Congratulations Gary, you discovered sliced bread Twice, no less! This is exactly how they grow in nature and I grow most of mine the same way. My Cattleya types are all mounted. This does not mean they are hanging on branches, it means the roots are exposed to air like the plant you described. 1) The classical mount, a tree branch. Stick the plant on it and never touch it again. I have some who have been on the same mount approaching 15 years and may well resemble the plants you saw. 2) Wooden or plastic basket. Difference between growing them ON a basket rather than IN a basket is that my plants are growing in EMPTY baskets. Works exactly like the tree branch except the wood has been rearrange to look like a basket. Again, once there, I never touch them again, may put the whole thing in a larger basket when it's time or just let them ramble on. 3) Plastic or clay pots. Mounting plants on our conventional plastic pots only requires you to refrain yourself from adding bark or coconut. Put the plant in a small pot without medium. Often I add a few large rocks, 1 1/2" to 2" size to stabilize it and give the pot substance to keep it from falling over. When the plant rambles over the edge, drop everything into the next size pot, also empty. The roots will fill all available space. I have a huge BLC which was last potted in 1988 by the previous owner which is about 2' x 2' x 1' in size. After 25 year, I suspect the bark in the 6" pot it's in, is probably slightly deteriorated but who cares. All of the above plants grow similar to what you are describing and cannot be over-watered. Never need to be repotted and offer a painless, satisfying and somewhat effortless way to grow them. During the heat of the summer, they need to be watered more often, once a week does not work for them. I usually water them every 2 to 3 days unless we get into the 90s in which case I water them every day. Tap water is all they ever get with a little fertilizer added every time. I do have a potting bench, but almost all of my epiphytes never need repotting. A variety of plants, Bulbos, cloud forest plants, terrestrials and a few others do better the conventional way and need to get repotted as the sphagnum moss deteriorates. Stanopeas, Lycaste, Angola for example, also don't like the empty pot treatment, they are in something. In the end, the best medium to plant most epiphytes in is air, that's what their growth media is in nature and you cannot go wrong with it. It also never deteriorates and you don't need to repot. We are so brainwashed that plants need to be in a pot with their roots covered with something, we don't give that method a chance. It works extremely well. Nick

Not having a water dispenser isn't too tough to find but I searched a lot to find a frig without the ice maker. Very few don't have that wart. Though I really liked the 4 door Samsung with the option to make 3 compartments freezers, (and especially liked it being marked down from $2500 to $700) but it annoyed me that for the most part 1 full section was lost to the ice-maker and water dispenser. Yes, I know they don't have a tank in there for water, but I haven't seen any using copper pipes. Every one I've seen uses plastic tubing and a plastic tube to connect the water to the unit. Sooz, it's been a long time now, but basically take the thing apart as much as you can and wash that stuff away. He used his "miracle cleaner" that had this odor of... salad? Vinegar takes that crust off the stainless and plastic quickly and effectively. And I guess I should clarify, I DID drink water from a garden hose, but never the stuff that was sitting in the hose! I ran it a while to get the hosewater out of there and would have to do that with a refrigerator unit. Even my cousin, who was so proud of his new frig with icemaker quit using the ice for drinks. He agreed with me that bad water makes bad ice, just like bad water makes bad coffee. The only thing he used that ice for was to dump in the cooler when he headed to the lake. Annie, the only way I know to clean out the frig dispensers is to disconnect the water supply line, and these days most often they're those dang vampire couplers, then flush the system with bleach. And I highly doubt anyone ever has, or will. Triciae, too bad about the flood, but it reminded me of when a friend's place flooded from a broken washer hose. All the totes floating around in the basement and her little foo-foo dog on top of one of them. I wanted to call her Gilligan after that! :)

I have confirmed it only gives off the smell when in heating mode. Then the smell disappears. I have the cabinet doors open so hopefully that will help. I felt the unit and it is only slightly warm so I don't think its overheating. I does concern me that both of you never had the smell...... Other than that we also love it! Hot chocolate mix disolves so fast and tea is so much quicker to make.

"Their incineration has become detrimental to recycling." Perhaps but there is more to recycling than just collecting stuff that is too expensive or dirty to be reused. Somethings like sewer wastes that were touted as the answer for useful as manure or to build land have been found to be too toxic to use. The test fields here finally were used last year to grow corn. Supposedly had too many heavy minerals in it for use. So far the tests to incinerate the waste has had mixed results as although it could be burned it costs more to dry it enough to be burned. That is just an example. Although places here still take paper products for recycling more technology needs to happen before it no longer costs more environmentally and monetarily. The up thread about the waste at a fast food place is a good example. The paper products could be smashed and reused but getting to a state that could be reused is expensive. They would need to be taken somewhere then processed. They could just as easily be taken to an incinerator, burned and turned into heat or electricity. Any residue to be processed could if the technology was there be separated further into useful products. The technology is being worked on but the simplistic solutions that some talk about do not take into account everything.