If you are going to take the trees out right away, you can cut those grapes down and they will survive. I wouldn't take them to the ground. If you leave a couple of feet of vine, that short a bit will be pretty easy to untangle. If you aren't taking the trees down right away, leave the vines and see what they produce. Whether or not you like the grapes is going to make a difference in how you treat the vines. It sounds to me like the first step is to get the ivy under control. The trees might possibly be something to save. You won't know until you get them unburied and determine what they are and give them some pruning and care. Who knows, maybe those are fruit trees. I wouldn't automatically assume that grapes in a once cultivated garden gone out of control would be wild grapes. They could very easily have been deliberately planted back in the days when the garden was tended. I bought a place that had been abandoned for 6 years. The surviving plants were in bad shape, but I babied them just to see what I had. They looked like garbage, but some time in the past, someone was a pretty good gardener and most of the plants turned out to be excellent. It took some serious work to bring them back, but it was worth it. 2 completely "dead" bushes turned out to be gorgeous hardy hibiscus that have flowers for 6 months solid. 3 "dead" fruit trees are bearing fruit for me. An unidentifiable tangled mess of dead twigs is now a sweet-smelling honeysuckle. Clean up first, then stand back and take stock.

SCAM ! ! ! This is CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT material. If you're pressed for time, just read the last paragraph . . . I moved money owed from other cards to the Discover card because I got a great interest rate ON THE MONEY I MOVED. If I use the card for ANYTHING else, the new charge goes on at a much higher rate and does not get paid down until the 'moved' money is completely paid off. I clearly recall getting the call from Discover and telling the agent that, no, I was not interested in this program. I got my "Welcome" letter today. (It would be incredibly stupid to put ANYTHING on this card.) The Discover Payment Protection Plan office is open M-F, 8-8. (Today is Saturday.) I called 800-DISCOVER and a nice agent (Dave) told me to call the Protection Plan office, and gave me their direct line - 877 883-1959. I told him they were closed; there was nothing more he could do. I asked for a Supervisor, spoke with Kathy, who assured me that: . 1. The charge would not show up on my statement. . 2. She would send my issue to corporate headquarters. . 3. She gets quite a few calls on this issue. . 4. THE CALLS THEIR SALES STAFF MAKES ARE RECORDED, AND THEY CAN TELL WHO TRIED TO CHEAT ME. (Yeah, like that's gonna happen. This is what happens when corporations 'police themselves.') Where are all the class-action attorneys when we need them? Since their phone message said the call may be recorded, I recorded it. I'll be recording any calls I get from Discover in the future. And when you get ANY offers from anyone like this, you'll find they often charge a rate "per month per $100 owed" -- do the math! If the rate is 99 cents per $100 (sounds pretty cheap, eh?), you just raised your annual interest rate by 12% ($1 is 1% of $100, times 12 months is 12% annually). In other words, it will cost you an extra $11.88 for every $100 you owe, every year. So, if your current rate is 13%, you just raised it to 24.88%! If you ask the salesman for your new rate, they won't tell you. They just stick with their "99 cents" routine.

I am so sorry you're having to go thru this. We are redoing our kitchen due to a leak - FWIW, we had the insurance pay out what it would have cost to put it back "exactly the way it was", while it was somewhat a pain to have to quote stripping and replacing wallpaper and rebuilding up the floor to the original height, this allowed us to take that money and our own funds and gut the kitchen and do it the way we wanted. Yes unplanned remodel has been a huge inconvienence and unplanned expense - but it also allowed us to remodel the way we wanted and for quite a bit less of our own money than if we had done it later. Something to think about. I'd also highly recommend getting your own contractor you trust - dont use their people unless you feel 100% comfortable with them. Have your contractor quote what it would be to put it back the way it was - have the insurance pay you out and then decide what you really want to do. Have the contractor quote it out Firm Fixed Price (FFP) for the insurance. It really sounds like you should also fight to have the cabinets declared a complete loss -- uppers and lowers due to the mold and moisture - likely less expensive too to replace with new rather than having something custom made to match the existing. if the cabs need to come out to ensure it gets dry (likely if they were in contact with the wet floor -- water seeps up boxes and damages them - then they need to take the counter out too and are likely to replace that as well. Good Luck!

Feel free to copy Pinch Me! I showed pix to my friend today, who is my ex-box, who is an architect. He nearly fell off his chair lol. He assured me that it can be cleaned up, and said that it needs to be regrouted, but certainly should be kept by all means. His opinion was just find a solid tile which matches one of those colors to finish off the floor where there is none, and don't worry about it - so big deal it won't be perfect. I agree. It will be part of the character of the room. My BF is all excited to get cracking and try to clean it up now. We're going to just try some liquid Lysol, diluted first (Architect's suggestion), and gently scrub if necessary. We'll see how that goes. As for regrouting, I'll have to have a tile person come in for that, I don't think either of us is equipped for that chore (me for sure - I have two bum knees).