Hi Bill. Thanks again. My comment about water proofing meant to be about cmpman's method using regular light bulb as heat source. So I dont want the water to get on the bulbs. I may also visit the drugstore and look for shoulder heating pads, if the stuff is cheaper. I can germinate my peppers first then do the tomato seeds after that. I have a 48" shop light wit two T8 tubes. I might get another one to hang side by side, if needed. Costs about 20 bucks with the tubes. No. I am not into germinating in paper towel and coffee filter in plastic bags. I have tried it before. It works but just too primitive. I want to do it like the REAL pepper growers , like yourself , do it. LOL INTENDED GERMINATION SET UP Another Thought: How about germinating on the top of the shoplight. Got to make a water proof tray that just barely touching the shoplight but not sitting on it. I will do a pilot teast to see how it works. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Added ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I am monitoring the temperature on top of shoplight ( w/ two T8 tubes) Direct contact temperature stabilized around 105F, at them room temperature of 72F. I figure with a tray (almost touching it) cannot get any hotter than 85-90F. I can always cushion it to lower temperature the This post was edited by seysonn on Fri, Oct 25, 13 at 2:17

Where do I start? Yes I am very busy. The weekend was a HUGE success. We have to have one girls! I cannot wait to have one with all of us. I have just been friends with these ladies since Aug. & have met 4 of them. I have only met 2 of you IRL. Yes, I've talked to many more over the phone & seen many pics but then I've seen many pics of my other friends too. Especially since it is scrapbooking. LOL We did some shopping, went out to eat, let the kiddos swim at the waterpark, took lots of pics, did a little sleeping, and generally enjoyed each other's company. Dave came & spent a little time on Sunday too. He already knew 2 of the women so he met the 3rd one. This is a busy month of birthdays for us. So I've been busy doing birthday cards, pages about our adventures, sympathy cards, Mother's Day cards, and such. We've had trips to the commissary, VA, & tomorrow the Renaissance Fair on top of visiting the friend who had his cancer surgery & is in the hospital. We had the resident's association meeting, quilting show, shopping with the girls, & I'm organizing still. So that's been my week. Milkdud~[[[[Larry]]]] Hope you get good news. Glad you are staying so busy & that you are enjoying TOPS so much. My Mom's sis did that with great success for a while. NH Suzanne~Love hearing about the BB. We have had so many birds here this winter. I thought perhaps it was b/c we are so much colder than normal. Many, many more nests it has seemed to us. This would be the ______ in particular that I'm speaking of. If I don't think of it, I'll have to ask Dave what I'm trying to think of. He is off doing clothes right now. BJ~I hope you enjoy your time off the island & that you have better luck with the house this time. Can't wait to hear about Baby V. Little Sweetie Pie deserves to have a good home. Raeanne~The art show sounds divine. I can't wait to see the pics. I know Dave will be interested too especially since it is the Adironack chairs. Wodka~I'm thrilled you are going to Chicago. I've only been in the airport. It was cold. LOL I had to do a 4 hour layover from Orlando to Dallas. IDK, doesn't make sense to me? I know it is a little late but I always take out the honey, lemon, & tea when my throat is hurting. That seems to take care of it right away. Besh~Glad Zoe is doing well. Shopping, yes!! Fun, fun, fun. Well, I hope you have a great weekend. My friend is supposed to take pics of her friend having a baby & she is being checked by the dr so we may have to wait until Sunday to go to the Ren Fest but whenever we go, it will be a great time. Have a good one! Patti :-) Gretchen~I never did hear back from you so should I gather that you decided not to be part of the un-birthday group?

That average price appreciation you mention - 4% (don't know whether it's true but I'll assume it is) doesn't cover the cost of owning a house. Basic rule of thumb is a house costs about 10% of cost/value (which may be very different these days) annually. You have to count the cost of debt (or the money you're not making on any equity you have in the house) - taxes - maintenance - repairs - etc. On my part - I like to own. I tend to stay in places for a long time (3 places since 1973) - and I don't want some landlord telling me I can't do this - that - or the other thing. But my husband and I live off our investments (we're retired) - and the idea that our places have been "investments" - as opposed to "consumption items" is kind of laughable to me. About the only person I know who got a big bang for his buck in residential real estate was my father. Who bought prime waterfront property in south Florida in the 60's. A 4 year old 2200 sf foot house for under $70k. He sold it at the height of the real estate boom (November 2005) for $1.5 million - after doing virtually no work on it for almost 40 years (he wasn't a real estate genius - my mom died that year). It was a tear down - and the new 5000+ sf houses going up around him were in the $2-4 million range. Of course - all of that came to a halt with the building bust (this is our third since we moved to Florida in the 70's). FWIW - our house is worth maybe $600k. It's 15 years old. And will probably need a new roof - a paint job (interior and exterior - have done interior before but it will need a "redo") and new flooring in about 5 years. I think we'll be lucky to do this for less than $50-75k (new roofing codes in Florida are very very expensive in terms of compliance). But we'll have to. Not because we'll want to - but because we don't want our house to start falling apart. Fun job - no. Essential job - yes. And I'd never spend $50k redoing our kitchen. Robyn

I use an electric heating pad and my husbands tenz machine (better than the DR Ho one, he got his from WCB years ago). Works like a charm. I have degenerative disc disease in my upper spine/neck and a torn muscle in my shoulder. I think I also damaged my rotator cuff at work hauling milk (if you're on my FB page, you know all about our seniors day, or as we call it: Milk Day). I was in so much pain this week. I used my husbands CBD oil two nights in a row (relief within 15 minutes) and the heating pad and tenz machine last night. Still a little sore but not like I was. If I do use a rub, I like Voltaren as it's not scented. I can get some RX Voltaren from work if I whine enough. lol They'll just put a little in a jar and let me take it. It's called Diclo. Love the stuff.