OH NOES!!!!! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!! Cineole and α-pinene, both highly toxic terpenes, were found adsorbed to colloidal soil particles of the litter and bare zones. Adsorbed terpenes were toxic to germinating seeds and seedlings. Cineole (aka eucalyptol) is also found in bay leaves, tea tree, mugwort, sweet basil, wormwood, rosemary, sage and other aromatic plants. Alpha-pinene is found in rosemary and PINE TREES! Are you saying that we should not compost basil, pine needles, or sage? Water-soluble toxins found in the litter inhibited herb growth in laboratory, green-house, and field experiments. Of 10 isolated phenolic toxins, five were identified as caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid, p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, and gallic acid. OMG CAFFEIC ACID and CHLOROGENIC ACID!!!! I tremble in fear, because they are also found in COFFEE. We're poisoning out compost heaps with those Starbucks UCGs. p-Coumaric acid can be found in a wide variety of edible plants such as peanuts, tomatoes, carrots, and garlic. Ferulic acid is found in seeds of plants such as in rice, wheat, and oats, as well as in coffee, apple, artichoke, peanut, orange and pineapple. Gallic acid is found in plants such as tea, mangos, raspberries, chocolate, witch hazel and walnuts. Note for the non-chemists: when you start analyzing plants, they are loaded with scary sounding CHEMICALS! Don't panic. They are all "natural".

Hot water drains have the same threads as a garden hose. Go to a hardware store and buy a brass hose cap. Put it on the drain fitting. I always install these because the shut off on water heaters is not completely fool proof.

Lovely colours Carol,and different, next on my list.

Both lots appear to be feasible for a basement walk-out design. There appears little difference in the lots in that regard. Both lots show a 10-foot difference in elevation between basement and first floor. This would allow a 9-foot ceiling in the basement, but does not account for duct runs in the basement, if any, which would substantially lower the ceiling in those areas. You don't mention orientation, and sun direction, but one of the lots appears to have a large area of trees which could possible block the sun and limit the usability of the exterior of the lot. Hope this helps! :-)