michaelg, I have been told to do that and never have, but good reminder. The drip irrigation is a bit harder to determine, as this is the hose with holes every foot or so, so it is not a tube directly feeding each plant, but I will see what the rest of the system does. I am curious how long an average system runs...and I know time should not be the measurement, but wondering if I am way off. Thanks for the input, and I will do that. Jeri, great idea. I am hoping to get the remainders of my "in pot's" in the ground...but 106 today!! It is so hard to leave these unattended. On your timers, how long do you run them? TOO, I have wondered if I debudded roses in hotter areas of the yard, if that would help destress them. I recall one year I pruned a bit, and ended up killing a few, as I guess they took that as a sign to grow. But debudding? Sounds like an option. What do you think?

Hmmmm. Can't remember now if it's Plimouth or Sturbridge. Either way, I think one of those would be fun. We aren't "museum" people, but we like seeing how people used to live. I'd love to have spent more time in Salem on my first whiz-by trip. I think we ate lunch there, and that was all. I recall a very quaint downtown area with brick streets (?). Lot of witch museums there, and we stopped at a junk store. :-) I'll have to get out the journal my niece kept on that trip. We stopped somewhere in a very quaint place along a river and ate lunch. WOW - that narrows it down, huh? LOL! As much as I'd like to have unlimited time, one day in DC and one in NYC was enough for me the first time. It was very much a "been there, saw that" type of trip. We had a hoot! Plymoth Rock was my only disappointment...I somehow thought it would be a huge rock out in the water. *rolling eyes*

A number of years ago, something similar happened in an office I worked in. The people left town without letting the agency know (this was before scheduling companies). They had 2 indoor cats & they had had a big dog, but it had...something. died, kid took it to his new place, something. In-house agent shows the house one day & there's the cutest little dust mop of a dog inside, friendly as all get out, bouncing off the walls, wagging, etc. Cats are under the bed. Agent notices the water bowl is empty, so she fills it & writes owners a note, something like: "Congratulations on your new dog! showed house, filled water bowl, picked up pillows off floor." Homeowner returns, flies into a rage, demands agency pay for the damage caused by... somebody else's dog. That's right. The dog was a "neighborhood" dog, & of course after this nobody was claiming it. Broker declined, said homeowner hadn't even told her they were going out of town, & agent did not let the dog in. There was no way to find out who had let the dog in. Homeowner said her insurance company told her "they're gonna make you pay for it", especially since agent had written a note "admitting" that the dog was in the house. Broker contacts liability carrier who says: no dice. Brokerage had no way of knowing that a dog inside the house was not the homeowner's dog. Adjuster said it would have been worse had the dog belonged there & the agent had let it out. What you have to do, I think, is communicate *everything*, even if it seems like you're overcommunicating. Tell agent you're going out of town, post placards on doors ("Dog in backyard is friendly but jumps on people" etc). & realize that sometimes stuff just happens, & nobody's going to pay you for it. The cats walked in like they lived there. The dog walked in (probably) like it lived there. Everybody lived over it. & we did sell that house.

lololol.. I can sooooo relate. I work from home some too, and sometimes I was grateful I was there to answer questions. But dangit, I have a GC who is suppose to funnel this stuff. I can so relate to the "tile" guy with my "granite guy". I hate when they just assume that I made a mistake in my request. Ummm, hello it wasn't a "suggestion" or "request", it was A REQUIREMENT. arrrgghhh Have a bottle of wine on me. If this project doesn't turn people into alcoholics I don't know what will.