Status update: I put the pansies on the patio under the awning just after I posted. It was warm for a few days (early morning sun) but then we had snow. They did great. But I know they are cool weather plants anyway so I figured they would be okay. I will start to move the other hardy perennials out in the next few days. Again, on the patio under the awning. We are expected to stay above 40 until next week so I'll keep an eye and if it is getting too cold, pull them back in for a night or two. The tender ones (plus peppers and tomatoes) will have to stay inside for another couple weeks. I have hoop houses on my raised beds but I've had disasterous results putting things out there too fast. I think the patio is going to be the best. And it is somewhat sheltered from the wind. Most of the veggies I will direct sow in another 2-4 weeks in the hoop houses. That has worked extremely well other years. I tried winter sowing last year with limited success. I can assure you it was operator error though.

I am so upset by what I am reading and what I have experienced over the last 12 years .. I am in the process of two major kitchen remodels and have 6 more to complete before I have them all done. Based on what I am reading here and on the internet blogs, I have ended up unwilling to order ANY new appliances. Over the last 12 years the only things I have purchased that have had great customer service are my Jura Capressa coffee makers and my Tempurpedic mattressses. All other purchases have been major headaches or outright nightmares. I am at the point that buying anything at all literally makes me sick at my stomach (and this is not just because I am a guy who does not enjoy shoppping in general). I have noticed that I have become openly hostile to sales people in general. With very few exceptions, I have never met a "sales" person who had even the scant ethics of even a democrat politician. The fact that I am now expected to buy appliances from one of these ingenuine sociopathic sales types is so upsetting that I have my two kitchen remodels on hold. I have great inset all wood custom cabinets with great custom granite counters ... and no appliances. Friends of mine in CA hate their Miele, friends in Henderson Nevada hate their Subzero and Dacor, friends in NY hate their Monogram, friends in Naples Florida hate their AGA and Viking, friends in the Netherlands hate their Miele, friends in Carmel Indiana hate their Traulson and Miele, friends in Arizona hate their Kitchen Aid ... and it goes on and on with nightmare after nightmare of new appliances defective out-of-the-box, incompetent installers, unethical distributors, sales people that grab the big commissions and then can't even return follow up calls, manufacturers that don't honor their warranty committments or try to stong arm the very customers that their business should be treating with dignity and integrity. To add insult to injury, many regional better business bureaus rate these retailers and businesses A+. No wonder consumers have stopped purchasing ... it is not the recession that has stopped people from making major purchases, but, rather, the expectation that after-purchase headaches will take months and months to resolve with stress levels higher than paying for your childrens' college educations. Short of having an attorney produce a contract that the appliance supplier has to sign and be held to legally, does anyone out there have any other magic process. A process that assures the customer won't be setting themselves up for an extremely stressful experience with underpaid customer disservice departments trained by the Insurance claims industry to intimidate and wear down the customer to a point of having to just give up? signed - a potential appliance customer in limbo

I'm adding to this thread because it seems like many folks who are posting comments here don't have a thorough background in the toxicity of a wide variety of home remodeling materials. Unless you buy your flooring (wood, bamboo, cork, etc.) from a well-known, long-running green housing material distributor, it is likely that your flooring is filled with toxic glues, sealers, and other chemicals that produce VOCs (volatile organic compounds). Bamboo in particular has a lot of glue because bamboo stalks are so thin (look at a bamboo cutting board to fully appreciate how much glue is needed). I have a MPH degree (Master of Public Health) and one of my areas of expertise is environmental health. I'm currently renovating a new condo apartment and for every material, I had to buy it from a specialty distributor that carefully vetted their product portfolio. The benefit of buying from green supply companies -- living in a healthy home. The challenge of purchasing green, healthy building materials -- cost. Green materials are more expensive. But, if you add up all the costs related to adverse health reactions and getting medical treatment to address them...then cheaper, less healthy building materials aren't so cheap, are they? A good place to start is Green Building Supply (based in Illinois, they have a great website), which ships all over the U.S. I bought cork flooring from them, they're great. Can't recommend them enough. They carry a wide array of building materials including safe paints, safe caulks and sealers, safe flooring, etc. If you want to get advice before a purchase, check out the website, 'My Chemical Free House.' Corinne is a building biologist and her site is filled with awesome tips for choosing safe and healthy building materials. Take good care & stay safe!

People do this all the time on forums everywhere. For instance, on a travel forum I frequent, posters often use the subject title, "Question" or the name of the city they are visiting (which is also the name of the forum. Or something cryptic like "What should I do?" Drives me nuts. Totally agree with Alisande. I've opened and reopened threads in which I had no interest because I couldn't remember what they were about, due to the subject not giving any hints. Since as soon as another poster adds a reply the post comes up in the "unread" colour it's hard to keep track of whether you've looked at it before unless you remember the title.