I till my spring garden as late in fall as possible. My goal is to have the soil hard-freeze while it is still aerated from the tilling. If needed, I will tarp the garden to protect from fall rains to keep it dry for tilling. I amend the soil with compost and dry leaves. I do not work the soil in any way in spring prior to planting seeds. When it is time to plant seeds I lay down boards to walk on between the rows I have laid out to minimize soil compaction. The boards are removed as soon as the seeds are planted, not left in the garden. Every spring is different. My planting time is based on the soil conditions, not on a planting date. None of the early spring varieties I plant go in deeper than one-half inch so my guide to plant seed is when the top one inch of soil is dry enough to be safely worked with the hoe. This means that the soil I am disturbing, which is the soil that needs to settle aroung the seeds and is the soil that the future seedlings have to sprout through, will remain loose and friable and will not dry out into clumps and clods. Best wishes for success! -Tom

One wonders how you ran across the link. If you really don't want to hear what I think about muslims, you shouldn't have baited the subject so, cuz I could go on for hours ;) hmmmm... What I think of islam is..... ps you asked for it :D Congrats on the philo bloom, btw :) Too bad Foxy wasn't here any more, she'd be drooling.

Some whites keep well....most do not. I would invite friends to help you pack and have a cooler full of white wines. Open it taste it....toss it or drink it. Most of the reds should be fine....but not necessarily. I trust they have been stored on their sides in a cool place? Linda C

I feel your pain. There are so many decisions to make, and so many little details to keep track of. Every time I think I've made every possible decision on the project, the contractor wants me to decide on something else! I thought I'd finished with that months ago and could just sit back and watch them finish the house, but no. It sounds like you're having more trouble with the electrician than the GC. One thing that might work is to let the GC deal with him. The electrician is working for the GC, after all, not directly for you. Sure, listen to his advice, but then make your own decision and let him and the GC know what the decision is. You're paying the GC to make it all come out right, and it's his responsibility to get his subs to do their job correctly. I haven't had any problems with my contractor's electrician, but his tile guy is a bit of a flake. In cases where I disagree with him, I tell him and the GC what I want and then let the GC deal with making things right. But I do stay friendly and go over there a lot to see what is happening and to answer any questions the tile guy has. He keeps forgetting what tiles go where, even though we keep writing it down. But he does amazing work once he figues things out, so I can't complain too much. On the slab thing: I've never heard of a fabricator who didn't want the client present when laying out the templates on the slabs. That is just bizarre. Laura