Here are some pics of my planted tanks....some have been posted on here before. This bottom pic is plastic plants and just one of those plastic picture backs taped to the back of the aquarium. I know you are sorting out the good info from the bad...but I really can't express enough that a quarantine tank is VERY IMPORTANT......it regardless of where you purchase your fish.....some fish diseases don't show up for a long time......such as 4 to 6 weeks.....Even if all the fish in the store look healthy....you don't know what they were exposed to before they were put into the store tanks. Sometimes just the stress of shipping causes illnesses to show up. Having managed fishrooms for two pet stores and having my own fishroom.....I have seen this. One time I purchased some huge georgeous swordtails....put them into a quarantine tank for less than a month...all looked healthy......so I didn't wait the 6 weeks or two months.....I added them........I lost the whole tank of fish. The store where I purchased them...was a very reliable fish store that always had healthy looking fish...they were not a pet store! He lost them all too. There was no guarantees in this store...so I had to take the loss........won't mention how many $$ I lost with this mistake.....and I did know better too. The tank had to be taken all apart and disinfected and recycled before new fish could be added.... I would never go without quarantining any fish before adding to a community now......and I quarantine for 6 weeks or more......its a safety precausion...that works. Again, its one of those decisions that you have to make for yourself. The size of the tank....is really up to you....what you want to maintain and the size of space you have. Any of the Innes books, or Axelrod books are good to read. You mentioned an Atlas.....is it the Axelrod atlas? There is also the Baensch Aquarium Atlas.....there are soooo many books out there.....again its difficult to just name one or two that might help. Are you anywhere near an aquarium club? Some clubs also offer long distance membership and usually there is a bi-monthly newsletter where members write about there experiences with plants and fish. Also there are mags such as Tropical Fish Hobbyist, Aquarium Fish Magazine and Freshwater and Marine Aquarium Magazine...there are probably others as well. Hope this helps and doesn't add to the confusion! Sierra

Interesting to hear what you all are doing. Minnie, I don't think I'm old - just older than I used to be. I completely subscribe to your philosophy of what old is!! I would like to make it a priority to do more in the way of exercise though. I generally do something 4-5 days a week but I'd really like to do more. It would be great if I did two kinds of exercise per day or something every day then I could get back into the ball routine which was really great for the core. I was doing that for a while but it just became too much - basically work, come home, exercise, grab something to eat, go to bed, repeat. I kind of like some down time. Well, we shall see if I become motivated to do something about this....

Nice to see a G-shaped kitchen on the GW. It's not the most common layout and it's one that may be helpful to people with certain needs. Thanks for posting! I remember when I first read about this kitchen style in a BH&G kitchens publication. It really captured my attention. Ours is also a working kitchen. We're gardeners and DH is a hunter and forager. Our G area has 12 x 16+ but the closet and nook are outside this. No island. Although one goal was for two cooks to work nicely together, the space is a glory for a single cook as well. We do not do quite the same kind of prep & storage & cooking as you but it sounds like you give your kitchen a workout as we do. We put the range at the bottom of the G, the double sink on the long side and the large prep sink on the short side alongside the plunk space from refrig, walkpath to garden and walkpath to dining room. Refrig on the tip of the top of G is close to the dining area and across from the end of the peninsula's plunk space adjacent to prep sink. I'm the one with all the pull-out boards to add work surfaces. One is in "cockpit" chopping station where I do much of my prep, seated on a stool (see photo) and where there is a temp compost receiver adjacent to the cutting board plus the trash pullout below that. Fabulous cutting situation! Another pullout board is wide and serves the baking area but also serves as receiver/launcher of items going to and from oven. This is especially helpful if the entire countertop area between mixer and oven is full of the detritis of battle. Another pullout board serves the microwave area at upperleft corner of G and has a good view of flower garden for morale. One pullout is next to refrig and serves as sandwich, coldcuts, toast, etc. prep area. It is also receiver for items going into and out of refrig. We pile all the returning refrig items onto it after meal, then open the refrig door only once. We have butcherblock either side of range--allows cooling of hot items, knives in a slit on one side of range and 3 canisters of utensils countersunk (pun intended) into area at back of the other butcherblock piece. We don't have to open drawers for knives or common utensils while working nor during put-away. Our entrance from garden is same as yours--lower left in your photo. Our G is flipped from yours but windows appear to be in same place. You might want to cruise our Flickr stuff--after looking at blueprint, go to the newest and ignore the in-process stuff. Not sure if I can give any more ideas but you never know. We also had a door in the hallway alongside the peninsula to deal with. We turned it into a pocket door so that it wouldn't interfere with the walkpath. Our major sink is a Kohler "Brookfield" double sink and our prep sink is a Kohler "Mayfield." Be sure not to stint on the size of your prep sink--a gardener can use it. Plus, if you find it to be too big, just use a dishpan or pot inside it. We've enjoyed splure on wire unit for bottom of prep sink--holds things like lettuces above the sand you wash off of them. Requires bother of removing and stashing it sometimes also, though. This prep sink is big enough for our regular pressure cooker to be wrestled with and definitely holds the blancher. Not sure if it would take the big canner. Here is a link that might be useful: G-shaped gardener's kitchen blueprint--flip upside down to compare

Have you looked into treadmill designs where the part you run on folds up to vertical? Some of them can fit into closets. Best folding treadmills