I agree with shrubs_n_bulbs and dcarch. While it is useful to study the aquarium community, because they are very obsessed and very knowledgeable, you do definitely learn a lot. Unfortunately there are just not too many people participating in this forum and some of the people just seem to be here to sell lamps and spread misinformation. Our local lamp salesman should have banned long time ago. (New lamps for old! New lamps for old!) FWIW in my other life, I'm a senior pathologist, who is rather obsessed with perfection himself. In my professional life and in my hobby life, I like to go all the way, understand it all to the maximum that I am able to, and apply my knowledge to the utmost. My most inspiring person is Henry Kuska, who is a member of this forum, and who applies theory, scientific method, painstaking dedication, sweat, and generosity, all tempered with what is practical, and how can resources be applied most efficiently. Henry got me started on indoor gardening, and I have been going strong ever since. I think I started out with germination of rugosa achenes about 6 years ago. For that reason I commend shrub's comments most highly, please take 100% heed of them, because I completely endorse them. My viewpoint is also a very practical one, and although I am blessed that I can afford just about any gizmo or setup my heart would desire, I restrict myself however, I don't just go out and get the "newest and the best", don't play into manufacturer's hype, learn how to recognize real data from bogus. My holy grail is "most bang for the buck". I work hard for my money, and I try to spend it as wisely as I am able. The aquarium community is very good at evaluating reflectors, that's why I bought myself some lumenmax reflectors, although they're bent metal, the bends to the first approximation if a full parabola. I recommend them. Choice of lamps: Pulse start metal halide, blows away conventional halide by a country mile, there is absolutely no reason why anyone should use probe start for growing on land. Venture lamps sold by businesslights.com have a perfect spectrum for vegetative, can be run continuously, and in that mode last up to 30,000 hours. For general growing, a ratio of 2 x HPS : 1 x MH maximizes the terrific growing power of the sodium lamp and adds the blue spectrum that is critical for synthesis of chlorophyll and to discourage stem elongation. Try to design your garden so that it has at least 3 "sides", and cover the sides with mylar. A garden illuminated by 2 lamps, and surrounded by mylar, due to reflection, is equivalent of a garden out in the open illuminated with 3 lamps. For example I built a grow-closet, and lined all 4 sides by mylar, but my next project is to have a garden across the short dimension of a room that has kind of a 8' alcove. The back and sides of the "alcove" are covered in mylar, and the front is open, for general viewing, and access to work on it. Practical things and attention to detail is always critically important. The aquarium community must grapple with very high scattering losses of water. Scattering is proportional to wavelength (why the sky is blue), and for any useful light to reach the bottom of the aquarium, it must be top heavy with very short wavelength (blue violet). Aquarium owners also grow beautiful ?coral or other vegetation, they have colorful fish, and the extremely high color lamps are essential for the esthetics. Remember, the aquarium owner is buying it for pleasure to look at, we are buying for maximum size of crop for us to eat (vegetables and fruits), admire (various ornamental plant), or smoke, as the case may be. So while I am grateful to the aquarium community, and like yourself have read over extensively the forum discussions, the bottom line is I adapt what I learn there and apply it to land farming. Also why I study the cannabis growing forum, but due to LEO, the best forum overgrow.com was shut down. If you visit plantlightinghydroponics.com you will even notice that under their horticultural lamp selection, they superimpose the photosynthesis activity spectrum with the spectal output of the lamps they sell. However, the regular horizontal 400W pulse start Venture metal halide lamp sold in the sister company businesslights.com has the exact same spectral output as a SunMaster "horticultural vegetative" lamp, but has higher lumen output and longer lumen maintenance.Paul Mozarowski.

Well, Diana, you've just broken the poor "teddy bear"'s heart! See how dejected she is? Actually that's her usual pose, in the middle of the kitchen floor with her legs folded up underneath her like a camel. She is a goofball! And she's also as fat as a toad thanks to all of the treats that she's been getting lately (the vet says that she isn't...SHE insists that she isn't but I know the truth). She was delighted enough to give the box a big "snoof", that was treat enough for her. Plus she helped my son play with all of the bubblewrap :-). But thank you. She is very cute and very goofy and she makes us laugh a lot. She's a rescue rottie. Nina

Regarding your request for info on CRF Resales in Florida: Yes! There are 20 fabulous CRF resale retirement communities in central Florida. Perhaps the reason you have seen the CRF Resale name come up so often on the search engines is because they have been successfully owning and operating so many retirement communities for so long. They have been catering to retirees for OVER 30 YEARS and practice makes perfect! You can find out all about the communities, amenities, prices, even photos of all the homes for sale at www.CRFresales.com And, on a more personal note, my husband and I spent 47 years in the Chicago land area and decided to move to Florida to escape the harsh winters. We looked at dozens of communities during our Florida home search and during our search and CRF Communities were among the many we visited. We were impressed by the care they take in their communities, the landscaping, the activities, the amenities and the great sales managers. The home prices were excellent and the lot rents were reasonable -- considering how much nicer the communities were than the others we visited. We purchased a home in a CRF community and everything went very smoothly at the closing. We purchased through the community sales manager which really helped to streamline the entire process. We did our homework first on the internet and narrowed down locations first and then came down for about a week and stayed in several hotels, checking out all the 55+ communities. It was a lot of footwork but well worth it. We've been here in Florida now for nearly three years and just love the lifestyle! In fact, I was so impressed with the company that I applied for a job! I love working for a company that helps seniors to experience the dream Florida retirement lifestyle without spending a fortune. They have homes in just about every price range from $6,000.00 to $160,000.00 and if you want to stay active during your retirement, there is so much to do! I could go on and on but you get the idea. Just check out the website at www.CRFresales.com and then when you arrive in Florida be sure to tour the CRF communities so you can see for yourself why these communities are considered a "cut above" the rest. Good luck to you! I hope this information helps you. Here is a link that might be useful: CRF Resales

Friends bought in an age-restricted, gated community in California about ten years ago. We've visited them. It's not for me, and I really doubt it's for them, but they couldn't get their money out if they sold now. As for being 'gated', there is a gate, but no fencing! This means that an ambulance has to wait to clear the gate; any burglar could walk through the property. The homes are single-family, single-level, all white. The landscaping is perfectly maintained. It's completely SILENT. There are no pedestrians. Eerie. As we approached our friends' home the first day I couldn't quite place the feeling I had. When we drove off two days later I recognized what I felt. It was like a gigantic mausoleum. My friend writes that this neighbor or that one is coping with a dying spouse or is now widowed, or that so-and-so has sickened and died. It's darn depressing! In an ordinary community there's a balance; none there. Why do builders continue to build these developments? Because Seniors are a large source of cash in this economy. We've never wanted a so-called 'no maintenence' community. We'd rather decide for ourselves what needs maintaining and who we want to do the work -- not pay dues to a committee that awards the work -- or doesn't think work we want done is necessary. We don't golf and don't want to pay to support a course. We have an excellent Senior Center in our town with minimal membership fees and activities we can participate in (and pay for) as we wish. Our library is excellent. We're minutes from town and medical care. Our friends are not exactly 'nowhere', but you can see it from there! LOL They have a long drive to hospitals, doctors and shops. (There are some nearby, but not top-notch.) We own a vacation rental condo on Maui in a development of over 300. Some owners are in default on their fees. Some have been foreclosed upon. The association is last in line to collect on a lein. It gets no money while a propety sits on the market, and little even when it sells. I don't want this situation for my main residence.