Ewalk: Thanks for the tip on "the Chainsaw Collector's Corner online", I'll check it out. Very interesting info in the note: 1. My father told me hard wood would split easier after it freezes. 2. This will be the 3rd season to use the nice splitter given to me. I thought they were too slow initially but almost a must now. LOL 3. "Iron Wood" is what I have heard Mesquite wood called. We have plenty of it in this general area and West and South of us. It's a choice wood for BBQing/Grilling for flavor vs heat (I mix pecan and mesquite for flavor). I was warned not to burn it straight in a fireplace because it burns too hot and will cause damages. I was guaranteed it would not hurt my fireplace. Burning one load of mesquite proved them wrong and they had to replace the two 30" sections of chimney pipe. When I have excess mesquite I'll put one log in with oak or pecan w/o a problem. We could be talking about a different wood because mesquite is plentiful in the Dry Plain Areas vs around moisture here. Plus they are basically small trees with dangerous thorns on them. Willow trees are our trees that grow close to water. They are soft and not good to burn but will after they dry-out. Cedar does not grow to any size here. I have not heard of it being burned here due to rosin as pine but not due to size. Bodoc (?) wood was one I learned the hard way on not to burn in an open fireplace due to excessive poping and sparks going across the room. Elm is a plentiful fair burning wood here. I have seen some suppliers mix it with oak for sale when the oak supply is low. Related attachment: loger http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesquite

I like to freeze each portion individually. In this manner if I want something and Jan or a guest wants something else, we can each get what we want without having any leftover waste. When I first began this process I did not have a Seal-a-Meal so I used Saran Wrap and forsome items like the twice baked potatoes I still use Saran Wrap because my Seal-a-Mael has a small vacuum pump that pulls the air out of the package. The problem here is that it also sucks the packaging down and flattens the appearance to much. Just make sure you cut the Saran Wrap large enough that you can wrap two layers. Rice & Pasta is simple. Just measure out a portion, drop it in a freezer bag, let it cool to room temp and pop in the freezer. You can then heat it in the microwave in seconds, open the pack and dump it on the plate. When making spaghetti you can put a portion of pasta in one bag and a portion of sauce in another. Heat them both in the microwave, dump the pasta on a plate, open the sauce pack, dump that on top and serve. Make a little side salad with a vinegarette, put a container of breadsticks on the table and perhaps a glass of wine, and dinner is served. Meatloaf is super easy. First make the meatloaf, then let it rest & cool. Even overnite in the fridge is fine. Once its cool and firm you can cut 1/2" thick slices, then put one or two slices in a bag & freeze. Later reheat in the bag to retain moisture, then dump it on a plate. Careful here. At my house the meatloaf seems to dissapear. I think its the midnight fairies robbing the freezer to make sandwiches.....LOL. Now before I give you my recipee for stuffed/baked chicken breast I have one small bone to pick with most ladies. Over the years I have had opportunity to cook in many ladies kitchens and invariably I find three essential items missing; a good meat tenderizing hammer, Commercial Salt Free Soup Base and corn starch. Notice, I said a "good" meat tenderizing hammer. A good meat tenderizing hammer has two pointed waffle faces. A course face on one end and a finer face on the opposite end, but what is even more important, it should have a smooth surface on the sides. The weights vary from about 2oz to nearly 10oz, but I find that a 3 to 4oz head works best. STUFFED BAKED CHICKEN BREAST- I buy my chicken breasts in bulk packs when they are on sale, and when I cook them I usually make about 12 to 18 portions at the same time. (I usually buy skinless & boneless, but if I find a good deal on breasts with bone & skin I can easily remove the skin and debone them). Lay a skinless/ boneless chicken breast on your cutting board with the skin side down, cover with a layer of Saran Wrap, then beginning in the middle of the breast and working outward around the breast, pound lightly with the smooth side of your meat tenderizing hammer. The idea is to pound it down to about 1/4" thick and spread out to about an 8" diameter. Make up a small pot of Stove Top stuffing and put a scoop of the stuffing in the center of the flattened chicken breast. Now fold all the sides up and place in a shallow 10x18 baking dish with the open sides down, and continue making the breasts until you have the dish full. Fill the dish about 1/2 full of chicken broth then sprinkle the smooth round tops of the breasts with a bit of Paparika & parsley flakes to add color, cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake in a moderate oven (350degF) for about 30min then remove the foil and back a bit more until you get a light browning on the top of the breasts. Allow the breasts to cool to room temp then lift out and individually wrap for the freezer. And now a word about "Soup Base". Soup base is a product that appears like boulian but I find boulian way too salty for my taste. Soup base is made in Chicken, Beef, Pork & Ham flavoring and is primarily used as the base to make cooking stock or gravy. To make the chicken broth make a small pan of boiling water and add the soup base until you get the desired strenght of broth. (I just do it by eye, but I would guess its about 3tablespoons per pint of water.) To make a quick gravy, begin by making the soup base, then mix a couple tablespoons of cornstarch in 4 to 5oz of cold water (NOTE-cornstarch does not blend well in hot water, it will instantly form nasty lumps) With the broth still at a low simmer slowly add some of the corn starch water and wish briskly. The broth will begin to thichen into a gravy. Continue adding the cornstarch and wisking until you get the desired thickness in your gravy. When I serve the chicken breasts I serve with a baked potatoe and drizzle a bit of the chicken gravy over both the breast and the potatoe. I will tell you ahead of time, it is becoming very difficult to find the soup base. You may find it in some of the high end grocery stores, and on rare occassions they may have it at a walmart super store, but don't count on that. One good place to look for it is in a meat market that has retail sales and also supplies meats to local restaruants. The last time I bought it I had the chef at a local motel/conention center get it for me from his commercial purveyor. The soup base comes in a small glass or plastic jar about 3" in diameter and about 3-4" high.

