Hey Josh! Good to hear from you! I'll tell ya, this gig is crazy. Good money, but man, I don't think that I'll be able to keep it up for more than a year or so. I think I'll just grab as much knowledge as I can and move on. Idk. Craziness. Speaking of CRAZY. The Florida weather IS crazy, especially way down here in the Miami. Fact is, we are a tropical climate here. The only such wet/dry season climate in the continental US. To say that it's a challenge is an understatement. It's either really, really dry and cool(er)(~meaning spring/summer for most~)....or really, really wet and HOT, HOT, HOT - not to mention the constant seasonal threat (and occasional reality) of tropical storms and hurricanes........ * * * A thought jogs his memory and he reflects: ".......I stood in amazment one late August afternoon, when my simple garden thermometer read 95 degrees with a delightfully refreshing 89% humidity, all this without a cloud in the sky.....the jungle.....it's just like the jungle here..." He remembers dark times long past: ".....Everybody wanted me to do it, him most of all. I felt like he was up there, waiting for me to take the pain away. He just wanted to go out like a soldier, standing up, not like some poor, wasted, rag-a$$ed renegade. Even the jungle wanted him dead, and that's who he really took his orders from anyway......." He snaps back to the reality of his computer screen and chuckles. * * * You'll either enjoy that APNow reference wrapped up in my garden reality, or wonder if I'm a serial killer....LOL ;) Anywho, switching gears.... DM, Ya know, I had the same epifany myself. My yard is wierd in the sense that I really only have full shade, or full sun. I mean, I do have some shade, but it's not optimal, and it's not in the right spot - it really just doesn't work for me. So I thought one day, "I'm going to make my own shade....and it's going to be mobile." The rest is history. I figure, if your not trying to make what you have better...you're just falling behind. Regarding the 12 month season: Yes and no. Many things grow here year round...many of those suffer during the summer and rebound in the fall. Few tolerate summer without some affect, while even fewer flourish during those months..but there are certainly those evolutionarily select few natives that love it here. Peppers, specifically the hot ones, are tropical in origin - so they can tolerate summers ~if~ you provide a mostly shade environment. They get crushed in full summer sun, I know this from experience ;) That being said, the sun is not the real summer enemy for vegetable crops here, specifically containerized ones, its the bugs, the rain, and the disease. So again, yes and no. The better you are, the better chance your plants have down here. That's the skinny, straight and narrow. Good to be back. Good. PJ

Marys1000 - Cheap shots? "If you want to think of yourself as a nice person you need to be nice." Are you the only one who gets to decide what is PERTINENT information? From ical71's intitial post: "what really gets me is the comment that came with that - they're (the sellers) apparently worried that we won't have the money to do the necessary fix-ups on the house. It needs a new roof...some new windows, some paint, some ceiling repair, etc. (For the record we do have enough money to do everything)." Later in the thread she states that she has roughly $1600 saved. Posters tell her that is not enough money. Is this the cheap shot? "o.k. we expected the interest rate thing..we put down money anyway ($500) and now they want more?" She later admits that she had a foreclosure 2 years ago. The sellers know that she has bad credit. But she did not mention the foreclosure to them. In another thread she has even suggested to another poster that nothing will happen to them if they let their house go through foreclosure. This is "naive"? This is "nice"? "my three year old son has been in love with that house since we first saw it and asks every day when we're moving in. If I have to tell him we're not moving there, please tell ME we're not moving there so I can break it to him." Nice touch. And, still, people took their time to answer and try to help ical71. Which, whether you appreciate the advice or not, was nice of them. And, probably a bit naive.

Ok, after looking at your pics, here's what I think you need to do: -Make your place stand out, and cozy it up! 1-LOWER your price. 2-Stage/Decorate. Maybe paint part of it some neutral, warm color. Make it look like I would would want to live there. Your place does not look inviting, hence a quick glance & off they go. When looking at a potential place to live, I want a place to say: come, sit & enjoy. Your place is very clean. That's plus. But it reminds me of how my sis used to keep her place. Very clean, & austere. We couldn't relax, because she was a cleanaholic-lol. She was also too thrifty to spend money on decor. As a result we hardly visited her & when we did, it was brief because we were uncomfortable sitting up straight in a cold looking environment. -get Fabreeze "fresh Linen" spray for a clean & inviting smell. -Give your home some color. -Put some fresh flowers on the Dining Table. Dress the kitchen counters with a bowl of fruit. Roll up some fresh towels on the bathroom counter. Decorate it. Make it alive. I know people should see the bare walls, but it's all in the packaging. Your place is very unwelcoming. Get a Stager or a decorating consultant. You definitely need help. You have lookers. Make it appealing to the buyers! get it sold in the Summer.

I am happy to inform you all, I have found a pet. In 6 weeks I will get a black female standard puppy. It is from a man who shows his dogs and wins. A brother of one of his was in The Westminster dog show. He bred his pair for more show dogs, not for the money. He will get the pick of the litter, then sell the rest. I told the lady who interviewed me for the invisible fence that the pup would cost $750. to $1,000. She wanted to know who the breeder was. When I told her she said, "honey get that dog, his are blackest poodles in this area and they are worth much more than he is asking." So my fence is in, a trainer will come when I get my pup for 3 training sessions for the fence. I am so excited I bought a few little things for the pup and am reading a training book. Also I will make arrangements for a kennel to keep my dog if I have to go to the hospital and arranged with my POA to call the breeder to pick it up if anything should happen to me. I looked online for names and I decided on Molly.