Yup, this is an ancient thread, but very helpful. I had to give up the pond eventually as we were starting a new house build and that summer the (really old) liner developed some big cracks due to age. Gave my two humongous koi to a local pond supply place and removed the pond. I figure the house will sell easier without something future owners may look at and think "high maintenance" (not that they're wrong, but...) and I want to ditch the old house fast when the time comes. I write this post simply to say to new pond builders: When you buy a pond liner, get a REALLY GOOD UV PROTECTED one that is mostly thick rubber, not plastic. I thought mine was thick enough but after 12 years or so, it started to wear out due to sun, get brittle and just start having problems. You drop a rock? Oops, hole! Now the pond area is just a plant area and all I have are memories of better pond days. I'll have a pond at the new place after things settle down and thanks to many posters here for all the info to help keep the water clear when that time comes!

In Canada, Costco sells the Bluestars for just over $2000 ($Can). On this side of the border, it is the NXR (the one that Nunyabiz has) that Costco sells for a little under $2000 ($US). The choice between gas and induction is something that has been (and, here, it still is) being discussed. To me, it comes down to picking trade-offs. I see the advantages of both the NXR/BlueStars and induction ranges, and go back and forth on all of them. For me, picking a stove comes down to a mix of trade-offs, one of them being budgetary. The induction stove that most appeals to me is the Viking induction range. (You've seen Luv2putt's long thread on his racing red induction rnage?) I really like the set-up, the ability to get it with colors, the knob controls down front, the wide-open cooking surface. But, the cost strikes me as absurd. I likewise find the Wolf AG & DF stoves very appealing but the price puts my wallet into constricting budgetary spasm. Nunyabiz makes an interesting point about energy costs. I can say that the energy savings trade-off is variable by region as well as by how much cooking and what kind of cooking you do. Right now, and for the next few years, at least, natural gas prices are low. That may or may not translate into operating cost saving. If you feel like you have not yet done enough research, yet-- ;>) --- check out the link below. When I say that the savings are highly variable, I am speaking about direct experience in my small mountain community. I live in town where utlities are supplied by a regional corporate utility of some size. I do a lot of cooking, so gas will have some cost advantage for me. Using the calculator from the linked site below, with electrical rates here being are a little over $0.10//kwh, I guestimated that a gas stove would save me about $60 per year over an electrical one. Folks a couple of miles away in the county, served by a rural electrical coop (which is economically raped by deregulation and Enron type manipulations that our legislature foolishly thought would be "competition") have been suffering with in the $0.27 to $0.49/kwh range. They will have an entirely different persepctive on the gas vs electricity thing. I like the Bluestar/NXR type of stove's wide-open cook-space on top and the ability to put an array of big pots and being able to put any pot anywhere. (I do six large events here plus holiday dinners for crowds so I find the wide space appealing and useful where it might not matter to others.) You can get something like that with the induction slide-ins (specifically the GE that alkvdb is considering and the Electrolux/Kenmores that stuck-out too far), but the cook-tops project out on the sides. This can make for issues of fitting and supporting the edges, and may add to the expense of putting in a new stove. (How's that for looping back to the original question?) All of the foregoing being said, I'm still very interested in induction. The paper-trick mentioned by herring_maven is a minor but appealing aspect of the easier clean up of induction. For me, the "cleaning" appeal of induction is not so much stove-top cleaning but that gas produces more vaporous goo which means more and more frequent cleaning of the range hood, the walls, cabinets and etc. Another appealing factor for me, living and cooking at an altitude of 6000 feet, is that electrical stoves are not affected by altitude the way gas stoves are. All of the considerations go into a mix that can make one's head trying to sort out all the choices. A friend of mine said she was thinking of just buying buy a Vita-Mix blender, making smooties out of raw food, and just skipping "the whole stove thing." Here is a link that might be useful: Info on guestimating electrical vs. gas appliance operating costs

New organic way is to understand each rose rather than blindly spray it with Bayer like ARS recommends. In my alkaline clay with pH near 8, roses grafted on Dr.Huey are quite healthy ... Dr. Huey's root secret plenty of acid to release potassium from rock-hard clay. Saw the neighbor with Angel Face (grafted on Dr. Huey), tons of blooms, and 100% healthy for many years. But multiflora-rootstock is a blackspot-fest in my alkaline clay. Multiflora-rootstock doesn't secret enough acid to un-lock potassium in my hard-mineral-clay. Wimpy own-roots that don't secret enough acid isn't best for my heavy clay. I had a Kordes rose, Deep Purple as own-root which was 100% healthy in loamy & slightly acidic potting soil .. but broke out in blackspots when I put in my hard clay. New organic way is to understand that each rose is different in its need for different minerals. Dave and Deb Boyd, zone 5a, noted that Double Delight and Oklahoma have a higher need for iron. True, I put red-lava-rock (high in potassium & iron) on Double Delight, and it blooms lots. But red-lava-rock was a disaster for Betty White .. its white petals turned brown at the edges. New organic way is to understand that roses like a STABLE environment FOR HEALTH. 1) Stable moisture: After more than a week of no rain, I peeled off 2 inch. of alfalfa hay, in full sun ... the soil is soaking wet underneath, with tons of earthworm. I peeled off grass-clippings as mulch, decent moisture, but less than alfalfa hay. The driest spot is under 2 inch of wood-chips, and it was in shade !! Zero earthworms, soil is bone-dry like the wood-chips above. 2) Fluffy and loamy: I put various additives in many holes in October. Dug those holes today, June 29 .. that's after 9 months. The holes stuffed with leaves are moist and fluffy like chocolate cake. The holes stuffed with crack-corn (high magnesium) was fluffy at first, but corn's stickiness and high-magnesium glued up with my clay into concrete. The holes stuffed with woodchips is really dry and glued up with clay like concrete. The holes stuffed with alfalfa hay is soaking wet, but gluey & compact, due to alfalfa's high-magnesium & calcium. The holes with alkaline clay broken up with coarse sand and gypsum is very fluffy, lots of earthworm. 3) Stable pH: Clay has the best buffers (hard-minerals) to neutralize acidic rain. But loamy soil, like potting soil in my pots .. cannot buffer the acid in my fermented alfalfa-tea, nor too much acidic rain. I have to top my pots with alfalfa pellets and pea-gravel for their buffering capacity. Alfalfa at pH 5.8 is high in magnesium and calcium. Pea-gravel has pH of over 9, high in calcium & magnesium & potassium.

Hope it works out! Now that you have mastered Jim's bread and enjoying it, you might want to up-grade and try the Forkish pinch recipe. It is a bit sturdier and not much more effort. It can handle other grains. You can even use half for a Boule, then fridge the other half for dinner rolls, burger buns, pizza crust. It is also good the next day for a grilled cheese or toasted for soup. Freezes well. Jim's intention all those years ago was to bring a good loaf of bread easily into the home kitchen. Little advanced prep...no-kneed. Best warm and does freeze well for croutons for soups. Not the best next day. We don't find it great for tweaking and using other grains. Forkish bread can handle that. Especially soaking your grains for 12-24 hours. Letting them soak up any liquid needed to start the process becoming a plant. I often whiz in the blender to make a wet slurry before adding as a liquid ingredient.