I had no idea Sara was going to high five me on the GW. What's a rock star??? LOL Does an old man with dirt under his fingernails qualify? I am just one who always enjoyed growing the green stuff. I like to pass on my success stories with those who are looking to successfully grow a special cultivar but need a little help to do it. When I became addicted to conifers 15 years ago I started small as most do. In time, if truly committed, you expand and move to the more expensive offerings. Doing this comes with a price if you are not well informed as to each plants needs. My first 'Skylands' I purchased was planted and I prepared myself for years of enjoyment from this cultivar. Man did it look good out there in the hot Kansas sun. Six months later it was dead. Yes it had adequate water and all the after care associated with new plantings. The sun just flat scorched the tender yellow foliage. Deciding I wasn't going to throw in the towel I gave some thought to protection. Two years later after I finished another planting area with 'Skylands' as the featured focal point conifer I gave it another go with the addition of a simple portable screen I made that gave it the protection it needed to acclimate. The rest of the story is in the CQ. It does work. One thing not mentioned, I leave the screen up for three years. By then it will take care of itself with plenty of new root growth laid down to make the transition to free range. Now if any of you can tell me how to grow Abies here please return the favor and share with me what worked for you. Dave This post was edited by Davesconifers on Tue, Nov 19, 13 at 10:45

I know that over the years we have had a number of exceptional cook/photographers begin to blog. I am not a blog follower in general so I can't name them all without help. Sol, Lori, Mirasol...I know there are others. Unfortunately I think most of them have subsequently drifted away from the cooking forum. Perhaps because they began to accept advertising and that conflicts with GW (Ann does not accept advertising). Or possibly because blogging is time intensive. I really don't know. Their contributions here are missed. Our loss, for sure. I appreciate that Ann continues to be an active participant here. Thanks Ann. Eileen

Thanks luvspring! I first saw the tile at a local tile store called Devon Tile Design (they have amazing stuff) -- but found for less at a larger store (Avalon Tile in Wilmington DE) and able to have the price matched. I also tracked it down by looking on the Walker Zanger website to see who their retailers are. shanghaimom, they also call the marron cohiba "antique brown" i think. I do love the Amerock pulls - - and I think they are better quality than the twice as expensive RH bistro ones I was looking at! breezy, I just checked the invoice and drawings, and all it says is "sigma fan" -- I know it's venting to the outdoors, and that the motor and everything else is in the hood (I'm vaguely recalling that it was called internal)...wish I could be more definitive on that! As for noiselevel, this is hard to describe, and I've got no expertise in decibels. On low, it's like a quiet background hum, definitely quieter than my microwave vent was before the reno --but if I'm cooking under it, I can't hear my kids' normal talking voices in the kitchen (of course that can be a good thing!). On high it is pretty loud, and I wouldn't want to run it for longer than necessary (unless those same kids are bickering!) As for whether the 600 cfms will be enough for you, think about you'd like to be cooking -- if you'll grill steaks inside or do alot of stirfries, it might not be enough. Good luck!!!

***bumping into the weekend***