True, plastic should kill anything under there, including the microbes that decompose organic matter and make soil healthy. An odor can develop from anaerobic decomposition of large amounts of fresh green material. Plastic must be removed to garden an area smothered this way, and isn't visually appealing while waiting. Newspaper or cardboard are usually left in place because they decompose, so can be covered with mulch when laid, for an instant 'finished' look even though it's only the 1st step. Smothering with organic matter like this encourages/feeds the microbes, not kill them, and decomposes the weed matter aerobically, no concerns over foul odors or creating lifeless soil. To have a great garden, you need 'good dirt.' Pulling little sprouts as soon as you see them is easy. Pulling a big patch of something that's grown tenacious roots is hard and takes exponentially more time. Patrol/pull often and it should only take a few minutes. Doing that feels like you're mostly looking at your 'good' plants, because you are, bending occasionally to pull any sprouts you see. I usually leave them laying right where they were, to wither in the sun within hours and return their nutrients to the soil. Once you stop any weeds from dropping new seeds for a whole year in a yard, you'll be amazed at how many fewer weeds you'll see in successive years. Control is easy to maintain, so much easier than to gain initially, so don't be frustrated by all of the work the first year, or lie to yourself by doing things like just breaking the tops off of perennials but leaving the roots. (If you 'pulled' it once but it's still there, it wasn't killed or pulled, just pruned - and now you know the root must be killed/removed for certain death to result from your efforts.) Pour boiling water on that root, or get a shovel, dandelion fork, something that truly has a chance of killing that thing/getting completely rid of it. Continuing to do ineffective things is a waste of your time, and ends up using more of it in the long-term, so do it thoroughly the first time, a few more minutes, but is then the only time you deal with that thing. Birds, other critters, and wind will always bring unwanted seeds, but patches of weeds come purely from neglecting to pull something before it's produced seeds in your yard, often a single plant that can be 10,000 plants the next year if left to leave its' seeds. The other primary area of concern is those that creep in from adjacent property. Sometimes a hard barrier is needed, a row of bricks, landscape timbers, to extremes such as a trench filled with concrete. Make the effort/expense of hardscape if possible and necessary to thwart a yearly or constant border battle. Go extreme, complete, total, one year, truly getting rid of anything perennial at the roots, and not allowing anything to drop seeds, install whatever barriers or measures are necessary to enforce your borders, and then maintaining...

"I just wonder why at this point a couple of degrees makes a difference.........LOL>" I think it is because of the rule of thumb. You know, the one that says you need another hot toddy for every five degrees colder it gets. ;)

I have a girlfriend who is a real estate agent. She told us that refinancing is basically a scam because there are so many fees involved. We were trying to decide whether to continue investing in mutual funds in this iffy market or pay off the mortgage, so we saw our financial advisor in January. He said that since the market is just as likely to go down as to go up, we would be safer paying off the mortgage, but if we buy mutual funds, we are buying at a low price, which is a good thing. So we are doing 50 -50, investing and paying down the mortgage. It feels SO good to be paying off the mortgage. Will be done in two years or less, and we brought the house in 1992. (Didn't start adding to the principal until two years ago.) I would not take cash out, nor would I refinance. The whole point is to pay off the mortgage, not make it last forever. Taking money out to invest might have made sense in the 90s when the market was booming, but not now. Everyone should manage their finances as if they might lose their job next month. I have NEVER made car payments, so I agree with landmarker, you should have been saving for a new/replacement car. If you don't have the ready cash to buy a new car, I agree that you should buy a used car. You obviously know enough about cars (Congratulations!) to be able to pick a good one. Buy a used car, pay it down as fast as you can, then go back to paying down your mortgage principal but also save for the next replacement car. You know what they say - the value of a new car drops as soon as you drive it off the lot.

This has always been a political analogy. There is no friend with a credit card. And yes, welcome to the US. Where some people care more about who wins the next election than the well-being of the entire country. Where many, many people vote not on the issues but because of their hatred of certain parties. Where our elected officials fight like stubborn pre-schoolers while we're left helpless with nothing to do but watch. It's just way too over simplistic to just say "well stop spending" because that doesn't solve the problem right now, which is that in exactly 2 days we could have a crisis. People who depend on social security checks might not get them. Loss of our credit rating means car loans, mortgages, all interest rates will shoot up. Our dollar will fall even lower than it is now. All the people who depend on social security, that they paid into, will risk defaulting on their own mortgages and bills because they don't get their check on time. This painful recession will be nothing compared to what will happen if the US can't pay it's bills and loses it's top credit rating. Anyone who relies on social security, on medicare, on medicaid, on disability, on military pensions, on any kind of government assistance will not be able to rely on that income anymore. Everyone is saying "Don't spend more!" but where do you think these checks come from? And trust me, social security will NOT be the first thing the US pays if it has to pick and choose bills. Figuring out the debt, raising taxes, cutting spending...that's all fine and well but those things take time. We don't have time. I hope everyone who relies on this money has a back up plan.