When fresh from a pepper or tomato, the float test is a good way to sort out the best seeds. The majority of the sinkers are good, the majority of the floaters are not so good. That doesn't mean that all of them will not grow. Many pepper floaters will grow but sometimes not as quickly. Depending on how many of the seeds I have, I may or may not use the floaters. Once dried many seeds will float. Peppers especially will usually float. It doesn't mean they are bad. I often like to soak them for a few hours before planting. I think it speeds germination some, especially on older seeds. Many of the pepper seeds are still floating after the soak and germinate just fine.

My grandmother always said, "It's just good clean dirt." & I my own self have noticed that, of all the cousins in my family, the healthiest ones are the ones who ate dirt, got slobbered on by dogs, & lived in houses where the windows were often open. One of my cousins was considered at the time to be the lucky one; his parents had *central air conditioning* in their house, so no extremes of temperature, he was always immaculately clean, his mother's one pet cat wasn't apt to get close to him, & there was no dirt visible on their St Augustine-covered lot. For his entire life, he's had asthma & allergies & a sensitive stomach.

Forgot to add - I told some of you i would be sending you cuttings and various seeds. I don't want you to think that i've forgotted, it's just that i am hesitant about sending them for fear that they will be damaged by the cold.

I can't stop playing with the ceiling in this one. I sort of like a cathedral tray in this room. After removing the Tuscan detail on the columns, I am not sold that it is an improvement. I think they were used because the house was built in the post-modernist period and any house that is designed to be contemporary to its time (versus a historical recreation) is going to be influenced by the period. No matter what the primary style is. This is why there are light fixtures that are Deco and Colonial Revival at the same time. These two houses were designed by Venturi, Scott-Brown Associates. The house in Stony Creek was designed by Steven Izenour specifically. These are strongly post modernist and the columns here are caricatures, really. The fireplace in the Stony Creek house is a single fat column. Anyway, the house above took period influences. In Architectural Record there is a discussion of the removal of the "columns" on one side of the Stony Creek house. It improves the view but it also strongly dilutes the façade. And the cathedral-tray: