pnb - all of the work I've seen on extracting heat from compost process has been done with static piles, with one exception (some crafty Brits). The problem with a static compost pile as a thermal energy source is that it is an out-of-control process, meaning there is no control. That presents a number of challenges to make the capital investment worthwhile. Composting for a thermal energy source will need to be much more precise than what we tend to practice around our gardens. The composition of the mix, including moisture, should be controlled with a measure of accuracy generally unseen in gardening. Capturing and using the heat generated from the decomposition of organic materials for controlled use is no longer just getting decomposed materials - those are down on the list as waste materials. Then there is pile size, geometry, etc.. It's not a simple list. I believe the engineering approach would be to oversize the pile to assure that, within a reasonable range of expected heat generating capacity, it would more than meet the demand, then add a means of exhausting the excess heat as waste. There are a number of ways to exhaust the excess heat. The trick is being able to control it. There has been a lot of work done with heating greenhouses, which is less demanding than residential space heating. A pretty good assessment is available in an undergraduate thesis from the University of Waterloo in Canada (good school!). If it were me, I'd start small and try to work out the bugs and control issues with something like hot water.

Something else you might check and see is what kind of metering drvice you have. I know this might sound crazy but the problem might not be in your outdoor unit at all. If your evaporator coil has an Thermostatic Expansion Valve rather than a orifice metering device, you will 9 times out of 10 need a Hard start installed in your outdoor unit. Here is what the thermostatic expansion valve looks like. If you have one of these on your coil then you will need one of these for your outside unit. What happens is that here is your a/c running along fine... cooling your house and when it reaches its set point, the thermostat shuts the a/c off. If you have a orifice metering device, the freon equalizes in pressure after a few minutes and on the next call for cooling,the outside unit fires right up. If you have an thermostatic expansion valve, it takes alot longer for the pressures to equalize and maybe when your outside unit trys to start back up, the pressures are not completely equal and the compressor starts cycling on its overload. It then gets hot from failed attempts at starting and then your house gets hot. I would check to see if you have this type of valve on your evaporator coil and if you do, check to see if you have the hard start on your outside unit. If you do have the expansion valve and dont have a hard start kit, get ahold of your local a/c tech and have him install one. Hope this helps

We binge watched it last weekend. I have mixed feelings. I understand how cruel kids can be, and how rumors get started and spiral out of control. I also understand that I and our kids grew up in a very small school where everyone knew everyone. Yes, 12 of the 13 people in the tape caused her pain and sadness. But, if you watched closely, at least some of what she said happened didn't happen that way. As the one kid, Tony, said, "it's her truth". She also had a bit of an attitude that didn't help her in some cases. I wish they would have emphasized more that it's a permanent solution to a temporary problem. They made the parents, and teachers for that matter, look kind of like idiots. How many TENTH graders do you know talk and act like these kids did in this show? It seemed to me anyhow, they acted like young adults already out of college. Also, how many people actually let their kids do what these kids did? Parent asks a question, the kid blows them off with a shrug or a smart remark and skulks away and the parents allow that. Really?! It wasn't that way in our house. I don't know, they made the parents look clueless and pretty much uninvolved, sometimes because the kids wanted it that way and sometimes because the parents didn't bother. I absolutely understand where people have trouble with this show. It almost comes across as a final revenge. "I'll make you all look bad and people will hate you, so there, take that, it's all your fault. Everyone will finally feel sorry for me/about me." Sadly, it would all be forgotten in a short amount of time. If it opens up communicating between parents and kids then it could do some good. I just don't know how you can have such a deeply disturbed kid and not see anything.

Why 4' of river rock around the house? IME most folks in areas with a decent amount of rainfall regret using rock mulch and it's a PIA to remove. It will have dust, leaves, twigs, seeds, etc. blow in and weeds will sprout just like in shredded bark mulch, but it is more difficult to remove weeds from rocks, especially since most rock has landscape cloth under it to prevent it from sinking into the soil. So either you hand weed with difficulty or you have to use an herbicide sprayed on the rocks regularly to prevent weeds becoming established. I would recommend bark mulch without landscape fabric since I find maintenance far easier. Like Yardvaark, I would not plan to use a large evergreen in the front, and instead place it in the back yard where it is visible from windows that in winter you can see it from such as one over the kitchen sink or an office window. In the front I would make the groundcover evergreen and perhaps add another short shrub with winter interest such as one of the shorter red-twigged dogwoods or some evergreen shrubs behind the multi-trunked tree to provide interest in winter since it's about half the year for you. Clumps of early flowering bulbs in the groundcover would be nice also. Look for small trees/large tree-form shrubs for the front trees that have multiple seasons of interest, such as spring flowers and fall foliage color or nice winter appearance.