did you get to see the beautiful mature Loblolly trees that grow so abundantly around that part of the state? Years past I do not remember seeing many Loblolly trees in Northeast Ok, like can be now seen. The mature Loblolly trees that I see on my drive south to Dallas through the Maclester, Atoka route reveals lots of towering and beautiful mature Loblolly specimans. I like the Loblolly pine trees because of the soothing sound that wind makes blowing through those high canopies. They provide a wonderful light almost dappled shade, and I have never noticed a litter problem with them. Some people are afraid of the long needled Loblolly trees dropping to many needles, I have not seen that problem with them, and even if they did, the needles are excellent gathered up to use for mulching the azaleas and other acid loving shrubs.

For an exterior door to be racked, I suspect more than the center beam has dropped. Settling should be small and relatively uniform so it would not be noticed. Differential settling suggests unequal bearing capacity or failure to compact fill or there is organic material below part of the foundation or part is on rock and part is not, etc. You will need to hire an engineer to determine the location and amount of settlement and advise you. If there is evidence that the settlement has stopped, you might be able to jack the center beam up enough to give relief to the doors and windows. If the settlement continues, you will probably need to underpin parts of the foundations, hopefully just under the center beam.

Who says neutral has to be colorless? Who says only beiges and browns are neutrals? IMO almost anything that comes from the earth is neutral. That means all granites and all wood tones, as long as they are not painted, are neutral. This includes deep reds, greens, yellows, golds and purple (amethyst). I did my kitchen in dark cherry stain and peacock green granite, which has bursts of green, gold and black. The knobs and pulls are ORB. The nearby family room has dark brown leather sofas, dark cherry wall unit and matching tables. BUT... there are large bright green throw pillows, a huge multi-colored abstract painting on the wall with burgundy, green, gold, black and silver, and there are sage green curtains. Lots of color, yet it's all neutral, expecially the big ticket items. I can change the color scheme by changing the wall hangings, pillows and curtains. Also, the furniture and cabinets are traditional style, yet the wall coverings, pillows and lamps are contemporary-and it all works beautifully! Start thinking "out-of-the-box" and don't be afraid of color. Just be careful when considering pastels, like pinks, blues and oranges, which aren't necessarily neutral

Momfryhover, I am glad too for your and your family's sake. It was so very close to you. We moved here to southern OK about two months before the 1999 tornado up there and didn't have a tornado shelter at the time. Within a year or two, we had a tornado shelter put in even though our county, statistically, doesn't get hit very often. (It only takes one, as they say.) We didn't buy a generator until last year. I honestly thought we wouldn't use a tornado shelter very much, but we have had to go to it a surprising number of times. We only go to it if there's a tornado warning for our county. We get warnings somewhat often (not often like y'all do, though) but often the tornadoes stay in the air and just scare everyone to death without touching down on the ground, or they fly over our heads and hit an adjacent county where they then do their damage. How did the volcano work out? Did the lava flow creep very close to y'all? It isn't getting much coverage here from the media any more, so I lost track of what was going on with it over the course of the winter. Dawn