I remember when we were younger in Texas. We watched a big ole turtle walkin down the road towards Zeboes park. We walked along side it till it got to the main road then my twin sister and I each grabbed a side of the turtle's shell and picked it up. It just relaxed and enjoyed the ride. We heard a hissing when we first went to pick it up but after that it didn't make any noises at all. It was relaxed and non agressive at all. I suppose that is when I first fell in love with turtles. I have encountered a few agressive turtles but not many. I am very cautious of COOTERS tho. I am curious if that is a nickname for a certain type of turtle that is indigenous to South Carolina or if it is a real type of turtle? I guess I will just google it. I am not at all fond of water birds. Our experiences with water fowl has been more problematic than anything else. I have had ducks and geese chase and attack our daughters when they were toddlers. They would chase my daughters and take their bottles and any food they may have had in their hands or mouths. They have attacked my chihuahuas and my cats. I have seen small birds dive bomb my cats. Tho I must admit, it is quite comical to watch. Those little birds do damage to my four legged friends. I can't stand the bird droppings all over everything. Turtles are good. I could not imagine eating anything soooooooooo cute.

Back on topic - Lithuanian Crested Pink (LCP) My seed for this came from a trade with Steve "forgot his name but it's written on the packet" at least 7 years ago. I've been saving the seed from the largest, meatiest tomatoes with the smallest and fewest seed locules. Most of the time this is a wonderfully productive plant. Even cursed by the early blight this year, I had some productive, but not exemplary plants. ( I sprayed with copper sulphate at the first sign.) LCP is mild, sweet, fruity and my family loves it so it goes in every year, make as good addition to canned tomatoes because it has so few seeds. Wonderful salad: LCP sliced lengthwise, dress with 1:1 mayo: sour cream, thin with lemon juice, dill snippets, thin sliced red onion. My daughter and husband prefer Rose overall. I've mentioned this previously. Johnny's seeds of Maine advertised that Rose was better than Brandywine. I grew and ate both side by side - Rose won and goes in every year. It Also produced this year in spite of blight. The flavor is very fruity and you can tell when this is included in a sauce. I've saved seed for more than 10 years and have some fruits that have so few seed locules, they *almost* look seedless :-) New love this year: Coustralee - a keeper, big, flavorful, only drawback is the large, plentiful locules. I squish the seeds out before canning. Polish Pastel - like this one, productive, though it's a bit bland. Nice for canning since it is firm and keeps some shape. I think this may be unstable though, as one year the seed I planted had little resemblence to the yellow bell with pink highlights. John from Australia has not answered my email lately :-( Bless him for sharing this one with me. Tomatoes should not be political fodder - if you love one that does not mean the others are no good. It seems the different varieties are suited for different localities and weather conditions, different palates, personalities and uses. Peace through tomatoes. Back to lurk-land Maryanne in WMass

We bought entire suite of Viking Appliances 4 years ago. 36" dual fuel range replaced 3 times under warranty. Built in panal ready fridge replaced once. Built in dishwasher just had a pump replaced. Only 2 people live in the home. So glad I had extended warranty. Almost forgot the convection microwave replaced once and broke twice. I have no idea how reliable the other "premium brands" are. Appliances in the old kitchen were 25 years old still running.

They work great, if determined to use electric heating, absolutely the most efficient with exception to Geo thermal and Air HP's. Also the most comnfortable way to heat Here is a link that might be useful: Heres a popular brand