When I have to deal with a new brand of pine bark I divide it into four parts: below 1/8, above 1/2, between 1/8 and 1/4 and between 1/4 and 1/2. This gives me an idea as to the relative composition of the bark. If I end up with 1/2 a bag of the pieces between 1/8 and 1/4, I consider it to be reasonable. Ideally, there will be less of the small and the big ones. If there is too much of the small ones then the 511 mix will too water retentive. If there is too much between 1/4 and 1/2 then the 511 mix will be too airy. 511 mix asks for dust to 3/8 and since I do not have a 3/8 screen I do the above procedure for a new brand to judge whether I can just screen above 1/2 and get away with it. If not I will mix the different parts to approximate it. For this I generally go by the feel. I usually do not do the above for annuals. Only for potted plants that are in for the long haul.

I don't generally comment on layout posts because I'm not qualified at all in house design. But I have learned a bunch from reading others comments about what might work and what might not work. Assuming this works with your site, I like this plan mostly. As far as stock plans go, it seems like one of the better ones. A few comments that I do have but are pretty minor.... 1) I think the entrance from the garage will be quite functional. You have a locker/cubbie space to drop coats, shoes, bags, etc. A closed off coat closet for bulkier and lesser used coats and this could be your guest closet. And the pantry is accessible from the kitchen. 2) The kitchen layout needs work but I think its placement in the house is OK. I'd seriously consider a 'drop zone' area for mail, keys, and other assorted stuff that gets dropped on my kitchen island daily. Maybe where the refrigerator is. You need to tweak the whole kitchen layout to make it more functional. 3) I'd put more windows in the dining room...on the left side so you have light from all 3 sides (including the door to the back). I'd actually consider replacing the dining room door with a window. It looks like the whole wall of the great room is full of doors, so do you really need another door? 4) Will you really use that screened porch? Seems like its in a location that won't have great views and kind of looks like an after thought. Plus if you can get rid of the door from the dining room, that opens up more kitchen layout options. 5) Put more windows in the master bedroom. On all the walls you can. 6) The laundry room isn't very big and those 2 doors limit the space even more. I don't have any better suggestions, but maybe a whole tweak of the powder room, laundry and master bath space could fix it? 7) Do you need a 2nd fireplace in the Living room? 8) Full disclosure, I'm not a fan of 2 story great rooms or foyers. If you put a ceiling in the great room, you'd end up with a great bonus room upstairs. Don't know if you have kids or not but that would be a great space for a toy/play room. I've got 2 kids with a bonus room upstairs in our house I don't know what I would have done without it! I think your great room can still be quite 'great' with the walls of doors on both sides and make it 10' foot ceilings. Good luck!