Tom123, I never know how long the party last but you can stop after the game is over at the house, we will be happy to spend some time with you...and yes, you can drop the plants before 11, looking forward to see you on Saturday! Kathy, I am sorry that you can't make it to the party, maybe next time. Thank you for the good wishes and I will send the artichoke seeds in the mail... Silvia

hey andi jr's birthday this weekend.. i am a little jammed for time.. so bear with me ... if i understand.. all you want is spigot extension across a long area?? yes??? i recall the post you mention.. but SEARCH function has not worked ... any recollection of a title??? .. but the pix are dated 2008 .. so it might be long gone from GW ... i suggest.. that you work with one inch black pipe ... to cover ground.. probably cheaper than hose.. and will last forever.. but if you want hose .. so be it.. pix below of the spigot extension ... any metal stake can be pounded into the ground ... it does not have to be a fence post ... i gave this to the neighbor.. so off the house.. they have a Y, so they can still use the house spigot .. and down 100 feet to the back of the yard.. and across 50 feet.. they have old hose ... to the bottom of the gizmo ... i suggested to them.. they buy new hose for use.. and dedicate old hose to the system ... bigboxstore sells hose in bulk.. make your own lengths ... this is NOT a pressure system.. so it gets turned off at night ... not left on forever ... and of course.. must be uncoupled and drained for winter ... that is my house and garden behind ... ken

OMG, Ellie! Sending up prayers for your besieged cousin! Elly's bout with uterine cancer, last September, was the absolute scariest thing she & I have ever been through! Whenever I actually thought about it, while Elly was away up north in Springfield for eight days (with her mother, sister and brother, while I remained here with our autistic son), to have her uterus removed, etc., I would personally become physically ill. - God bless and comfort you all!

UPDATE: The manager sent someone out (crazy thing is that they wanted to send the original installer? HUH...I specifically requested someone else, afterall how unbiased could the original guy be? I can hear it now...UM GEE MAAM, I really did do a crappy job, what a mess, I dont know what I was thinking to leave your kitchen in this state, I should have stayed in bed that day") anyway, they apparently attempted to reach him and couldn't so they sent a different guy. Who agreed, that this guy left it a mess. He was very efficient and proficient at "fixing" the hack job the other guy left. No new countertops, but without doubt much better. this new guy showed me the paperwork (which was a print out of all the communication from all parties on this "escallation" and what's ironic is that the original guy was finally reached by them and he reported that he did the cutting at the request of the store and ME and that he told ME that HE normally doesn't do this type of work, but I INSISTED that he do it anyway, so that I could get the stove put in. YA RIGHT...he did admit that he should have sanded the cabinets down, but didn't etc. anyway, he lied and he made a liar out of one of the store manangers who very confidentally proclaimed that his installers are qualified to do the cabintry work. I think this guy will not be getting all the referrals from them too much longer. I found out that Best Buy charges the contracting company $500 a day for these types of things...until they are resolved. So they were on it like greased lightening. Well anyway, here are some after pics. The pic of the front right edge which was cut way too deep, we used quickwood on it and IRL, it actually blends much better, it's a pinkish beige color very close to the counters. He put in place also the laminate counter top edges (precut for such an application) and that will seal off the counter from the inevitable water, grease etc from the stove. it was not a match, but it does help it blend better with the stove AND I told the guy it just might become my inspiration colors to use when/if I attempt to repaint the counters. NOW, I need to touch up the paint on the cabinet bases and change out the knobs and search for a new paint color and then consider what materials/paint I can get from SW before their 25% off sale ends :)