BJ - how nice I stop by and see you shouting for me. You make me feel loved. I am crossing my fingers for you and the inspection on Monday. Suzanne - thanks for the email, it is nice to be missed. We had rain yesterday and this morning. Boy do we need it. Marita - of course you are welcome to join us. Welcome! Trekaren - I hope all works out with your eye issue. Keep us updated. McPeg - good to see you posting too. I was just about to post asking where you have been. Jan - droopy drawers - you are making us look bad. Congrats on your loss - you are an inspiration to me. Milkdud - you sound as busy as ever. Silversword - It is nice to be able to walk to the store especially in your beautiful CA weather. I am involved in an Adirondack Chair auction and although it is a lot of fun it has been consuming all my "free" time. I just hung all my paintings in my friends barn gallery and I am organizing our July sidewalk art show. The Chamber of Commerce has had meetings every week since I became a director and I am gearing up at work for the summer season, so that is where I have been. Our friends from FL just arrived and we will be doing dinner tonight and hopefully get a boat ride in at some point over the weekend, although the temps aren't suppose to go past the 60's. I will try not to be a stranger.

Can't this be said of Trump supporters too? Look at any depressed area of the country where jobs have disappeared. Have they prepared themselves for changes in technology that eliminated factory jobs? Did they get a college education or training to prepare themselves for today's jobs? Did they even graduate high school? Have they been willing to move away from depressed areas? Have they turned to drugs and alcohol? Had children they can't afford? Trump is their knight in shining armor who's going to bully the world into making them love us again. I was trying to speak about the Hispanic community and to some degree the African-American community due to personal experience, what I've learned in discussions with my wife who is from the South, and endless readings on economic and political issues. So yes there are some Trump supporters that may see a knight in shining armor. I would say the same thing to them. Without going back to re-read what I wrote earlier, I think freedom and independence in all facets is what is great about this country. I don't want to be an economic slave to some politician, whether that's Clinton or Trump. I don't need affirmative action or a government handout, no thank you. I'll compete on my own and give anyone a run for their money on my own. If I don't get a job, I don't complain it must've been racism. I go get another skill or credential. I have an internal locus of control and it's great! It's empowering! At the risk of repeating myself, this country is a magnificent place. I am one of the most blessed human beings on this Earth and money plays only a small part of that statement. I am one generation removed from abject poverty where corruption (sorry to say, so similar to what we see happening on the left today) nearly guarantees a permanent underclass. Which by the way, that underclass competes for our manufacturing jobs for 20 cents on the dollar. In similar ways, the corruption , enslavement, and political servitude that my parents fled is now increasing in this country. That saddens me as a very proud American. One of the greatest inspirations in my life are my dad and mom. My father came to Los Angeles as a 5 year old not speaking a word of English. There wasn't nearly the support there is for non-native speakers. Nevertheless my father made it through high school, through lots of racial unrest (particularly with Latino and Black tensions), through racism and never did they take government assistance. My father stayed away from drugs and the gangs which he says were all over. It's a part of my family history that I don't forget. I drive by the house where my father was raised. And I drive into the cul-de-sac where I lived until I was 4 years old. And honestly it's emotional for me. So much sacrifice has been made by my parents to help me get where I am at today. My mother's father was murdered when she was 2. Even in the third-world country where she lived, she was able to fight for an education, didn't mess around with men (avoiding teenage pregnancy that is almost guaranteed in her homeland), and focused on studying accounting. She shares stories of how poor they were that they often had only had one egg to split with the 5 siblings for breakfast. She shares that she had to use candlelight to do homework because electricity would be cut off after 7 or 8 pm. It's these stories that make me realize, anything is possible with hard work in this country. No, the white man is not trying to keep me or my sons down. No my white CEO is not trying to keep my wages down because I'm Hispanic. There is opportunity all over the place! And this great country made that possible. But I don't look for government to grant me my success. The freedom to work hard is there for everyone. That is the principle I am raising my kids with. Trying to bring this back to gardening, I do share this with my kids. I have a lot of plants on a mere 8000 square foot lot. Blueberries, peaches, nectarines, citrus, apple trees, and a struggling persimmon tree and a Kishu Mini (overwatering maybe the problem). And its sometimes a pain to keep it under control but I do. And my kids notice the hard work that it takes to reap rewards from my investment. And I love it. We believe in a reap and sow world. It has paid dividends in my life and my wife's (who ironically comes from a similar background but definitely had more challenges than I did). My son has a friend who lives across the street. The mom is single. In fact she has 3 kids each with different fathers. God bless her she has done as good of a job as she can. Her kid is a good kid. But you know what that kid says to my kids? Vote for Clinton because my mom says I'll get free college. The contrast is my kids hear that college is a good option and that we are saving for it so that when the time comes, the money is there. It's two polar viewpoints and its not unlike what we see in the adult world. And by the way, I tell my kids, don't ever look at a politician as the solution to your problem. I encourage them to find the solution within themselves. I truly believe it's that paradigm that can help the poor climb out of poverty and the vicious cycles that perpetuate it. I'll share one more thing. I work in a typical corporate environment. I talk to everyone from upper management to security guards and the janitors. I really enjoy talking to this one security guard who is making minimum wage because he allows me to hear a very different perspective. He is an immigrant from a country where socialistic leanings have destroyed opportunity. It's a country where man of their taxi cab drivers are college-educated but cannot find work in their fields. Without me sharing my viewpoint on politics, he opened up about the election and said he gets angry at Hispanics because we should know better. We have fled countries like Venezuela and Cuba. My parents fled a country with one of the highest murder rates in the world (even compared to war zones! How is that even possible!). The utopian projects have failed so he says why do we come here and try to bring the principles of our failed homelands here! It was brilliant. That day I shared with my friends and coworkers, that he so eloquently describe my frustration with my own. It really frustrates me and frankly I'm not sure there is anyway to get most of them to get this major point. We must stop looking to government to fix our problems. It takes sacrifice and determination and the ability to fight temptations (like sex at 14 or 16 or blowing every penny you earn on cable tv, $100 phone plans, $600 phones, and new cars you can't afford). Well, the end of this race is near which means more time to garden! God Bless America.

8" overhang for seating at counter height is very very uncomfortable. Ask me how I know. I wouldn't do less than 15" of overhang for counter height seating and less than 12" for bar height seating.

I am a fabricator ... and an engineer. Brackets are a good idea even with quartz if the overhang is 12" or more. To evaluate the quality of the design think of putting a board across the support points and then standing on it. If it doesn't deflect it's good. Flat steel brackets that are tied into a substantial cabinet structure can be OK if they are at least 1/4". Again you need structure that doesn't deflect and a 1/4" thick by 2 or 3" wide steel bar is pretty stiff. Wood corbels can also be OK but they require an adequate cabinet structure for mounting. A competent fabricator will know all this.