The general recommendation for albuquerque is a buffalo/blue grama mix for a xeric turf. I don't think you are going to find that in sod in the abq area though (need to seed it). Otherwise you are not going to have a lawn that doesn't take much water. The other alternative for cool season grasses would be tall fescue. Although it develops a deep root system which makes it a little more drought tolerant than blue grass, it still is going require more water than your thinking. You'll probably end up watering it *at least* twice a week in mid-summer. More so if you are trying to get sod established. As for the dog factor, I don't think buffalo or grama will take the abuse very well. Tall fescue will. One things for sure though, if you're thinking about installing a new lawn, make sure it has a sprinkler system to back it up. It is difficult otherwise to maintain a lawn (especially cool season grass) in abq otherwise. Are you asking too much (low water,heavy foot traffic grass)? Probably. If bermuda grass was generally used here, I'd say go with that. But it is usually grown only in the southern part of the state. It's water requirements are somewhere between fescue and buffalo/grama. It's a very agressive grass though and you would need to contain it somehow.

I bought the drop version online, have you heard if those work ok? Also, I am on acne medication (accutane) with my dermatalogist. She has me give a pregnancy test before each month's new prescription (b/c you can NOT get pregnant while on this medication). I have only 2 months left on the medication and i also get married in 2 months.. so what I'm wondering is.. will this medication (in drop form) give a false positive on a pregnancy test? If it does, she will promptly stop my medications (accutane) and I will have to start clear over again b/c it's a 5-6 month non-stop medication. does anyone know about the pregnancy test stuff? Thanks!

LOL On the boat story :) My worst "catch" was giving a stim shot to myself in a restaurant bathroom. I was taking menopur and follistem. Follistem is one shot and menopur is in a vial and has to be mixed with sterile water (it's actually five vials for my dose). So there I was, alcaholing down the counter in the bathroom, then spreading out all of my drugs, getting the shots ready (you just can't do this while sitting on a toilet). Some young gal walks in and says "Oh my god" and runs out. They left the restaurant LOL What a dork...I wasn't snorting coke. The progesterone and estrogen are supportive to the pregnancy and reduce a significant number of pregnancy losses. You start taking them to build up your lining first, and then once the eggs are retrieved you start the progesterone to make the lining the right texture (something like that LOL) It also helps relax the uturus and keeps cramping down, which can lead to early pregnancy loss. And yes you do the shots at a pretty specific time (progesterone is within a one hour window). They want to keep the levels fairly even in your system for the best chances of success. And because it's in the bumm (large muscle down under that fat somewhere) I would have a hard time doing it myself (though I'm going to have to when he travels...I hear it's no fun). I do them daily for three months. The stim meds were the same, within that hour window, but they are given in the stomach so I did them myself. The last round was four shots a day! Yikes never again LOL My progesterone is not in peanut oil...but it's still in oil that's just a little thinner. They used to tell you to refridgerate it which really makes it bad to take. Now it's kept at room temp which helps, but the shots do cause lasting hip pain and if I don't sit on a heating pad afterwards they leave welts. Ok no they don't think tripplets, just twins (we had two embryo's transfered). Because we did PGD and a 5 day transfer, twin (natural splitting) from one egg are pretty rare (actually they're just a little bit lower than the normal rate without drugs). Everyone has decided if there are twins that's ok, but that I can't carry tripplets. We'd have to reduce and we really don't want to do that so let's hope my odds are just twice as good this month verses three times :oP We do one more blood test tomorrow to see if the "trend" is continuing (doubling to trippling in the 48 hour period) then an ultra sound on the 22 will confirm the number and the viability of the pregnancy. Given the constant nausea I'm told they're pretty good so far :) (Sad when you wish to feel like crap all of the time LOL) I'll keep ya'll posted. (Gold if I have three you have to carry one of them LOL)

Bon, : ) You are so sweet. I grow a gazillion different kinds of flowers every year, but the ones that grow every year are the ones that reseed and come back on their own. I do try to renew them with fresh seeds purchased every few years (like, for example, with new Laura Bush seeds from Wildseed Farms). I want flowers that will self-sow and perpetuate themselves fairly well over time because I don't want to start over from scratch every year. Many perennials can be iffy in clay. They'll thrive for a few years and then an extra hot, dry year (like 2011) will kill them, or an extra cool, extra wet year (like 2007) will get them. Those two extreme types of weather have done a good job on their own of weeding out perennials that cannot tolerate my clay in both extremes. So, when I find something that thrives in both types of extremes, I grow lots of it...hence, the huge poppy population for example. I am fairly picky about flowers----they have to be able to thrive in amended clay with little to no irrigation, no fertilizer beyond what compost and other organic soil amendments provide, only minimal deadheading (because I stay so busy harvesting and canning), no pampering of any kind.....and they need to stay disease-free. That means that I don't bother even planting anything reputed to be picky, persnickety or needing pampering. It also means the flowers I grow bring me much joy because they aren't stressing me out by being high-maintenance. And, yes, many of my favorites either are wildflowers or herbs, and they won't die and you can't kill them,making them perfect for a gardener who has lots of fruits, herbs and veggies and not all that much free time to devote to flowers. Having said all that, I'll give a variety of flower three years to prove its worth if I really want to grow it. If I cannot get it to succeed here with minimal care after three tries, I'm done with it and move on. If I cannot get it to grow at our place after 3 years of trying, I say "it won't grow here" and give up on that one. No one loves the wildflowers more than I do because they are so danged tough. A lot of flowering herbs are the same way---just tough, tough, tough beyond belief. I've been having fun planting flowers that need really well-draining soil in the back garden's sandy area the last couple of years because I cannot grow those in the front garden. However, anything I plant back there may (or may not) be eaten by voles in July and August when they exhaust their supply of whatever the heck they eat down in the woodland before they migrate upland to our garden plot. Wildflowers are kinda perfect for this area because I can watch our pastures and see if those wildflowers survive all summer. If they do, then the voles likely aren't eating them. I love agastache but haven't been able to grow it in the clay soil out front. Last year, Agastache "Blue Fortune" performed wonderfully in the soil out back and, as far as I know, the voles didn't eat the plants unless they have eaten the roots this winter. 'll see if the plants come back this year. If they do, I might plant some other agastache varieties back there. I am in love with all the plants at High Country Gardens but most of them need very well-drained soil that I don't have. So, if I can find something like agastache that the pine voles don't bother, I can order some of the different varieties from HCG and grow them back there, which would make me enormously happy. My daffodils down by the front driveway gate are about to bloom. I am so excited that something is about to bloom because so far the cool-season wildflowers have been really skimpy this year, and I think it is because of all the recent cold weather. The prettiest wildflowers on our property this year are the dandelions. People who love a perfect green carpet-like lawn don't like dandelions, but I love their cheerful yellow flowers, especially when they are the only thing blooming.