Dave -- I didn't expect sympathy. I made it clear in my initial post that I was looking for an answer from professional landscape/nursery people as to why they thought the owner I called did not want to be interviewed and featured in a magazine story. Believe me, I learned a great deal from the answers. As you say, nearly all of them were negative. Many of the posters question the value of local news coverage of their business, especially re print media. Some of them, as you noted, seem angry. They want to chew me out for either shortcomings they perceive in me or what I perceive to be a general dislike of writers/print media people, usually based on one negative experience they had with a local publication or a telemarketer disguised as a writer. I find this extremely interesting. If I used the same criteria in judging nursery owners I would never set foot in a garden center again! (By the way, I feel like I do have a hands-on understanding of what running a nursery is all about. I have worked in them, and I have done lots of dirty grunt work in the plant world, and I have been certified in a horticultural program in my region. I know plants and I know plant people.) It is also educational for me to read the sentiment posted by several respondents that they don't think I'm deferential enough, that I need to realize that I'm looking for a favor from the people I contact. When writing about individuals who own beautiful gardens, or designers whose work is outstanding, this is certainly true. But it is certainly not true for stories which are what I call 'round-up' format -- when you're looking for several business owners in a particular niche market, i.e. fitness center franchisees, doggy dare care businesses, restaurant owners, or nursery owners -- who are willing to be included in a regional look at that consumer industry. If you don't like writers or don't like the publication I write for or don't like the sound of my voice or are pissed off that I didn't drive 80 miles and stand at your counter waiting to ask you for two paragraph's worth of copy and you tell me so -- then guess what? I go to the next guy on the list. That's not arrogance -- it's reality. I have a deadline, and I don't get paid unless I meet it. And so this next guy gets his copy, and his photo, and his address and phone number are printed up in nice bold font. And maybe it doesn't get him thousands of dollars in extra sales. But for the exposure it did bring him, was it worth giving me five minutes on the phone? I think anyone would agree that it probably was. I don't have a problem with being dumped on in this thread -- it's clear that in doing so I'm filling a need for a lot of businessmen/women who need to vent. My skin is thick, and like I say, I've learned a lot from the responses. But instead of getting mad, some of you should be asking why this topic seems to irritate you so. And then also ask yourself -- is that kind of attitude helping my business? Or hurting it?

I am curious about how the actual flow rate was measured. Typically, a door opening is utilized as an instrumented flow path. At the door, one could measure by the pressure drop through a calibrated venturi, but in that case there would be a pressure drop and not only would that cut the actual flow rate of the hood, but there would be some house leakage not measured. Alternatively, if there were also a fan in the path keeping the house pressure at zero to the outside, while also measuring the flow through the fan (by whatever means), then the flow rate measured should be the static value for the entire hood system. Of course, without the test fan providing zero differential, the actual flow will be less depending on where the MUA is sourced. No magic is involved. kas Correction: In an early message above, I asserted: "A fan at the hood can more easily overcome flow resistance between the hood and the outdoors, but normally this resistance is small, a few tenths of an inch w.g., so attic and roof mount fans work fine when properly sized." I now doubt that it matters much whether the restriction is before or after the fan, as most fans have fan curves that are based on total pressure drop around the path and do not differentiate between pushing and pulling. Differences could result from turbulence interacting with structures on one side or the other of the fan, and in such cases the actual flow might differ slightly for the same fan. I don't know how VAH squirrel-cage blowers might behave in this respect.

hhireno explained it perfectly. DH is going to the appointment also, we're not sure if her husband is going...he claims he's 'not up to it'. This is his MO...he has given up on life years ago and while perfectly healthy, has become an invalid, and she's his primary caregiver. It's pretty sickening. And the reason I am going is she has asked me to go for the reasons hhireno mentioned. She has one other son, who lives out of town-this is the anti-Buddha BIL. He is essentially worthless and she makes excuses for him not being able to come help her. She is the queen of making excuses for others! Her DH has children but he's pretty much estranged from them, due to his attitude on life. They may or may not offer to help her, but I've already made it clear that I WILL NOT step in to help him...that is entirely up to his children. I'm not happy about her depending 100% on my DH because it'll be too much for him to handle. He's got a mysterious health issue going on-long story-he's gone thru virtually every test known to man and they STILL can't pinpoint the issue. That has been causing me a lot of stress, as well as him. He wants to be there for her, and will, but he can't do it all...his business is at it's busy season, he's got order he HAS to get out; he's also sick, etc. If he were her only option for help, then I'd be ok with him doing it, we'd manage, but there are others who CAN help, she just doesn't want to put them out. I guess what is getting to me is that she's already ruled out offers of help from others and is expecting DH to do it all. I will not tell him I don't like that, it's his right to do what he feels he can do for her, but I don't have to be happy about her essentially taking advantage of his being self-employed. That is also a deeper issue...everyone he knows tends to think that because he works from home he's available to drop anything and do their bidding. He's not good at setting boundaries, so he tries to serve everyone and he and I ultimately suffer the consequences. So again, her wanting him to do everything is an issue of his not setting the boundaries. I am not going to do any more than I want to do for my own well being. My role is essentially going to be the one who transcribes the pertinent information. Others can take it from there. But having been thru this with my father and her once before, keeping it all written in a note book helps with every appointment, doctor, pharmacist, etc. That's all I'm going to do, be the recorder-the rest of them can figure it out. Oh, and I'll be an advocate for my DH...if I see it's getting to be too much for him, I'll direct someone else to step in for a change.

Well, today is going much better. (Of course I am probably jinxing myself.) I went to the library and spoke to a few acquaintances who all remembered me and none of whom told me I had ratty hair or pimples. The Kindle Fire session went more smoothly, thanks to Frances I think I have figured out a thing or two or three. I think the problem is just plain old slowness. What I took for nonresponse is just plain slowness. I need to wait...wait...wait...wait a little more...voila! Being used to lightning fast responses on my work and home computers, I have become spoiled. It's not that bad, but it is definitely slow. And my two Kindles work differently - my old Kindle can receive books just about anywhere but my new Kindle Fire can only receive books if it has a wireless connection. Except for library books, which are a whole different animal. Yes, it is a learning experience. Anyway, I am tired of Christmas, not the spiritual beautiful part, but the I-don't-have-time-to-be-nice-to-you-because-I-have-better-things-to-do part. I will be glad when the holidays are over and my friends don't hang up on me because they are busy and stressed. I don't have the busy stressed part, because I pretty deliberately eliminated it quite some time ago. For instance, we don't exchange gifts in my family as a general rule. We all agreed quite some time ago that we all have too much stuff. But today is beautiful. It is snowing lightly and looks gorgeous. I'm so happy to have some snow that does not come part and parcel with a huge and ferocious storm. This is lightly falling, moderate temp, no wind, only half-an-inch expected snow. And yes, this is all tongue-in-cheek, I'm hope I have generated a bit of laughter!