So my home-made controller project has been going well. I had a small setback today when I thought it would be slick to pull 24 volts off the thermostat transformer to use for all my controller relays and signals after throttling it down to 12V or 5V. My thought was that this would power everything off with the flip of the furnace switch. Good idea in concept, but after the house started getting very warm, I realized that with my controller having access to ground, I had a situation where half voltage of the transformer was now flowing through the zone valves which made them open and call for heat (slower than normal, but it happened just the same. Foolish mistake I know. So I guess I posted this so maybe it will help someone who knows less than me, if that is possible. To the smart guys that inspire me, go easy on my bone headed move. At least I know enough to stay from the high voltage stuff.