If any of you have High Def TV (if you don't, what are you waiting for??), you would probably love this show I caught today on Discovery HD:
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's called "Deconstruction: Science of Building a House".
The ep I saw was "Foundation to Roof" and they visited a lumber mill, explaining old growth vs. fast growth trees, plus shows how they cut down and trim the tree (AMAZING!!!), and kiln dry it in approx 36 hours.
Highly recommend catching it if you can...