Thanks codington,
I greatly appreciate your reply,
I kinda figured it was RM. I guess RM just has 1.7 as part of it? Based on what you said, if I understand, is the only way to keep 1.9 is to not flash CWM. Otherwise I would have to flash 1.9 whenever needed. That is what happened when I tried it.
By fastboot do you mean I have to go thru ADB or can I flash it thru Terminal Emulator. I did see some fastboot instructions on OP page. That is how I initially flashed 1.7.
I was able to flash MIUI roms that state 1.9 needed with RM by putting them on root of sd card then boot into recovery and flashing thru Clockwork Mod, not RM.
Ken