I see a healthy looking catt in your picture. The pbulbs on this are normal - not all pbulbs are fat and juicy like the catt on the right. Your catt is a bifoliate so skinny pbulbs are normal. I do not see excessive shriveling on the pbulbs. Loss of leaves on the pbulb are probably from age. The purple coloration and the lighter yellow color on the one leaf is from high light, a good thing in a cattleya for maximum blooms. It has also previously bloomed so it is not a wee seedling needing years to bloom. Tape the one split leaf to make sure you keep it attached to the plant. It will continue to function for years even though it is half split. Tape it on the underside of the leaf if the sight offends you. IMO the two plants look V-E-R-Y healthy with very few blemishs on them except for the boo boo on the one leaf. Brooke

The Post Office loses mail frequently, but I thought the following article was an example of how bad they have been for many years OBERLIN, Kansas (AP) -- A postcard featuring a color drawing of Santa Claus and a young girl was mailed in 1914, but its journey was slower than Christmas. It just arrived in northwest Kansas. The Christmas card was dated December 23, 1914, and mailed to Ethel Martin of Oberlin, apparently from her cousins in Alma, Nebraska. It's a mystery where it spent most of the last century, Oberlin Postmaster Steve Schultz said. "It's surprising that it never got thrown away," he said. "How someone found it, I don't know." Ethel Martin is deceased, but Schultz said the post office wanted to get the card to a relative. That's how the 93-year-old relic ended up with Bernice Martin, Ethel's sister-in-law. She said she believed the card had been found somewhere in Illinois. "That's all we know," she said. "But it is kind of curious. We'd like to know how it got down there." The card was placed inside another envelope with modern postage for the trip to Oberlin -- the one-cent postage of the early 20th century wouldn't have covered it, Martin said. "We don't know much about it," she said. "But wherever they kept it, it was in perfect I hope it doesn't take 93 years for my Secret Santa package to arrive! LOL Linda

They came to install them yesterday and installed the washer only and on the left. DH was home. I asked him to ask if they could install it on right if things reached, if they could drill a hole (and left a drill and hole saw). I think DH thought it was no big deal and didn't ask. I got home just before they were leaving and that's the impression I got. They were unable to install the dryer because I didn't have the right outlet. My fault. We used to have an electric dryer, so I didn't even check it. I didn't know there were different plug types for dryers. So they left it in front of it's home. I swear they said I could get an 'adapter'. I questioned if I could get it at HD and they said yes, HD/Lowe's. I stopped at Lowe's later and didn't see one. I checked HD/Lowe's/Amazon/internet-in-general and didn't see one. The guy at Lowe's said most people switch the cord. I nodded, smiled and said I'd go home and check which of the two 'old style' plugs I have, but I'm not doing anything to jeopardize the new dryer. I'll have someone out to change the outlet. The guys also said that they could switch them when they come back. The hose for the condenser on the dryer wouldn't be long enough to reach the trap if the dryer were on the right, but everything should be long enough to go back and forth if we put the dryer on the left. I didn't realize you could use it without that drain and just clean the condenser thing. Good to know. Also though, I don't see how the condenser hose will fit into the trap WITH the washer hose. Will do some research before they come back out. They're coming back because I still need the cabinet and electrical prepped for the speed oven. :( But loading the dishwasher is pretty awesome. :)

To Davidro1: Thanks. Yes I was clear about the 1/2" and in fact drove that point home on a few occasions. As for the corner, that's less of a big deal to me cause it only sticks out by approximately 1/8 of an inch. Still slightly annoying. Remember, when they put the new countertop in place, shoving it all the way in to the wall at first, there was NO overhang as there should have been (the 1/2" overhang I'd made so clear I needed beforehand). When they pulled the countertop back toward themselves (forward) to regain that half-inch and leaving a gap in the back, the bumped-out portions of the countertop (the areas I'll be working on the most) now had the proper 1/2" overhang but consequently (for a reason that eludes me) the non-bumped-out portions of the countertop became 3/4" (which is how now that little corner was sticking out a bit past the door trim). So there was inconsistency there for whatever reason. So to reiterate, I DON'T want it to come out any further and never did. Your above post suggests I wanted it to come out even further and hadn't thought things through. No, I only wanted it pulled out to the agreed-upon location which is not past the door trim (nor past the sink, which would look awkward, if all else was the same). He and I discussed all of this in great detail during measuring (and yes I was able to see w/ measuring tape that it would all work out if done right), which is part of where the disappointment comes from. As for the OP thing, I know what OP means in the context of a forum but because I hadn't asked for anything that would have resulted in the "small bit of counter sticking out on the RHS," I wondered if OP meant something else! In other words I'm wondering how what I wrote indicates a "strong clue that I hadn't thought about the overhang" (trying to understand the logic) - but I digress - it's no big deal at this point, other than a slight jab to the ego! ;) Oh and the other ego jab: I also know the various meanings of the word "one" (sheesh!) but just didn't understand who the heck you were referring to in this scenario! As for not measuring myself, I thought I'd like to but then I thought I might screw it up or complicate things. Since he told me before coming out the first time that he'd probably come back and do a template a second time if things weren't really easy, I didn't think I had anything to worry about. Leave it to the professionals, right? I'd learned to micro-manage up to that point (learned the hard way) and for once thought I could finally relax and let it go. So funny. That said, I really think it was a fluke. The guy seems pretty experienced, and it's an old, not perfectly even space. The reality is that it could happen to anyone, and that we all have our miscalculations/bad days.