I saw one on here ages ago where they spray painted it to look like pewter... it was amazing. I think there might have been a gold one too. We had one in our garage for the longest time that my dh was going to turn into a planter... he used bondo for filling the holes. It would have been really cute if he would have ever finished it. Good luck with yours.

Thank you very much! Looking forward to finishing my next project - a Union Jack violin w/ a potential order for a violin w/ the Taiwanese flag on the horizon and I was asked to paint an heirloom cradle for a client after it's refinished.

Getting back to the subject of furnace replacement: I replaced my furnace and A/C units last month. I upgraded to high efficiency units although it means that I won't be able to trouble-shoot and repair my furnace as I did in the past - too much electronics. Also, I must have yearly inspections made to keep the 5 yr warranty in force. I am anticipating a 10% reduction in my gas usage, maybe more. A local company did the installation and met building codes. They also pulled the building permit. I arranged for the final inspection after job completion. My old furnace was 41 yrs old and the A/C 16 yr old. What triggered this job was that the AC quit this summer. This package included: 100,000 btu/hr furnace, about 95% efficient (Replaced a 125,000 btu/hr furnace w/about 70% efficiency) 3 ton AC, SEER 14 (Replaced a 10 SEER unit) Furnace and A/C made by Carrier. Inlet and Outlet PVC pipes installed. Chimney liner (for the gas hot water heater). Added a dedicated 20 amp circuit for the furnace (reused existing 40 amp 240 V for A/C. The old 40 breakers were replaced with 30 amp breakers to match the lower demand of the new A/C. About 8 ft of new air duct was installed to fit the return duct to the new furnace. New digital thermostat installed. Installation time: 1.5 days. Cost: About $8400 Major change: increased efficiency and much reduced air flow up existing chimney. I may find that I will need to increase basement circulation. Both units work well. The real test comes for the furnace in a few months. After about 2 winter months, I will be able to calculate the fuel savings. This can not be done merely by comparing last years fuel use to the present due weather variability. My fuel bill includes degree heating days and this can be used to make a fair comparison. Calculate btu per degree-day to compare. The one missing variable is wind velocity. My heat demand is sensitive to outside wind. To reduce possible wind variation, make calculations over several months and average the results. The more months used, the smaller the wind variance. What forced this work was the failure of the A/C unit. The old unit had lost most of its refrigerant. The cost of testing and repair of the of the old unit was not a good investment. I would have had a patched unit with maybe the old compressor on a 41 yr old furnace. These new, updated units increases the sale value of the house and that is a real consideration. At our ages, we may be faced with moving out within 10 years.

its september.. days are getting shorter.. and trees are shutting down.. the result of shutting down.. is ugly leaves.. we do not treat leaves that will fall off in a few weeks or a month ... trees that are stressed.. can shut down early... stress might be heat.. drought.. hail storm etc.. related.. everything that happened to the tree since the leaves emerged.. causes ugly leaves in fall .. care to tell us what this trees been thru since early spring??? bark maturation and weirdness doesnt really bother me... nothing you can do about it.. other than observe it.... but.. could we see the whole trunk.. including where it goes in the ground.. is the root flare apparent?? ken