Deborah, there's a lot of weird comments in this thread !! Like roses not doing well in the Bay area for some reason or another. 'Peace' and any of the Austin roses (and most other hybrid teas for that matter) do perfectly well up here in the Puget Sound area and we are not any warmer than the Bay area......likely even a bit cooler overall. And probably receive a lot more annual rainfall as well. It is also not impossible to find a true rugosa - they are all over at area nurseries here. I live a block up from the beach and there are wild rugosas growing along the shoreline....and without a hint of mildew in our often foggy and damp and very cool maritime climate

Great Daylillies,Cowboy! I have a few,but I have long lost the names of them. I have lots of pics of mine,but they are not worthy of yours. Phil

Overall it was pretty quick. We bought the land in May of '04. Engaged with an architect in June and had plans in late October. Built the driveway from July - October. Foundation was poured in late November and framing started in January. We moved in @ the end of July. We have found that building here is not much cheaper than California where we came from. The big difference is the cost of land. Materials are just as expensive. Labor is a might be a bit cheaper overall but not significantly since Vermont doesn't have a big undocumented workforce that exists in California. In the end you get what you pay for. We could have skimped and spent less than what we are getting but ours is completely custom with top quality materials and building practices so it will last and be comfy in the Vermont winters. We also have spent A LOT on the site work given we are off the road and up on a rocky ledge. For building of the house (not including the road, site work and landscaping) we spent about $600K + built-ins and allowances. We have a lot of extra built-ins and details like porches, lofts, basement, radiant heat, generator, etc. that are great but added to the overall cost. BTW - this doesn't include the barn/garage space. Hope that helps. M

I sat in court last week (haha, they issued a bench warrant for BM's arrest because she didn't show up for TWO hearings... the first for DCSS ~requesting an order that she seek work since she has not paid in over 6 months, the second ~ a contempt DH filed for her not paying her half of SD's medical bills) but being so close to Christmas... lots of the cases were about that. It was really pathetic to watch two people fight over how to split up the kids' Christmas day. One mom wants until noon, the dad wants them at 9am. I remember splitting it with my son's father & once, his wife came outside & assaulted me during the exchange... cops were called & of course nothing happened because she told them I hit her... they offered to take both of us to jail or do nothing. It was NOT the way any of the kids should have to spend the holiday... my son or the other five kids in the car that witnessed it. It is just so much better for the kids to spend the day with one parent & celebrate the holiday with the other parent on a different day. After the 'cops on Christmas' incident, that is what I did. and of course we had to get an order for every other year so we no longer split the holiday at all. We had to do the same for Thanksgiving but now that he's in his 20's, I look back and it was more harmful for HIM to split up his days. When the parents get along, I think it can work out fine.. but if they don't, it will ruin a kids holiday so what is the point of even getting them? I see many parents doing it for themselves, because THEY have an expectation of how they want their holiday to be. They are not thinking about what's best for the children. The sad thing is when one parent is going to see relatives for a holiday or vacation, that may be getting together from far away & they only have that one opportunity to see them but the other parent won't let them go.. it's the children that suffer. I see lots of that too. For that, there is no answer except that sometimes we have to sacrifice so the child isn't placed in a situation that makes it worse for them... and know that when they grow up, they will see through it. And there's no guarantee that they ever will see the truth. My son is almost 24 & is trying to plan part of his Christmas weekend with his dad, whom he hasn't spoken to since before he was deployed. We don't even know if he's incarcerated or not (he's been in & out of prison for many years) but my son has the hope that his dad will step up to be a dad to him & a grandpa to DGS. I had to talk to him when I was getting guardianship of DGS... he actually told me that he's fine with it as long as I allow him to see DGS when he wants. I said that's fine, anytime you want to see him just give me a call. That was several months ago.. not one call. (well, first he wanted me to agree to an every other weekend visitation schedule... and I said "you're going to come get him every other weekend?" and then he changed it to "let me see him when I want." I think he just wanted to see if he can engage me in a battle but when I refused to fight over it, he went away.) My stepmom always said, "kill 'em with kindness" because they thrive on conflict.