Good afternoon....waking up from a cat nap...really don't enjoy sleeping this late in the day. I think I've been doing a little too much lately and sleeping less, so I guess I needed it. So how is everyone this afternoon? Ei...I am sorry you were not having a good day yesterday. Hoping today was better. I hope no one is editing what they want to share, because the title of the thread is 'good news only'. I think it is pretty difficult for us to get through a whole thread with no bad news from anyone. [g] Well, we only have room for a couple more posts anyway. :-) Wondering if Marian had her company today and how that is going. Seeing someone after 30 years has to be very exciting. :-) Denise, I enjoyed your description of your property. It is fun to try to fill in the gaps around what the photos are representing. You do a great job with such a small site. BTW, how is Marty's back and toe doing? My DH is still going to PT since the last time his back was out of whack. He goes 2-3x a week religiously and has reaped the benefits of it. He is now having trouble with his heel...ongoing issue with Planter Fasciitis...which I think I remember others here reporting having problems with. He has been in pain for a couple of weeks with it this time and has a PT appt today. Flexibility is not his strong point either and I gather that is also a factor with the feet issues. $300. for a house alarm going off? Ouch! How do you remember learning to read, Chelone?! I don't remember learning to read. [g] I am lucky I remember what I had for lunch, most of the time...lol. I do remember we learned to read with Dick and Jane, although I don't remember actually doing it. What are the 'green books'? I have always been in love with books and libraries. I can remember we had one around the corner from the house we lived in when I was in elementary school and I can still see the interior of the library in my mind. I was going through the Nancy Drew series at that point. I have always visited a library frequently no matter where I lived. I still visit the same library I used all through high school. Eden and Chelone....I also enjoy putting the garden to bed and getting ready for winter and hopefully putting things in order so that spring will be easier. I don't always find the opportunity to do that, but we seem to be really coasting along this year. Even have cover crop 6 inches high in the veggie beds. All the houseplants are in the house...big deal...about 8 of them. :-) DH has managed to take care of any weeds that were getting ready to go to seed. Chelone, aren't the sedums dark and gorgeous this year? How was the seashore, Martie? I would love to hear more about your 'sailing days' when you have a slow day. :-) Saucy....I wish I could spend some time at your house the next week...I love all things apple! woody...that is so interesting about your friend who likes sheep so much...lol. I have always enjoyed sheep for some reason. I liked them even more up close and personal, I love the feel of their coat and their steady gaze. :-) I can't imagine how she keeps up with all of it, but it sounds great. I always wanted to live on a farm, like Shirley Temple in 'Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm'. Great when you are young and strong, but as you get older, hopefully you have an interested next generation to replace you. That Harlequin Honeysuckle is variegated? Hmmm....I see Bluestone has it. I had seen it before but their photo is out of bloom and not nearly as nice as yours. I wonder if I could grow that intertwined with Sweet Autumn Clematis, or bad idea? Cindy....is that your garden gate? Very very pretty and inviting! Hi Michelle... :-) For some reason, DH enjoys when it starts getting dark early again. I just don't understand it, I hate that! If I was working and had to wait to garden until I got home, I would find that quite a nuisance. Especially since I seem to work in the garden more in fall and spring and not very much in summer when it stays light so late. Isn't that great, that you had a 'visit' with Kenzie! She must be so excited about Halloween and how did she like Disney? So your Mom has a new laptop? How old is your Mom? DH's laptop arrived today and it is still sitting in the box. I haven't got the energy to start trying to get it up and running. At least he doesn't have an old one that needs a lot of files moved or anything, it just has to work out of the box. At the last minute we added a camera too, since it was only $20. more. My back is feeling much better but easily tired. Happy to at least be moving comfortably again. Would you believe two squirrels actually climbed into the squirrel proof feeders this weekend?! [g] Wish I had a photo of it. The type of feeder that has a cage around the tube of seed, so that only small birds can get in. I keep telling DH they have to be very small immature squirrels. I hope that was a fluke, because I don't want to buy new feeders. Hello 'bug, Kathy, Deanne, Sue, Julie, Wendy, Norma, Brenda...and is Mary still working on the grotto garden or a bathroom? There has to be some Halloween crafts starting soon, no? Sun was out today and ...Chrysanthemum 'Medicine Bow'...is still pretty but starting to go by.....

