Hi Virginia, I grow several varites of Colocasias. I have left the Red Stem ones in a raised bed for a couple of years and they come back. I always pour a load of mulched leaves on them every fall. I dug up my babies this fall and potted them up in the unheated GH so I'm hoping to have some to trade in the Spring. I've got "Black Magic" and the "Red stems" and am going to get the burgandy and green leaf one soon. I also put a pot of "Frydek" in the GH that I will get to divide next year. I'm going to take atleast one of each and put them in one of my beds and mulch heavy to see what will happen to them. I really don't like having to take them in. I did learn something a few years ago with non-hardy amaryllis. I planted a few around a big old oak and several in one of my garden beds. The ones around the oak still come up and bloom each year. The ones in the bed, froze into a big glob of mush. So, the soil definetly stays warmer when there is a structer or tree close to the plant you want to plant. I had no idea it could make that much difference. My neighbor has one of the huge red and white Amaryllis that she planted 4 years ago in the corner where her house meets the sidewalk and this thing is huge!It had about 20 big blooms this year. I'm going to try to convience her she needs to divide it! This plant came from the florist and it is not supposed to be hardy. We've had many nights in the teens and that thing just keeps on growing in her mini tropical area close to her house. I guess all the concrete and brick act like heaters in the winter. S0, even if it's not supposed to live, if you pick the right, protected spot and add your bubble wrap, you should have some nice plants next year. OH yes, do not completely cover the plants with this like every0ne said. It will act like a stem bath on bright sunny days and you will have soup! Love to you all, Mona

I used to buy my appliances at an employee-owned local chain (4 stores across our state) but they were a casualty of the credit crunch five years ago. When I bought my current fridge three years ago, I did pretty much the same thing attofarad did except that I didn't use a Lowe's card. However, like Jaz50y, I did my research and was able to wait for holiday weekend sale where Lowe's had a KitchenAid FD model as an overstock that Lowes was offering at 40% off. These tactics are fine if you can choose when to buy but not much help when you need a new fridge ASAP. I'm too far out in the boonies and too paranoid to be comfortable buying a large appliance from most on-line vendors whose "fine-print" restocking policies give me the willies. I just assume that if something can go wrong with a sale, it will happen to me. For me, Costco.com is the only exception. (I got my current stove from them.) For me, Costco is the only exception s because of (a) Costco's an absolute satisfaction guarantee which means I can take the appiiance back to them for a full refund rather than having to mess with endless delays in warranty service (can you tell I'm paranoid?); and (b) I've got a truck and equipment that makes it easy for me to haul a defective appliance to get a refund at the local Costco warehouse store. Plus, there are membership rebates and, if you have or use a Costco Amex card, they extend the basic warranty by a year. Offsetting those considerations, the Costco selection is limited (basically Whirlpool/Maytag and LG) and they will not ship to some states and won't ship to some mountain and rural areas (which is most of the state I live in.)

Okay, to be honest it is promising, but hard to determine because of it being so early in the framing; it could take a turn for the worse. The house to the right appears to have a bit of a "modern prairie" design to it (that's a play on the imaginary term "modern farmhouse"). Many time a designer will paste prairie style details to a house and call it a prairie design, without regard for any grid system or spacial relationships. If we haven't chased you off, could you post some exterior elevations and floor plans of the structure.

It's a well-proportioned house with a distracting amount of detail. A few small tweaks would make it great: 1) get rid of all the horizontal lines in the walls. Don't switch siding 3/4 of the way up a wall. 2) Have fewer siding choices. It's not adding interest, it's adding distraction 3) That half-chimney or 2/3 height stone wall in the middle of the house just looks odd. Get rid of it. 4) In the lower left, have the two units flush. Given that the windows in the center are recessed, you could simplify the changes in facade. 5) Simplify the roof over the lower half of the front. It's not big, it doesn't need all that distraction. 6) The door can be emphasized with a path to the door from the street and landscaping.