Lou, I was given a kneeler for Christmas one year. When turned upside down, it is a low seat. It might be low enough, if stable enough, to get your butt up on so you do not have to scoot all the way into your house. You should make deep pockets for your apron. Short front pockets on women's jeans are a pet peeve. They always used to be deep enough. Now the pruners fall out. What gives? Also, although jeans pockets do eventually get holes at the tip from carrying tools, especially scissors, I just turn the tool upside down and keep going. The handle end is broad enough to not breech the hole. When tying up, the ball of twine goes in my left pocket. Since I start with the end of the twine from the middle of the ball, the twine feeds smoothly without rolling the ball around. Then the scissors go in my right pants pocket and I'm good to go all day. Diggers and pruners go in the right pants pocket. I can usually carry two out of three tools there as long as the clothes manufacturers aren't stingy and making short pockets. The left pants pocket carries dog treats to keep the puppy (12 years old) where she needs to be. I use a 10 gallon bucket (I think it held grout at one time) for tools. This is kept next to where I walk out the large garage door and so is easily picked from, especially since all tools, including a small landscape saw, are set in vertically. There are enough tools to keep everything upright. I seldom bring the whole bucket. I use other 5 and 10 gallon buckets, which all have handles that can be slung over the handle of the wheelbarrow or the handle of a shovel being carried over my shoulder, to carry fertilizer and a few plants that need planting or for picking weeds. Cath

What a great thread and since I've come out of my lurkdom here and have a fair amount of experience in packing seeds to trade/share, and have received seeds in, in a multitude of ways, I'll just add my 2 cents. I see there are certainly multiple ways and some consider one way to be the best, while others consider it to have cons. I don't think any one way is considerably better than another. As far as economical, the ones using pages from catalogs, or printer paper (new or used) are probably by far the most economical to make. What works well for one, might not work for another. What is economical (or considered to be) for one, might not be economical to another. Getting the seeds out of its packaging is yet another part of the equation. Resealing, if need be, is another part of the equation. There is patience (which I have little of) and time as well as convenience to be considered. I have and use the small zip lock baggies. They are found to be what works best for me. They are a little more than 2/3 cent each when I ordered 3000 of the the discounted Blue Line ones Here. Maybe Trudi has an even cheaper source, of ordering in bulk without having to order a million. This winter, I've pondered the problem of static electricity with certain seeds or with particularly tiny seeds like sedums and butterfly bushes. What I opted to do on those two are to wrap the seeds in a 4" square of tissue, folded and labeled, and then inserted in the zip baggie. Nice instructions and pics pitimpinai and monte. Thanks for sharing! I'm sure that many will benefit from them both. Now...you know my preferred way to pack the seeds that I send out and the cost, we'll move on to how I like to receive seeds packed. Like quilt said above, " I promise you if you send me a pack of seeds in a straw, an envelope, a zip lock baggie, a coin envelope, a bubble mailer, or a tin can I will throw them in dirt and water them just the same. " Whatever one chooses to send them in is fine by me. I do kind of like the zip baggies for bigger seeds, and either reuse or recycle them along with other plastic bags...yes I am OCD (or is it CDO?) when it comes to recycling. The brightly colored ones made from recycled catalogs always brighten my day when I see them. If the seeds are properly dried, I think that any kind of packaging is fine and not detrimental. #What is most economical for one person might not be to another person, variables being the purchase of zippies, coin envelopes, straws, printer paper, printer ink, stick on labeling of some sort. #What one prefers to pack in is indubitably not preferred by all, also for numerous reasons. As important as seed packaging is, I think that the labeling is of just as much or more importance, but that is maybe food for thought for another time and thread. Below is a pic of several of the packs of wonderful seeds I received in the 2009 WLOMWL swap. Lots of different packaging, and labeling. Something I had not seen before were glassine baggies and what looked like folded glassine. Both suited me fine/great because of what they contained. Happy gardening, collecting, sharing/trading, and dreaming of your 2010 gardens! Sue...rbb as Terenne said, "This thread is a great example of different strokes for different folks. I so agree. Oh...if you're still with me, my vote for the most economical ones would have to be those made from recycled paper. EEK...have I had too much coffee again? Sue...rbb and loquacious as usual. (kcqrna and monte, it was aliska12000 above that spoke of the rosary pliers in her post showing her potential seed sowing tools.)

$3500 is whole quote, installed. Second opinion guy came today, but the compressor was one big block of ice, so we have truned off the system and running the fan overnight and he will return in the morning. He did say though, that he would be shocked if it was a restriction in the coil. I have no idea what he is basing that on, but he sounded confident as he looked inside the unit. Not that it should matter, but the man today works for a company that deals in carrier products almost exclusively. Im hoping for the best, but mainly just want an honest appraisal of my situation. I will post tomorrow. -Mickey

Thanks, again, tigerdunes. Sorry if I am not making sense. I am trying to save operating costs, as well as installation costs, while still giving my house the option of gas or electricity because things fluctuate pretty wildly around here. We often run out of things like water, electricity, gas, common sense, all kinds of things! I found another propane company, for instance, that says I can buy from them a year in advance and lock in my propane costs at $2.30/gal. So I am meeting with them Monday. Yes, you have made me aware that for now electricity is my best bet and that I should try and get a good heat pump with variable speed compressor/blower. The Carrier package unit does this. And the HeatPump is SEER 15 which is pretty good.The only thing about it is that the furnace part is only 81% AFUE, which is a far sight better than what I have had and prolly wont get used much. To go to a split system with 96% AFUE would require me to build an outdoor room for the gas furnace and some fancy ductwork that I estimate would add $2500 to my install costs, to say nothing of the added cost of the 96%AFUE furnace itself. All to save a few percentage points on a gas backup furnace that will only be used a few weeks a year? I dont think that is wise. So thats my thinking here and what I am trying to accomplish. I have many concerns where I live, only one of which is efficiency. So you are saying that I should get the highest SEER variable speed HeatPump I can and get the gas furnace down the road if neccessary? I think thats what the fuel calc says at the moment. But propane is going down and electric from PG&E is going up. I expect to pay over .29cents/kwh next year and $2.30/gal propane. so because the fuel calc has them pretty close why not get both in one unit?