Hey, I dropped off the face of the earth. Some brutal work hours with no days off. Sorry about that. Nightnurse- I'll try and stay on topic but that cornbread looks incredible. Looks perfect for a Sunday morning. Thank you so much for sharing. A perfect way to use up my abundance of black eyed peas:) Jim- I don't have anything really great anymore.. It's kind of embarassing and disheartening. I apologize for being a lazy bum here but are you interested in tropical aquatic plants? The things I need to go revive are things like my crypt collection that went through a melt when I neglected them and need to beef back up.. nothing spectacular.. c. balansae C. retrospiralis C. Spiralis C. lucens C. petchi C. willisii C. walkeri The worst of it is they can be a pain to identify at the best of times and right now they're melted to nothing.. being crypts I'm sure they'll come back but they're going to need some coddling. I have the usual stuff like E tennelus some vals and Sagittaria subulata, I mowed those down when I moved tanks but they grow like weeds so I'm sure, especially if I give them some plant love, that they'll be back strong soon.. anubias nana that I'm karmically obligated to share because the original piece was given to me maybe 7 years ago. I killed or preemptively gave away all the fun stuff like glosso, my toninas honestly don't know if the Didiplis diandra, Ludwigia arcuata or Heteranthera zosterfolia is kicking around in a tank somewhere or not. Like I said, it's embarassing. Not sure if that's any help or not. My digital camera's a battery sucking older one and I need to get rechargable batteries before it's much use.. which is a good excuse to buy time to get my tanks, and their plants, looking at least somewhat presentable. MicheleLee- Thank you very much! My balcony's eastern exposure. Really looking forward to going and hoping nothing interferes. My boyfriend's scheduled to go back to London in early Marchand I've already explained his flight plans can't conflict with this. He's not very impressed with it but I think he caught the determination in my voice.

So far, so good with the Neato. Jo, I didn't get the connected version. I got the D80. I couldn't find a D85. Best Buy has them in the store. Plus, they gave me a $50.00 gift card. They had the connected version in stock, too. So, the price ended up being the same price as the out of stock unit at Amazon. The only difference between the D80 and D85 was the filter. Apparently, you can use the newer, better filter in any of the units. I've spend most of today playing with the thing. I don't think it will replace the vacuum cleaner, especially the Dyson Animal. I've got two collies and I didn't expect any robotic unit to do everything. But, I think it's going to significantly reduce the workload. I also have a lot of rooms with hardwood or tile with oriental rugs with fringe. She was able to handle all of them except one that had particularly long fringe and a really big carpet pad underneath. It does get hung up in a few places. I would check on her ever so often and found her hung up twice. I got her back on track and she just keep going. The space besides the toilet pedestals seemed to challenge her. I frequently emptied the bin. I vacuumed the filter with the Dyson to clean it. I was surprised by the amount of debris it managed to find. There were some areas that I thought were already clean, but she still found stuff and dog hair. I broke the house up into sections and did them one at time. She needed to recharge twice. But, I was running her pretty hard. The best part of the day was watching the dogs watch "Rosie". They didn't bark or attack, but sat there completely enthralled. I've always been a little strange when it comes to gifts. My husband gets off lucky. I like things like really good small appliances. If someone needs an idea for the holidays, I really don't think you could go wrong with this one. I'd get one of these for a guy, too. It's just too useful.

Elmer - I meant "in the high performance house world" - net zero energy is the most common goal. Certainly not the most common in other worlds. When you start talking passive house, I took that to mean vs other high performance houses. An assumption for sure. My house is net zero energy with a roughly 15 year payback which is pretty reasonable in the world of super low interest rates. And I haven't mentioned it to any of my friends or neighbors. In CA, you certainly have solar as a financial decision. Very different world than other places. As far as "cool factor" - I am pretty sure that no one knows my ACH or my above code insulation. Even in CA - do you really thing most people do solar for "cool factor"? I mean maybe - but that seems a stretch. I could certainly seem some element of cool factor mixed in with personal philosophies along with financial self interest. Nothing really wrong with that I think. Bry - you are right - the bicycle is better. But that is really hard to work into most cities and climates and jobs. And how many solar panels are in landfills? Since there are 40 year old examples out there still working and a tiny amount of 40 year old panels, we can't really be talking about a lot. It is a pretty stubborn and short sighted person to remove perfectly functioning panels ... like Reagan did. Solar was also moved to China just like every other manufacturing. Unlike iphones, there are solar panels made in the US and Germany. And the manufacturing byproducts aren't exactly tossed into landfills either (ok don't know what happens in China). Nuclear is just so darned expensive. That isn't my fault. And there isn't anything we can do about it. All energy harvesting creates a problem. Complaining about the problems of renewable sources is often a distraction and I think you know that. Windmills cause cancer and all that....