Thanks for having a go Daniel. I can never get the antiques roadshow stuff in order btw. Correct that the bottom one or an icy waterfall is acrylic, the other two watercolour. It is £800 or more, possibly over a grand now. The oriental scene is painted on silk and is around 400. The Thames Pool is by a known artist called Scarborough, and worth at least 1200, possibly double if cleaned.

HBO, Heated Rivalry, love story of two hockey players. Free clips on YouTube. I thought this scene was great-- Link to video

@Mik said: Sadly I have nothing to offer but hopes for a good outcome. +1

Yes, I might do that. Here's a question. How do you contract with an agent to represent you (not a listing)? Do you sign a contract? How much about does it cost and how much does he or she get paid and when? I ask because my cousin strongly advised me to do this. (Keep in mind fwiw my cousin has strong opinions or she doesn't bother having them.) Maybe you don't use an agent. Maybe you are an agent. I don't know. I'm not making any assumptions. As you know, this is my first time buying a home. I'm learning everything I can but what I know feels like next to nothing.

That’s what happened when I tried planting grocery store green pepper seeds The plants I got were very small with only one or two tiny peppers.

I apologize for my tangent. The topic is obviously the cabinet. I think there's "nobody home" in this government. The knowledgeable, capable people are in the Pentagon and intelligence. They have been ignored. Both houses of Congress are corrupt and useless. This isn't the Supreme Court's finest hour, either. I'd like to think that this administration is aberrant and there will be a return to some kind of normalcy but I don't know.

American media is censored. Link to video

@AndyD Beautiful things!

Oh no. I’m sorry to hear this. Pulling for speedy and quick recovery.

Trying again. Link to video

I heard about the tornadoes and monster hailstones on the morning news today. The band of storms have reached us today but so far just occasional heavy rain and some thunder, without the severity your area has experienced. I hope our luck holds. Big Al

I tried an informal tasting some time ago. It was subtle but it was there. You might get more flavor by biting into a dry leaf. My recall is that it was kind of camphor-like. Or maybe I’m remembering California bay laurel, plucking leaves off the plant and tasting.

Remember that I'm thinking about the back side of the pedal - which makes a lever idea possible because we want to push UP the back side to lift the dampers. That way it will be pushing between the floor (support) and the underside of the back of the pedal. Getting the mechanical linkage to wrap around behind could be an interesting challenge, which is why I like the idea of a solenoid (like in a player piano system) connected to a pedal or knee switch to activate. It would be "all or nothing" which is simpler than a servo that would allow for half pedal and more sensitive movement. Again, because it is a grand piano, there is access to the back of the pedal to apply lift between that and the floor.

Works great. Never have to pay to sharpen, which I do regularly.

Social services suck. This reminds me of social workers. Social workers suck. This reminds me of non-profits. Non-profits suck. They are private businesses in all but name. They give themselves very large salaries and help people in need in a nominal way. Charities suck. Same set up. They give themselves very large salaries, etc There was a St. Pete con artist who started a non-profit LLC to manage $100,000,000.00 in pooled trust assets for the disabled and their families. He walked off with $100,000,000.00. He was sued but the money was gone. The disabled individuals and their families recovered nothing. I can easily see social services abandoning a child. I'm not buying the stupid non-explanation. Fwiw, I think about how much money non-profits take in and consider the fact that society's problems they are meant to mitigate if not solve not only continue unabated but continue to worsen. I'm reminded of when hospitals dump patients in the street under cover of darkness. We seem to live in a vicious society that feels the need to hide its true nature with a false veneer of caring for its own sake. Social insurance programs are what work and those are being attacked here and in Europe in various ways. Why? Greed, once again. I'm not trying to be cynical. This is only what I have observed over several decades.