Tamara, thanks for taking input. Upload feature: Needs to be tweaked so the image info stays in the browse box after one clicks preview. Several times a day people post and wonder why their picture is missing. It's because they clicked preview, edited their comments again. This causes the picture to disappear. Please fix this!! Main forum page: If this was dynamic, that would save a lot of time. Many forums have an indicator to tell you if a forum has new posts since your last visit. I like to stay current in about 25 of the GW forums, and it takes a lot of time to click each one to see if there are new posts. Email notifications: Thanks for adding these, but only one notice should be needed per thread. TripAdvisor sends one notice only until you re-visit a thread, no matter how many new posts are added, until you visit it again. PLEASE PLEASE fix it so paragraphs can be used in profile info! It would be so cool to be able to access the pictures each user has uploaded via a link in their profile. Thanks & have a great day!

Up till this past April when I changed ISP and got a new e-mail address I had some really nice e-mail conversations. But since last April I've been trying to get GW to change my e-mail address and it just isn't working. I've been to my personal page,I've sent e-mail to the "powers to be" and still I can't get the e-mail changed. gypsypat@finestplanet.com SOooooothis fall I'll see about getting a new ISP and see if that will take, then maybe I can resume some much missed friendships. Pat

Hi, TigerDunes, Thank you for your response. I'm thrilled to see that we shouldn't be expecting a minimum of $10,000 to $15,000!!! I posted at close to 1:30 a.m. Pacific Time, and I just got home from work about 7:30 p.m. so I'm just now getting online, after 8:00 p.m. Yes, we're sort of thinking we'd replace the furnace only, keeping the outside AC condenser. We're not at all opposed to replacing the AC condenser, but it hasn't given us problems, so if it would be a huge increase in cost to replace it, we'd skip that, at least on this go-round. If it's not a huge increase in cost, we'd replace it along with the furnace. Yes, we'd want a unit that's tax credit qualified. I have no idea what size and efficiency we're replacing. I looked for the booklet/paperwork on it before I came upstairs, but I can't find it. Used to keep all of those things in a drawer in the kitchen, but I discovered tonight that my husband repurposed that drawer for wine accessories... and he cannot remember where he put all of the booklets/paperwork, although he states he didn't throw the stuff away. I do know that the existing units (furnace and AC) have been sufficient to keep the house nice and warm in the winter and nice and chilled in the summer. There are just the two of us living here, and we both work full time, Monday through Friday. The set-back thermostat is completely programmed, both for summer and winter. The appropriate unit is programmed to come on approximately 30 minutes before I get up (takes me longer to get ready in the morning than it takes my Hubs), to warm/cool the house as necessary, and then it goes off (well, maintains a colder-in-the-winter or warmer-in-the-summer temperature) about 30 minutes before we leave for work, until about 30 minutes before we get home when it comes on again to again make the interior comfortable. Then it will cycle on/off as necessary throughout the evening until about 11:30 p.m. when it again shuts off and only comes on if it gets way too cold (winter) or way too warm (summer) overnight. On weekends it's programmed to not come on until about 90 minutes later than during the week, and will maintain the "morning temperature" throughout the day and evening and then shut off at 11:30 p.m. As for "normal winter temperatures" here... gosh... OK, I just Googled "normal winter temperatures for Sacramento, California," and one of the results had this to say: "Sacramento, CA climate is warm during summer when temperatures tend to be in the 70's and cool during winter when temperatures tend to be in the 50's. The warmest month of the year is July with an average maximum temperature of 93.80 degrees Fahrenheit, while the coldest month of the year is December with an average minimum temperature of 40.40 degrees Fahrenheit. Temperature variations between night and day tend to be relatively big during summer with a difference that can reach 32 degrees Fahrenheit, and fairly limited during winter with an average difference of 16 degrees Fahrenheit. The annual average precipitation at Sacramento is 19.87 Inches. Winter months tend to be wetter than summer months. The wettest month of the year is January with an average rainfall of 4.18 Inches." Another site said this: "The climate for Sacramento is Mediterranean with mild winters and dry summers. There is usually low humidity in the area. Light rainfall usually falls between December and February. Sacramento average annual rainfall is 17.18 inches per year The average winter temperature is 53.5 degrees F. The average spring temperature is 64.0 degrees F. The average summer temperature is 88.0 degrees F. The average fall temperature is 72 degrees F." It can, and does, get above 100 degrees in July and/or August. Every winter we probably have one or two nights where it gets down to the low 30-degree range. But as long as the house is somewhere in the low to mid 70-degree range in the winter, and no more than mid 80-degree range in the summer, we'd be happy. Does any of that help?

Wow there are a ton of updates since I've been on here last! End of the month rush to fill up this thread? I didn't know about separating onion sets/plants either. I have a bundle of Walla Walla that I'll probably get out into the garden this weekend.. not sure its worth unbundling now but I'll try to remember for next year! @tana - Yes I would love to talk canning! God willing we will all have great harvests this year! I take a really simple approach most years... freeze maters in 1 gal bags, then when ready to can, rinse under hot water to peel skins then into the big ol pot they go. I have an immersion blender that helps break everything down. @sunflowers - cool that you are doing the mason bee thing. I never knew they were that great for the garden.... I always saw them as something that destroyed my rocking chairs/pergola/anything that's wooden. I have some reclaimed lumber that they got a hold of last year... I end up cutting it in slices just to see how they did their holes. It is amazing how perfectly round they get them! As long as we're talking about ordering bugs online, I am trying praying mantis eggs this year. Hopefully they will be around when the Japanese beetles swarm. My 4 year old thinks they are the coolest, he keeps asking me to play youtube videos of them hatching. Cant wait to see his face when he sees the real thing. Wife is tentatively okay with having them in the house for now (if little one wasn't so excited about them she wouldn't have it). Made some progress the past couple days. Planted that broccoli in the pumpkin bed and will take the advise on here to just chop it down but leave roots intact when its done. Sowed some more lettuce/spinach. Built the rest of my ‘perimeter’ beds (three 2x6 beds, and two 2x4 beds). Made up some 5-1-1-ish potting soil and filled up all the front porch containers. Planted some hop rhizomes in the four biggest containers (Cascade, Willamette, CTZ, and Crystal). Plan is to have them climb up each corner of our pergola and train them along the top...we did it with morning glories last year and really liked the shade/comfort it provided. Im not sure the hops will be as aggressive as a first year plant but we're going to see how it goes. Still have to move the fence and build the two beds that will have peppers this year (6x5 each). Tomato seedlings are doing well with most having their first set of true leaves. Pepper young'n's (whipper snappers?) are doing great, really starting to take off now. Everything else has sprouted, petunias are taking forever to do anything. I really should take more pictures. Oh and I have to get my drip irrigation lines planned and then installed. Thinking of running 1/2 inch line through all the beds and then either adjustable emitters either directly on the 1/2 line or attached to 1/4 inch line when plants are further away. I tried running longer 1/4 inch line last year and it quickly became a tangled mess. Really itching to get one of those Rachio or other smart sprinkler controllers but I’m pretty sure my yard/garden budget is way over this year already and I still need to bring in/find/dig up a few yards of planting material. Sorry for the novel.