We've been using a smart meter, that informs the power company of the times of day that the client uses power, and they bill at a lower rate for off-peak hours. Some claimed that their power bill went up, and I heard a figure of something like $20.00 a month from people in different jurisdictions, but that hasn't been our experience. When the landlord heard that it'd cost him about $40.00/month if he installed a separate service in his shop here (he lives elsewhere) ... ... he decided to run the whole thing through the one meter, and that I should tell him how much he owed for the shop. We just adjusted for last year's bill ... and the total was about $3.00 under $100.00/month (and he's happy with paying about 15%). I can't see working myself up into a tizzy about possible radiation that may be coming my way: it seems to me that it's peanuts ... and wouldn't be troublesome if I were to carry the thing around in my back pocket all day, every day. If you want to worry about something - how about the food that's increasingly sourced from all over the world, these days, and produced in factories that undergo what kinds of regulations ... and, supervision? Plus ... I'm of the opinion that much of our food produced and processed in-coutry isn't overseen nearly as much as it used to be: in some cases, they've worked out situations where the processors self-regulate. But to have the women/(men?) roast turkeys at home to bring to a turkey supper at the church ... ... has become a big "no-no"! ole joyful

I think that's a great plan for both of you! He will enjoy a home-cooked meal and you'll get to practice your fantastic cooking skills on someone who will appreciate it. That menu sounds soooo good! Now if you'll just add a chocolate pie, it will be perfect! Wish I could join you!

Returning to pipe in and say that I always clean the house from top to bottom before we leave on a trip. If something happens to us, no one will be thinking we were slobs (although, the house is usually pretty tidy anyway) and I love, love, love coming home to a clean house. It's like someone upthread said - it's like getting another week of vacation! Of course, by the time we bring in our luggage, groceries (always go shopping on the way home because no food in the house), mail and whatnot, it looks like a hurricane went through. Unpacking and putting everything away often takes a full day. But, we usually either do our laundry or send it out to be done before we come home. That way, we don't have to do a mountain of laundry when we get home. I always find having to do that after a lovely vacation a real downer.

Jay I would dying to know what Chilean trees are surviving for them in TN and AL. I have tried pretty much all the various Eucryphias from PNW nurseries over the years. They either die in the summer, or if they for some reason make it through a summer, they die in winter. But as I've seen with ungrafted 'Nancy Evans', the reason they aren't making thru winter is PRIMARILY simply aren't growing enough in the summer. Cause I'm talking even pretty mild winters. Alas, with a weirdo southern hemisphere plant like this, there's no heat resistant rootstock to graft it onto! Grafted 'Nancy Evans' SEEMS much hardier than ungrafted simply because it is growing a strong root system during the summer! However as I learnt with Chusqueas it pays to keep trying. C. culeou and and I think I tried a C. andina at some point, decline pretty rapidly in summer here. I suppose because of its broader native range, C. gigantea had no problems with hot humid summers and continued to grow through them. It was also at least as winter hardy as my poor old Thamnocalamus tessellatus, that has gotten pretty big during strings of mild winters only to be cut down during cold years. Alas, the damn things flowered in 2020! Just as it was getting established! I didn't bother collecting seed because I worried about getting quality plants with such a narrow gene pool. Hopefully Ian at Desert Northwest offers it soon from fresh seed. (all bamboos of a species flower in the same year in case anyone doesn't know this) Floral - 95/96 had been a very cold winter in Scotland although the owner of a large UK nursery told me it wasn't in the south, so you might not remember it as such. Supposedly got down to the mid single digits F...around -15C. Anyhow, the Eucryphia X nymansensis 'Nymansay' in that picture was a little big singed on its northern flank but it didn't stop it from blooming profusely. It was probably 1/2 as big then. But it looked much better than the Cordylines. All of them in town were burnt down to the lowest 3' of trunk if not the ground. Same at the presumably slightly milder St. Andrews. OTOH I saw big undamaged cordies at Culzean Castle on the milder west coast of Scotland. The nice thing about this view is because this is a major thoroughfare of Edinburgh you can see the street views all the way back to 2008, and witness the slow but steady expansion of the tree. My bedroom was the room in the leftmost of the 4 buildings, above the blue door. Check out August 2019: THANKS FOR PLAYING!