Some answers to your questions: Looking up at the bridge, there is a path going both left (sunny) and right (high shade). Given the range of light, and my tendency to collect plants, it will be a mixed planting. My back is fine. You can actually move quite large rocks yourself. I find that one or two rolls, and then rest - keeps strain down on the back. It takes patience and some tools. I would not be without my pry bar, and dolly. I actually don't add much water. The last couple of years have not been so dry. I don't really winterize. I try to remove fallen leaves. Before the first good frost, I take the pump inside. The lower pond is almost 3 ft deep so the gold fish should survive. Done - Winterized. I agree that some more large bolders in the garden would make it more natural looking. I am working on that. Most of the planting will end up being 1-2 ft tall, or more, so most bolders would be covered. Since the stones are mostly limestone, they stay wet and I should be able to get moss growing on them. I'll be spraying with yogurt next summer to encourage this.

Hi, Been away all day. Zep, sorry, I just re-read your posts and then checked the responses from HP and you are right. They are saying to use the F8 key, but their first choice was to use the F10 to get to BIOS to see if anything showed up on that screen. In reading what they said about the F8, it says that as soon as the first screen comes up....my problem is....NO screens come up....nothing. I tried the F10 and yesterday I did the F8 and nothing happened. So now they are telling me to remove and reset the memory modules and remove and reset the hard drive. They sent me a link which shows step by step how to do it. I have opened it up before to clean, but never de-tached anything. Really....what is my best plan regarding the static electricity. It says do it on a hard surface....non-carpeted floor. That I can do. It says "To reduce the chance of ESD damage, work over a noncarpeted floor, use a static dissipative work surface (such as a conductive foam pad)" and wear a wrist band, which I don't have. What can I do?

I didn't have Block Tool but now I do! Thanks! What a great way to alter the size of blocks. I've never seen so many size options. I have quiltfab and quiltref and use them all the time. When I was doing the hand quilting on my wallhanging before the holidays I used the stitch length diagram constantly to compare against and keep consistent. I just upgraded from the Touch (w/out camera) to the Phone - it was an early birthday present. It was a refurb purchased from at&t and very reasonably priced. It looks brand new and like it's never been out of the box before I got it. Even more than the camera, I like the map feature. When I was quilt shop hopping yesterday, we had trouble finding one of the new stores. I was able to look them up, click on the location link, and POP! There was a map, with a little moving dot for me and a dot for the store. I didn't even have to call them for directions. I guess I should have known it had that ability but I hadn't used it before. So cool! Kate (aka Techno-Twinkie)

Reporting in from coastal L.A. metro area. We are not crashing so far. Los Angeles county has not been hit like Riverside and San Diego counties because there were no big developments built here like is those areas, inundating those areas with excess inventory and hurting existing home sales. Area by area you will see some differences. But as long as new immigrants and their money keeps pouring in, Los Angeles will be relatively stable. January is very slow of course, and there is little activity going on as people sit and wait. I see some significant price dropping on the lowest end -- older condos in less desireable areas (next to a freeway for example). I'm eyeballing these as potential rental properties. I would NOT recommend buying these to live in, as they keep coming down and like I said - bad location in an area where location, location, location is key. On the high end, nice properties are holding or increasing their value. Old pieces of crap that need lots of work? Those are starting to come down, as they should. To answer your specific questions: "I heard that, unless you have 20% down, you won't be getting a loan anytime soon." This may be true, start calling the banks to see what they say. " I also heard that properties are staying on the market longer but eventually do sell and price is dependent upon how "desperate" the sellers are." See my notice about old pieces of crap. If you can do any re-habbing yourself - this is your time to buy in desireable areas, as older owners finally decide to cash out and move to Florida or AZ, or have died and their homes are sold. I've looked at almost everything on the market in my area under a million dollars and guess what? They are small, gross tear-downs. If you can handle at least carpeting or other flooring, painting, tiling, minor repairs and replacements, these will be your best bets. "Are sellers refusing to lower prices and buyers refusing to buy?" Yes, there's a lot of stalemating going on. But those who have to move will have to keep dropping prices. You will need to work with a local agent to find the motivated sellers for you as soon as they hit the market. " And, with the redefinition of mortgage terms, how are people really going to afford to buy property?" Again, see my notice about wealthy immigrants. There are a lot of wealthy folks here, period. Twenty-somethings will continue renting unless wealthy parents help them out. My neighbor's 4 grown children have all left the state. Tell us what area you're moving to and I can give you more specific info.