SRS, good, good points! You friend should be a model to all who want to live in more "out of the way" places! As well, you should be a model for those who live in urban areas. Some cities, such as Portland, Oregon, do try and have a much more "humane" way of life to offer than most. I've heard the same is true of Canberra, Australia.

We just bought an old house in a small neighbourhood. One thing we are going to do is add-on a sunroom, across the western side, with solar collector's etc., harvesting that Colorado sun, for our own energy-saving heat, etc. I would love to revamp the whole system and add in an "on-demand" hot water heater, but they are still so expensive. I know it's a catch twenty-two...the more of them we buy, the lower the prices, hopefully...

sorry for the drift...kat