Just curious - how did you determine 200 gallons per month indoor water use? That is extremely low water usage. As stated above, that is one flush per person per day plus one short shower per week per person, plus one load of laundry per month and one load of dishes per week. If this is metered, I would suspect the meter, unless you shower at the gym, eat out every meal and take the laundry to a cleaner. The smallest practical softener would be 0.75 cubic feet. If your water usage is truly tiny, that is as small as I would go to ensure you still get adequate flow into your home. However, since you have a larger home and jacuzzi tub, it would be better to account for the possibility of using more than one bathroom at a time or using other water when the tub is filling - a one cubic foot softener would fit your home. The initial expense is not substantially different between the two, but the larger softener would use about 6 more pounds of salt per month. When you call around looking for a softener: 1. Try some locals - that way you have service after the sale. See who your neighbors use. 2. If you are handy, you can also order online, but then you are the service tech. 3. A gravel under-bed is required 4. A top distribution basket is a good idea. 5. Noryl bypass is required. 6. 10% crosslinked resin is required for good life with chlorine in the water. 7. Plumb the softener with an extra bypass around it so that it may be removed entirely, if necessary, without disrupting water flow to your home. 8. Use a Fleck or equivalent softener. Plumbing size of 1" or larger, go with a Fleck 7000sxt, 3/4" go with a Fleck 5600sxt. 9. I recommend avoiding softener companies with "proprietary" valves and equipment - these are just more expensive to repair and parts are more difficult to obtain when necessary. Can you fill the hot tub and/or pool with softened water? It would make the treatment of those easier, particularly the hot tub. If this is possible and desirable for you, then I need to know the flow rate at which you can fill them. Timing how long it takes to fill a 5 gallon bucket will do nicely. You answer to this question could change the above recommendation.

Don't get in a panic....I couldn't see any of my posts and the time wasn't recording if someone responded to a post so GW did a test and thought it was my browser....after 2 days everything was back to normal. Jean

Another oldie but goodie (approx. 15" wide x 12" high): Very special as I batiked this myself using Procion dyes on silk & then quilted it: 28 yrs. ago. Was a sample for a wedding quilt for friends which I decided not to make for them after all. The grey/green had been a darker, brighter forest green but in the intervening yrs. it faded; interestingly the earth tones faded much less than the grey/green. Another older quilt, about 12-15 yrs. old when I was teaching myself to quilt. Sorry for the less than great picture quality, was taken w/ disposable camera.

Link works for me on my desktop. Looks great Pete! Thanks for the photos. I agree, there is something great about watching a tiny tree grow into something substantial. The majority of my plants started as puny mail orders. Only now have I started buying larger size plants and stretching my plant budget.