Thanks TXSkeeter! I believe you could be correct on both issues. The Door Repairman that told me the doors would have to be replaced before selling was not trying to sell me doors. He was encouraging me to keep the doors. He said in the San Diego, CA area many are of this type (since hard winters are not expected). IâÂÂll try to contact him to see if he can help me find heavier springs. The openers have worked since the mid 80s (with repairs), they or I could use a little help. I feel one set has stretched more from âÂÂCyclesâÂÂ/Use because it feels heavier. As far as I know these type doorâÂÂs weight is not balanced to stand open at any point. The springs should carry the bulk of the weight. I have seen single and double sheet metal doors that were almost impossible to open due to broken springs. ThatâÂÂs the #1 reason I w/n want a double wide door. They are handy with todayâÂÂs Trucks. Plus, if the house w/n designed âÂÂGood Newâ with the span for the double door, I feel you will get some sag. There is 2.5 âÂÂof 2X4 just above the case openings below the 3/4â Ply 2 Cabinet Units mounted vs built in. The 2X4 can go if needed to fit panel doors due to screws cabinet to framing and threaded rod bottom of cabinet to above supports on top of truss ceiling joists. The Over Kill in the 70s was my nature âÂÂBut Not TodayâÂÂ. Brass bushings and tempered bolts are fitted in the arms to allow more years. We or I had planned to move bake to a Simpler Life after retirement but things and Grands have changed. We moved here in 1973 on the last street, now there are miles of streets/homes south of us to the next towns. Enough Said!

Christopher, With corn, I mulch the area lightly with hay. You also could use grass clippings except they're less likely to be available at spring planting time, although they would be for fall planting time. The corn grows up through the hay, but the crows don't seem to recognize green corn seedlings in the middle of tan-to-buff-colored hay the same way that they recognize green corn seedlings in bare soil. I almost never lose a single corn seedling. Another old trick, but one that I think is much harder to pull off is to sprout garlic cloves indoors in flats early in spring and transplant it to the area where you're going to seed corn. The birds see the garlic sprouts, think they are corn (especially if you grow the corn in the same place every year), pull them up and discover--yuck!--they are not corn. Then you come back a couple of weeks later and plant corn which the birds leave alone because they think it is garlic. I think the success of this is more variable because you could have birds visit your corn who missed the round of garlic earlier. Some people swear by it though Beans are harder because everything here in the country wants to eat beans, and if I mulch them with hay, it just gives bean-sprout-eating insects a place to hide. So, I start every single bean inside in paper cups and transplant them outside. Tedious? Definitely. Time-consuming? Absolutely. However, as long as I put Slug-Go Plus or an equivalent product on the ground around the newly-transplanted seedings, the pillbugs and sowbugs (my biggest pest in spring) don't eat the seedlings. I do put a toothpick very close to each seedling at planting time to deter cutworms too. And, the garden is fenced, so rabbits generally can't get the bean seedlings. I don't think I've ever had birds bother bean seedlings. If I transplant carefully and I don't lose any seedlings due to my own clumsiness, then I have nice full rows with no gaps so that is a plus too. Until I started transplanting bean seedlings I had a huge problem with all the wild things getting the beans and/or young bean seedlings. I don't have those issues now. One way to protect any newly seeded bed from birds is to hammer in a few stakes and string fishing line in a random pattern (imagine a man-made spider web although not with the precision patterns seen in many spider webs) between the stakes. The lighter/less visible the fishing line the better because you want the birds to fly down to steal the seeds or seedlings and be 'spooked' by hitting the fishing line instead. This works best if the line is fairly close to the ground to the birds cannot land on the ground and walk under the line. After the seedlings are up and rooted well enough that the birds can't yank them up out of the ground, you remove the fishing line and stakes. I also 'bribe' wild birds of all types to leave my garden alone by putting little piles of bird seed just outside the garden fence. They feed daily at the seed and leave my plants alone, although some of them stick around, sit on the tomato cages and catch bugs. I use hen scratch, cracked corn and black oil sunflower seeds in rotation so the birds never know exactly what to expect, but you could use any wild bird seed mix. I have a scarecrow--in fact, 2 of them, made by a friend with whom I've shared garden produce for years and even though the scarecrows are a nice addition to the garden, the birds are not the least bit afraid of them. With some birds, one of those sprinklers that is motion activated scares them off, but I think other birds set it off on person so they can play in the water. Anything that moves, like bird flash tape, pinwheels, fluttering pieces of surveyor's tape, dangling aluminum pie pans or CDs, etc., the birds seem smart enough to figure them out and lose their fear of them after a while. My cats don't even keep all the birds out of the garden. I think it is because I feed a lot of wild birds and scold the cats if they 'stalk' them, and my cats know they shouldn't bother the birds. Some people have garden cats that keep birds out of the garden, but my cats just don't do that, although they do keep rodents away. That's about all I can think of other than bird netting, which is moderately effective, but sure can be a hassle for the gardener. Good luck--I hope you find some workable solutions. Dawn

I think a local sewing center is a good place to start. At least you'll be able to see the foot and ask someone there how it works, how to attach it, etc. But now that you know you need a 'low shank' foot, you should be able to find one on eBay or a variety of internet sellers. On Google, do a search for "low shank walking foot" and you'll find pages and pages of vendors. I just tried it for you [I don't want to offer advice until I try it!] and found listings on eBay and several others. One company (AllBrands) is offering a package on a walking foot, a 1/4" quilting guide foot and a free motion foot that seemed pretty reasonable. If you need the others you might want to consider doing that. If you only need the walking foot I think you can get one for under $20. Hope that helps, Kate

To oakleyok - Right now, the website is so complicated because of the set-up, I can admit, it's hard to probably get customers to stay on it. Lol. Heres a quick and easy way to help you. Log in to DOMINIQUESDECOR.COM At the top, there will be a menu - First you'll see HOME and next to HOME you will see SHOP. Click on SHOP. Click on THE WORLD OF PRODUCTS CATALOG - located to the RIGHT. LOOK to your LEFT of the page, you will see "GO TO PAGE" - in that box GO TO PAGE: 30 CLICK FIND. THERE YOU GO! From pages 30 to 41, there are all types of BIRD HOUSES, FEEDERS, and BIRDBATHS. SORRY FOR THE INCONVIENCE. THANKS FOR YOUR INTEREST AND PATIENCE. IT MEANS A LOT TO ME. Oh, I do understand you do not want to sign-up but if you do, you will instantly receive a $10 Gift Card. If you request not to receieve newsletters or anything that you are just not interested in then believe me it won't be done. I will stop typing now. Thanks again!