think I answered my own question ....
SELECT a.attnum, a.attname AS field, a.atttypid AS column_type, a.atttypmod
AS type_specific, c.relname AS table_name FROM pg_class c, pg_attribute a
WHERE c.relname NOT LIKE 'pg%' AND relkind = 'r' AND a.attnum > 0 AND
a.attrelid = c.oid ORDER BY table_name, attnum;
this will now list column_type, and type_specific which is type-specific
data such as varchar length.