot of new growth, have those wonderful glossy leaves with velvety brown backs, and best of all, put out the most wonderful, fragrant flowers from June through September, a couple at a time. They look fantastic from May through December. They are worth all of the trouble as far as I am concerned, just to have something so beautiful and special. Probably I fall into the category of a plant abuser with this, but I just love them.

I'm with Kevin, above. Stone slab countertops aren't going away, if for no other reason than that they can be more economical than laminate or tile. A good tile-setter here in LA will charge $125/linear foot or more for installation. If you shop right, you can find prefab 8' long granite countertops for as little as $150, with installation and minor fabrication for a few hundred dollars more. It won't be the finest workmanship at that price, but still, you can get a basic 8' countertop with 4" backplash for $600 or less, installed, while the tile-setter's labor alone will be twice that, without adding in the cost of tile, mortar, grout or hardibacker. Unless you're buying prefab laminate counters at the big box store, toting them home yourself, and doing your own templating, cutting, and installation, you'll be hard put to match the price of those prefab stone counters. Special-order laminate costs about twice as much as prefab stone. So much for "In depth" reporting at CNN.

I also had been giving dream bones mini chews to my dogs. About 4 months ago my 7lb Chiweenie started throwing up blood and bloody stool 30 minutes after giving him the treat. I immediately took him to the vet where he had to spend the night. $400 later he got to come home. I didn't realize it was the treat as the vet said sometimes dogs get a intestinal virus. 3 days ago my short legged jack russell started the same thing. I took him to the vet the next morning when I found all the blood. 3 days later he got to come home. $1100 this time. I threw away all the dream bones treats that I had and will never buy these again. My dogs loved them and ate them for a couple years but my vet said that it was the treat that caused this. He got severely dehydrated and his kidneys were in bad shape. His white blood cell count was off. He was in really bad shape within a few hours. I am going to email the company and send them copies of my vet bills. We trust people to make stuff for our babies and then they poison them. I will never buy this product again and I will do everything I can to make sure no one else does either.

Thanks for posting the Holland story, Morz8. I first read it when DGS was diagnosed as a GERD baby. It was a help to me as I was figuring out how to help DS and DIL, who were overwhelmed by the situation at first. Especially as they live out-of-state. It is such a gentle lesson, but difficult - how to accept the unacceptable, and how to adjust gracefully to that which cannot be changed, and how to find the good in what appears so bleak. I haven't checked any boxes because I would have to check all of them. That's how touching these stories are! As Current Resident said, this is the internet at its best. Every person has a story. Even if you think you don't have a story, you do. I agree wholeheartedly that travel to a new place is a great way to challenge oneself, to find even a mild adventure, and to experience a change in perspective that can never be taken away. I remember what it was like returning to the States after my first year overseas in Israel and Jordan (some years before the 1967 war that changed my life), Israel then a second-world country, and Jordan almost third-world. I remember walking into my beloved Marshall Field's in the Chicago Loop and being bowled over, almost sick to my stomach at the vast amount of gorgeous stuff available there. I had totally adjusted to "poverty", small plain stores with not much in them, nothing remotely resembling a supermarket anywhere, few people owned their own cars, there was no tv, as neither country had television then, and on and on. But people lived with so much energy and happiness, with appreciation for the details of life and with plans for the future, just as we do. I did not understand how my values had changed until I got home. I was seeing the world with diffferent eyes now; this is what happens when you go to a different (and sometimes more difficult) place - your humanity expands.