Kathy. I wish I could tell you its name -- I bought it 2 or 3 years ago at Growers Outlet right after the first Spring Trade my mom & I went to at Glynis'. This was one of those standard little 6" pot mini-roses. It's kind of hard to call this a mini-rose now when it's easily 3-4 feet in diameter & about 3 feet high. The other two I bought at the same time (different colors) are planted in other locations and are only about a foot in diameter so it's either a difference in varieties or the red one is just in a great location. It does get more water than the others because it's in a bed under the eave of the house and anytime we do get rain this bed gets soaked from roof runoff though that hasn't happened in a while. Normally the Japanese beatles hit when this thing is in full bloom and cover it, paying little attention to anything else in my garden. It always made the bush look less than stellar, but this year they're only just now starting to show up now that the bush is almost finished with the first flush. Maybe the freeze delayed the beatles in our area a little. Without this rose to attract them now I wonder what they'll turn their attention to next? That flush of blooms in the pic is actually almost gone -- that was taken a week or so ago and I need to dead-head now. I did root some babies of it so assuming I can keep them alive through this summer I can give you one at the next trade. Buford -- the weeds seem worse than ever here for some reason. I probably should add those onto the "what still looks good" list lol. Squirrellypete

OK, I'm back with more exciting pictures! First, so it doesn't get lost below -- marcolo -- I read installation instructions for a different one of these shower kits to get an idea of how they are installed, and they said do NOT use 100% silicone caulk. I don't know why. Also, it said NOT to caulk the interior where the frame base meets the pan, only the exterior seam. Why is that? Before I ripped this out, it was caulked (and coming loose) on both sides. Anyway, I decided to partially disassemble the shower frame to get a better idea of what is going on and how to fix it. Here's where I am now: First, as you can see, the wall panel was not plumb when it was adhered to the wall. That would be, of course, because they didn't level the pan when they put it in, so when they lined the wall panel up with the pan, it ended up crooked. Duh. Pretty sure whoever installed this never heard of a level. A closeup view shows it even better. The jamb (metal frame part that was screwed to the wall) only barely overlapped the wall panel by the time it reached the bottom. The screws at the top of the frame went through the wall panel, while the screws at the bottom did not. The pan is badly out of level in all directions (the other wall is even more out of plumb, sigh). Now we can see the state of the drywall underneath the panel... ...and it is really not good. Crumbling drywall and scary black stuff (mold?) extends several inches up behind the wall panel. Here's a little drawing I did showing how the studs/drywall/shower wall come together -- or don't, as the case may be. The studs are badly out of plumb too. Easy to see how the slightest gap in the caulk inside the shower meant water getting under the edge of the shower wall panel and wicking up into the green board. Sooo....now I'm not sure where to go next with this. One thought is to cut away (from behind) the edge of the drywall that is sitting down inside the pan, and then insert some kind of extra flashing behind the wall panel so that any water that got behind it would not get any further. Another would be to cut away all of the damaged drywall (several inches) and patch it, adding flashing as in the first option -- again, this would be from behind. No, I don't exactly know how I would do that, but maybe there's a way to McGyver it. ;) I could try to remove the wall panel (it seems to come away from the green board pretty easily), replace the studs (they are not plumb either) and all the green board, and re-adhere the wall panel. The studs are only there to support the shower wall. This could help solve the fact that the wall flexes where it doesn't meet the studs. The risk of course is that I could break the wall panel, and then I'd really be in trouble. Also, I'm not sure how easy it would be to get just the one panel out without having to take the corner and the other panel as well. Removing only the one panel wouldn't address the other wall of the shower which doesn't seem to have leak problems (probably due to the slope of the pan and the fact that the shower head is on that wall) but I would not be surprised to find water damage to that side as well. And of course there's always the chance this is just a complete waste of time and I will have to bite the bullet and replace this shower kit with another. I don't think there's any way to get the pan leveled, and the fact that it's not level really throws the rest of the installation off. I'm not clear on whether removing and leveling the pan would mean having to do something with the drain height, which might be outside of my DIY abilities (though I do have a great plumber I could call). I'm just not too confident this shower can be made watertight enough to not leak into the room beneath. I haven't even shown the issues we have with the seal thingy at the bottom of the door, where water can easily leak out onto the bathroom floor, and I know that if a good bit of water ends up on the floor, that alone can mean a leak downstairs -- water that goes under the baseboard pretty much goes right on through the subfloor. Any advice at all would be very much appreciated. As is my usual habit, I decided to dig into this problem while my husband is out of town, and I'm going to be nobody's favorite person in my house if I don't restore this bathroom to working order pretty soon! (The other shower is in the basement, and none of us really likes using it -- plus it's the same shower kit and I'm betting it isn't installed any more accurately than this one was!)

