Hope you get rain soon - I don't know what official was since it lasted past midnight (I think) and my rain gauge was cracked, but Weather Underground station near us recorded 0.18", TWC says 0.28. Guess I'll have to get the wheelbarrow on level ground and measure how much was in that (DH leaves it upright - drives me crazy but I don't always catch it and til it over before a storm). I'm using a double layer (uncut bags) of burlap covered with bark mulch, hay, whatever I can get my hands on, between rows near the house. Out in the 3000sf area with raised beds that we just fenced, I started putting wood chips but only got about 1 cy and the weeds are growing up through it even though I put it on about 3" thick at the end where the weeds were the worst. I didn't pull them, just tried to smother them - didn't work. We have something really tenacious that even started growing (weak and spindly-looking like bean sprouts) under the burlap on the beds, but practically have to dig *those* out, stems just break when you pull. I haven't been out there to check potatoes and onions, but the greens, strawberries, peas, blueberries near the house look fine, not flattened, no berries knocked off. Looks like a deer nipped off a couple of shoots of 1 of my raspberries though - spit 1 out but I didn't find the other. Guess I have to fence/net off those 2 rows while they're growing. I hope they won't bother them once they're tougher and spinier - though I don't know about the TC blackberries since those are thornless. I don't really want to have to fence off the whole area since we have grass/weeds growing between the mounded rows (24 ft long), just the width of the lawnmower. But if I have to I'll put burlap and mulch down there too, try to smother everything (after mowing first!). And make a gate at 1 end between the 2 rows (was going to add a 3rd eventually) so we can get in. I hope a 6-7ft wide x 25 long area sloping downhill (rows run across the slope) doesn't need to be fenced 7ft high to keep the deer out. That's why I haven't left my tomato plants out at night - take them into garage - the wildlife around here is so bold, the motion sensor light doesn't deter the bear getting into garbage right outside garage, and the deer and turkeys will come right up to the house at night, and into the backyard during the day. Found deer prints going over my potato bed (1ft high) and a couple of seed potatoes pulled out of the ground before we put the fence up. Of course, down there (1000ft from house) it's like a deer/turkey/bear/coyote superhighway, from all the tracks we find.

Thanks for all the insight everyone. I've been experiencing some major problems with the washer recently, which backup your theories about the glass door scratches. Namely, when the washer gets out of balance the tub is moving so far in every direction that it seems to be hitting the exterior of the washer! Or at least that's what it sounds like. I've taken a close look when it gets crazy out of balance like this, and while I've never caught the tub hitting the glass, it looks to come pretty close. It also causes the gasket to ripple like crazy as the tub moves back and forth towards the door. Obviously something is wrong with the washer. I never noticed this behaviour during my first loads in the machine which caused the scratches, but I wasn't sticking around to pay attention to the wash cycles at that time like I am now. The balance problem / tub movement seems to be getting worse with each use of the machine! I wonder if each time it goes out of balance it is damaging the (presumably already damaged) suspension each time? I'm wondering if it was defective from day 1, or if the delivery people did something wrong. When they came on delivery day they unboxed the washer and dryer on the street, lay them down on their backs, screwed on the pedestals, then brought them in the house upright on dollies. I didn't see if they removed the shipping bolts before or after bringing the machine into the house. In any case, I went to Sears and told the salesperson what's going on. I also brought a video I took on my phone of the spin cycle going nuts and hitting all over the place. He watched the video for just a few seconds and said from the sound of it he could immediately tell something was wrong. He ordered a new unit to exchange this one, so hopefully all will be operating normal soon.

Congrats on the new car! Nothing is more fun than a brand new car. It is beautiful, and it gets very good reviews too. It will be perfect to haul laundry in. I am like Hmorton with the interior - I would get that beautiful cream color grimy in no time. I have a black interior in my car, and I actually don't like it aesthetically, but it does hide dirt, and that was the consideration that won when I was choosing the interior color. I hear there are treatments one can do to car interiors so that any spills will wipe up and not sink in.

Hey, if you're bearing a plate of brownies (or even better - cheesecake!) you're 100% welcome at my house...I'll return the plate too! ;) We have an older gentleman who lives across the street from us who has always been so helpful and friendly - he even shoveled our front steps for me because he knew the mister was out of town for work, we've had him over for dinner with our little family several times, and when the water heater valve thingy broke and it became a gushing fountain (which I couldn't reach to turn off) I was able to run over to his house and he sent his grandson over to help me out! His children and grandkids don't live local and his wife passed away several years ago now. He's brought over brownies for the kids, last summer he'd bought a big thing of fresh strawberries but forgot that he was leaving town for a week the day after buying them so he brought them over to us instead. A very sweet man, our dog likes him even! When we first moved in, he came over to introduce himself while we were outside unloading our stuff and we bonded over being long-time California residents who relocated to Omaha. I do miss all the different salads in California, lots of fresh produce year round...We knew that it would be a big change going from there to here, and it's taken some adjusting. I liked a lot about our prior home, and I like a lot about our current one. But I will never ever do another residential move - so the mister has been put on notice that we're going to die in this house before I'll move even just across town again. ;) Nowhere is ever perfect, you just have to focus on the stuff you like and look for ways you might be able to improve the setting to allow you to enjoy what you have and what is possible. I will say, don't let someone who won't be living with you to decide on the color palette or furniture for you. Lol...In my case, it ended up with me living in a beige hellscape and only months after moving in, frequently ruined manicures from clawing open the hardware-less doors on chipping 'swiss coffee'-painted cabinets/stair railing both in the kitchen and upstairs in the vanity/bathroom area. (I'd asked my mom to help get the painting stuff and carpet/floors handled at the time, I'd forgotten that we have totally different tastes and so on...)