I got so caught up in my response that I didn't really answer your question: I know most of you have spouses to help, but for those who don't, and who work full time, how do you do it? If I spend time in the yard, my house goes to he!! and if I spend time in the house, my yard goes to he!!. I do work full time and I'm very involved with my job, often doing work on the computer in the evenings after I get home. I do not have a spouse that helps in the yard. He hates being out there himself but he does understand that it's important to me. He understands that I need to spend at least a couple hours each weekend working in the garden. I'm a terrible housekeeper! If I'm not gardening, then I'm making jewelry, quilting, messin' around on GardenWeb, reading, playing with the animals or just being lazy. I've learned to accept that I'm a bad housekeeping and it rarely bothers me anymore. Sad but true. I can't afford a housecleaning service and if I could I would probably opt to spend that money on plants anyway! I have 2 dogs and 3 cats. They need attention everyday and they need it more than my garden does. When I get home from work, they get my full attention. They are probably the main reason I don't garden during the week. DH travels quite a bit for his job, so when he's home, he gets my attention too! Sometimes both the yard and the house go to he!!. Oh we!!, I can live with that.

OJ, glad you were able to rehab the cultivator. We had a free-standing mailbox when we moved in, but it kept getting knocked down when we were negotiating the driveway. So we bought a large black box that mounts on the house. Love it, MIL saw it and liked it , a lot, or so she said. So one year for her Birthday or Mothers Day I bought her one just like ours. She looked at me and said her standard "I can't use it. Can you exchange it?" I took it back, gave her the money and more or less told her I wouldn't be giving her any more gifts, she never liked them anyway. That solved gift buying for her for a few years, then she passed away.

Thought about this thread over the weekend .... not sure how I stand on it but here goes: This weekend took my son out driving around getting his license soon ... after we got done he was complaining about not being able to text message he is on SM's phone plan she doesn't want to pay for it ... then he says SM flipped out on her 18yoDS and threw him out told him to find a new place to live (LONG STORY drugs, stealing etc. sold his car for drugs that sm and ex are still paying on eeks but anyway) she disconnected the internet. So son puts ex on the phone for me to talk to him and we talked about the issue at hand(text messaging/internet/etc.) and DS driving comparing kids and remembering how different the kids are just reminiscing(sp?) we must have talked for almost an hour .... his wife was not around my hubby was not around first real talk we have had in the 10 years since the split. Was like talking with an old friend more than an ex just remembering the funny things the kids did and such ..... got off the phone with the ex and DS says wow you two talked for that long ever.... guess you really don't hate each other .... The double standard I guess ... I don't see hubby talking to his ex like that I mean if he did really not much I could do about it but my ex was not he11 bent on ruining me and badmouthing me to the kids we supported each other with the kids .... didn't try to sabotage everything with regards to the kids..... I think someone said it not sure guess it depends on what type of person they (the ex) are just because you couldn't be married doesn't make them nasty, just not a good couple but if you couldn't stay married because they are nasty well there it is.

0.06" of rain in the last month is all we've gotten, and I tend to balance grasses at the edge of highly stressed to minimize the amount of potable water being tossed on the lawn. I did have to manually cut the edge of the garden as it was approaching eight inches tall (one time I break the one-third rule), and the second mow started late afternoon as the weather is cool and cloudy. It's continuing right now, actually, as the robot doesn't need to see in visible light, she sees by magnetic lines, inertial compass, and a radio signal. Mowing right now under sunny skies and warmer weather would risk a severe burn.