I want to so bad........I'm just scared! I put out potatoes, onions and radishes. Did corn today. But its cool and rainy here! I'm in NC along the coast!

Yet another crazy project but this will be definitely be our last major project and definitely unique and mouth watering. Ours is in it's final design stage; 100% designed and architected from scratch by me with ton's of input from my good wife and critique from my daughter. Absolutely unique and nothing like this out there however will be built to provide significant resale value after we are gone and proceeds split between my two kids. With close to 7500sf 124x62 footprint (per floor), we cut the design down from two storey (same footprint) with walkout basement to a single storey with walkout basement. Highlights will be floor to ceiling glass to the rear in the 20' ceiling 1179sf family room and 10' ceiling 755sf kitchen/casual dining providing breathtaking views of the harbor and snow clad mountains to the north and east. A 22' ceiling circular split level entry foyer flanked by curved stairs leading to the 12' ceiling basement, two full size bowling lanes in the basement, 6'-4" corridors on 1st floor, a 38x24 suspended 3 car garage on 1st floor above basement, another 1 car garage with car lift just below in the basement, a 124x16 deck on the rear with glass railings (to preserve amazing views to the rear). 20KVA ground based solar system, 4 zone heating/cooling with multi-zone radiant floor heating (yet to decide if geothermal or electric, waiting for survey) . A sub-basement wine cellar with an elevator leading to basement and 1st floor (in kitchen, in planning). The list is endless. Everything computer and remote controlled (I'm a computer guy). Perhaps not the way most would build it but I like to do things my way, code permitting. Build time 18-24 months and significant work will be done my me. Here is a link that might be useful: Link to my thread. This post was edited by Pinebaron on Fri, Jan 30, 15 at 8:41

Well, today I bit the bullet, and got 'er done. Everyone recommended I add "oil dry" to the mix, so I went down to the local NAPA store and got the smallest bag they had....probably enough to last the rest of my life unless I spill the grease the next few times I fry fish. Since I had already made enough mix to fill the selected pot (thats a joke!)and it contained sand which some of you recommended against, but I couldn't get out, I just added a measure of the oil dry to the existing mix. Next step was removing the plant from its pot....Turning it over and tapping the pot on the bottom did NOT work! I struggled for over ten minutes before I convinced that plant to turn that pot loose, and when it did come out, it just kept on, and on, and on coming out. You've been to the circus and seen 10 clowns get out of a car the size of a large suitcase......Well, I'm convinced Adeniums taught them how to do that. There was more plant in that pot than I would have ever thought possible. None of the pots I had considered using was going to work, so the search began all over again. I finally found one thats a bit small, but will work for a while. Photo #4 shows what I got out of that pot. There was a large swolen root that had been just below the surface, and another much smaller root on the opposite side. I trimmed all the small roots off the smaller one, and left both of them on the plant, thinking they might add interest in later years (hows that for a new grower being optimistic). There was a small cluster of roots on the back side of this photo that was growing above the old soil line, and a little "button" of an old root stub that was starting to grow a new root, so I took both of these off flush with the Caudex. I removed a few of the more flimsy looking bunches of tiny roots, and thats about all. Photo #5 shows what I put in the new pot. The swolen root is on the left, and the one I am going to try to get to match it is on the right trimmed of all its small roots. Photo #6 is the final product. The plant is raised about 2 inches, and shows the large swolen root on the right, and the new smaller one on the left. You can see the spot near the center of the Caudex where I cut off a small patch of roots that were growing above the old soil line. I intend to leave the plant on the porch for two or three days to allow it to dry and heal the cuts I made, then will slowly reintroduce it to the sun until it is again in pretty much full sun, and being fed and watered on a regular basis...like every couple of days. I know I probably did as many things wrong as I did right, (I would consider 50-50 a real accomplishment) But I do believe things went pretty well, and now the challenge will be to grow this (to me) strange new plant. Thanks everyone for the help and encouragement. I have been lurking around here for some time, soaking up the knowlege you good folks have been putting out.....I guess today was exam day...Thanks. Bill

(Sorry, I know I'm no help!) lol It's okay! Show your architect images of what you feel exemplifies the "Spanish architecture" you are looking for regardless of the exterior finish, and let them know the stone you want on the exterior. They are not there to copy, they are there to create. Seriously??? Excellent!!! My fear was along the lines of, "I'm gonna ask for a Spanish house done in stone, and he's gonna think, 'Why doesn't she just want a legitimate stone style, like Hill Country? Crazy chick.' " lol I don't enjoy looking like an idiot. Ms ODD, do you or one of your local libraries have a copy of "A Field Guide to American Houses", by Virginia and Lee McAlester? I do! This was one of the first (if not *the* first) book on architecture that I bought. It's been awhile since I flipped through it; probably wouldn't be a bad idea to refresh my memory. I *do* recall being enamored of the sketches of the Spanish Revival details. I just dragged it out, lol, and found a stone Spanish Revival on page 528, #4, the Baty House from 1936, in Dallas! Oooooh!!! Thank you for suggesting I drag out my book again! :-D Edited to add: Here I am, trying to do an internet search for this house, and do you think I can find anything??? Seriously! :-( I know people say, "Oh, you can find *anything* on the internet!" but I have had several instances of frustration, where I can't find jack. Oh, it's great to be ODD. Edited again to add: If anyone out there does a search for this house, be warned that a lot of results that come back are for "bath houses," and, well, since I live under a rock, I was a little shocked to discover what exactly that was (in modern times)....