I manage an Autozone store and of course we sell Duralast batteries. They are made by Johnson Controls (JCI). Heres and excerpt from Consumer reports that may or may not be correct... "Most auto batteries are made by just three manufacturers, Delphi, Exide, and Johnson Controls Industries. Each makes batteries sold under several different brand names. Delphi makes ACDelco and some EverStart (Wal-Mart) models. Exide makes Champion, Exide, Napa, and some EverStart batteries. Johnson Controls makes Diehard (Sears), Duralast (AutoZone), Interstate, Kirkland (Costco), Motorcraft (Ford), and some EverStarts." Just for the record...all batteries sold at Autozone do have a warranty. That includes L&G and Marine. Don't let an ignorant or uncaring employee snowball you. Autozone is just like any other store...the stores with quality, caring employees is great...stores where the management hires anyone with a pulse should be avoided.

Good to catch up with everyone! Summer is always a busy time here. Lots of visitors who want to go the the ocean, and that means the whole day. Then having something cooked so when we get back we can have dinner. When my son and dil are here with their 4 little ones, it is VERY busy, and it takes a few days of down time to catch up with chores, etc. I do try to keep up with some blog events, and today I posted pics of the kitchen improvements we did.. I will link it so you can look if you like..I know some of you asked.. Betty, Congrats! How wonderful! Hope your dh is doing well too! Mo, good thoughts for you! Hope all turns out well. Speaking of which, Jane was having some medical concerns too, so please have positive thoughts for her too! OA, that's great! What do you use to show movies? An outdoor projector of some kind? It plays dvd's?? Cool! That would be great for here at the beach pavilion..although we have gnat issues here.. No bugs at night by you? Mary Ruth, I thought you had moved already! I remember when you said you were taking a break from HTE and Wicker Chair to get ready for the move.. And how is Judith? I know you are good friends.. Jay, good to hear from you too...You have been busy! DD have a good trip to the US! I have never been to your fair country! NCNana, we do out share of babysitting too.. 8 yo gdau has been a cast since school got out, and she won't get it off till Sept. Terrible time to break your arm..roller blades..ugh! Luvs, so good of you to start this thread.. Lynne, best wishes for your dau..I will pray for her.. and thank her for her service for me! Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen updates

It is always fun to read how many different ways there are to live our lives and tend to business. As I read through the thread, I immediately note the points that ring my chimes! My side-by-side Kenmore w/ ice maker and water dispenser in the door is 19 years old. Not only have I never had a problem w/ it, I have NEVER moved it - which means, of course, that the dust must be pressed into diamonds by now. For me and my then DH, the irony of the ice maker was that he had recently sobered up - and we had much less call for ice as the result. However, I love having it. Yes - if you don't use the ice - it DOES taste funny - picks up freezer odors - so I sometimes have to dump the bucket and let the new ones accumulate. I hope my posting this isn't going to give my unit "ideas". In the 19 years since moving into the house w/ all new appliances, I have replaced only the washer/dryer (last year) and the hot water tank - which was really done just because "it was time". You don't want one of those rusting through to let you know you were too late!

Gardengal is right, you can count on gray skies, lots of rain, and wind can be counted on from October until about the first or second week of July. From that point on it is bone dry until the next October. If you are lucky. We are now starting to see rain and wind storms in August and September. We use to only have them once or twice a season in the fall and early spring. I think this year we have had more than a dozen or so. As a kid I remember cold and lots of snow in the 1950's. We ice skated on the local lakes and even drove cars out onto them since the cold lasted enough to form ice thick enough to hold a car. The Chehalis River use to freeze thick enough to walk out on it until the tide turned and the ice fell. But the last time I saw that was 1962 when we had an Arctic storm that got down to -6° F in Montesano Washington. When I lived in the Bellingham/Ferndale area from 1975 until 1980 the Nooksack River would freeze over every year. In the spring I watched the ice flowing out of the river into Bellingham Bay. I have been told by friends still living there, that the Nooksack hasn't frozen for many years now. In the 1980's we had several month long very cold freezes. 1982, December 1st it got down to 4°F and stayed below freezing both day and night until January 1st. I lost my collection of Butterfly bushes that year. I had white to dark purple flowering bushes. Dan Hinkley said they are hardy to about 0°F, I believe him after that storm got through with mine. We had several other minor Arctic outbreaks between that storm and the last two Arctic storms, 1989 and 1990 that were into the single digits and lasted a month long. The last single digit storm was 1998, I had just moved to Issaquah. It only lasted two weeks. All other storms since then have only lasted two weeks at the most and were only down to the mid to low teens in the Issaquah area. So the NWS saying we might get colder than normal might mean that we will probably have a Arctic storm or cold event that will take us down to the mid teens for two weeks. But don't be surprised if we don't go much further down and last much longer. It has been a long time since we have had such a storm, we might be over due.