I'm not a patio pro so am just bringing up issues that I've encountered with some of my own projects. It's not impossible to do something for $200 but you really have to examine your priorities for usage and your expectations. Also, I wouldn't be able to assess your site, the drainage issues, existing "levelness" and other factors that influenc whether you can get away with various shortcuts. For example, it is possible to create a mulch patio that works modestly well for sitting and dining, if you can corral it with 4x4's or something, have good drainage, use maybe ? cypress mulch or something, don't pack against house, don't make a fire. Regular cast concrete pavers, 16 or 18 square, are cheaper than the brick-patterned ones, cost a little over $4 new, you can do the math. But whether and how much you need to prepare site, again depends on site. Always best to do the typical dug-out prep but sometimes can get away with less for very informal DIY effect, again depends. cracks have to be filled with something, sand usually. Harder to sink these in mulch for a patio, 'cause mulch will keep floating up between cracks, whereas it works in a pathway because individual pavers can stand out a bit. For a very small area, you still might be able to get someone to build you a floating deck for somewhere near your price, or you might be able to find commercial items by searching web, not for teak but for a substitute. Last year at a discount center I bought several sets of "Indonesian hardwood" decking squares, very similar to what nativenut described but the poor man's teak, for about $1/square foot, but it was at the end of season sale.

Yes there are issues with any medical system including Canada's. My Dad's cardiologist, nephrologist and oncologist all have practices just north of Philadelphia. I've spent many hours taking my Dad to his specialists during the last 2 years he lived with us and I met quite a few Canadians who had come here for treatment. There were many reasons- the wait time for a pacemaker was too long, the treatment wasn't available, the patient was deemed too old to qualify for the surgery (not too unhealthy for the surgery, but beyond the age perimeters). One of the reasons Natasha Richardson died of her head injuries is that Quebec didn't have a Medivac helicopter which is something we see fairly regularly here. Yes she didn't wear a helmet and refused initial treatment - but after collapsing and a medical emergency was apparent the only option was a 2 1/2 hour ride to the trauma center. While the US is critiqued (often fairly) for too many tests like MRI's and Cat Scans as of a year ago Pittsburgh, PA had more units than all of Canada. My neighbor brough his mother over from the Netherlands because she needed heart valve surgery and she couldn't get it at home due to her age. Every aspect of medicine care is over due for reform. Please don't think I'm trying to be unduly harsh on the Canadian system, I'm just pointing out that one isn't necessarily better at across the board medical care. There's a lot we could learn from the government run systems and it's going to be a hair pulling experience watching our Congress try to find the remedy (and pay for it).

Only response is that she just doesn't like them. What about if we used garapa for the balusters--like the rest of the deck--and just stained it to match?? I would imagine i could then just use a paint sprayer to spread the stain over both the baluster and the deck itself with proper coverage for overspray which hopefully wouldn't be too difficult. What do you think?

I suggest that for the pile of complexity known as an induction cooktop or induction range (only the cooktop is induction), that the price of the unit be considered a rental cost. Factory warranty is typically for only one year without a warranty extension. With a warranty extension divide by 5 for a yearly rental cost when you have a 5-year warranty, and by larger values if the warranty can be extended further (warranty costs add to purchase price). My Frigidaire cooktop is running OK at 8 years with warranty extensions so my yearly "rental" has dropped to under $250 (guessing). So Maxim 1 is to buy warranty extensions for pricey, reliability-challenged appliances, and if such an appliance fails after the warranty ends just replace it. Maxim 2 is that price analysis should be combined with an evaluation of warranty costs (should be inversely proportional to reliability) to choose a unit where the imputed yearly rental is affordable.