Good morning Farmhousegirl, You wrote: " Kitchen will be timeless feel, painted inset cabinets, soapstone or marble countertops, and farmsink." Sounds lovely! And with so many options in ranges you will have to do a bit of research. Are you sure you want popular? Or perhaps a range for your style. Are you looking for function over form? Something to go with your country style or something that cooks the way you want it too. How big is your space for the range? What is your budget? I know you price is not a problem but is there a target you would like to stay in? Lacanche is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy over my budget but I love them. They function beyond fantastically and they fit right into the style you might be looking for with your kitchen idea. My favorite range Lacanche is the Sully 1800 in deft blue only $15,000. Of course I went and had children and that is only a semester's tuition for the oldest. No Lacanche for me : ( Here is a picture. A Bosch. It is not my favorite but it is my favorite in my price range. I love it. And DH loves German cars so of course had to have a German range. (I attached an old GW link about my pros and cons) Here is a picture of the Bosch. $2500 BlueStar $5548.00 aprox price A star in the kitchen. Bertazzoni $4000 aprox price. My younger sister has one of these in her kitchen. It is way out in California and I rarely get to CA so I have no idea how it REALLY works. She is a baker that was her focus on a range. My older sister has her entire kitchen with Wolf/Viking. I wish I could say this is the best for cooking but the truth is my older sister could cook on a bunsen burner. ANd yes, it would taste like the barefoot contessa cooked it. Wolf Her's is bigger $4500 Viking $5000 I can not stand the GE Cafe. (Gosh I hope I am not offending anyone) I was all set to get the GE cafe and when I saw it in person it was not at all what it appeared. Clunky and ready to fall apart. The grates did not look like the fit. I would not buy one but there are some on GW who rave about how great. Not a fan of GE. GE Cafe $4000 Again the question of HOw do you cook comes into play? My best friend has an induction and loves it. The induction is the greatest invention in the kitchen. I have heard nothing negative about them. Here are a few images that might have you rethinking your space and how you cook. If you are a baker you might need the double ovens and the induction top might be a way to go too. This is not my bestfriend's kitchen but it could be. It is a GW clipping. Notice how the country cabinet style fits nicely with the induction. Function and form! Aga cooker $18,000 Here is a link that might be useful: Tell me why you love your range? Posted by susanilz5

I wouldn't say it's been recent. If you look at the mutual fund business 30 years ago, most funds were one-off operations, most focused in specific investment types, but always trying to produce better returns than competing funds. Investors came to realize (as you mention) that many rock-star managers produced returns no better than, and often worse than, broad indexes that could be used for comparisons. That was the start of index funds - no reason to try to beat the index, just buy the index. Index funds require minuscule management effort - incoming and outgoing shareholder money needs administration, fund holdings need to be rebalanced when the members of an index are changed, but otherwise, not much so that fees can be lower. At the same time, Vanguard decided to take a different course. They were formed as an investor-owned operation (like a mutual insurance company) so that there was no need for a profit element, fees only need to cover costs. Vanguard's performance among funds has been as good or better than many, and the low cost profile puts pressure on other funds to follow suit or risk becoming unattractive to potential investors. Vanguard started in 1975 but its popularity has been reached over the last 15-20 years.