I really should take the high road. I should. I personally hate the company, but the product is useful. A perfect world it is not. Since everyone else seems averse to actually posting links I will do a few for those interested in the toxicology of Round Up. You will see wild claims but rarely in a scientific white paper by a credentialed professional in the matter. I personally fight for organics and sustainability. I purchase organic food when I can't grow enough of my own, I don't buy or eat feed lot beef etc. Here are some great links First I like Wiki- Sources are noted, and where they are not noted for statements you will seethe (citations needed) instead of the resource number. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyphosate http://sandwalk.blogspot.com/2007/03/roundup-is-safe.html "TOXICITY REVIEW Acute (Mammalian) Glyphosate has reported oral LD5Os of 4,320 and 5,600 mg/kg in male and female rats (15,4). The oral LD5Os of the two major glyphosate products Rodeo and Roundup are 5,000 and 5,400 mg/kg in the rat (15). A dermal LD5O of 7,940 mg/kg has been determined in rabbits (15,4). There are reports of mild dermal irritation in rabbits (6), moderate eye irritation in rabbits (7), and possible phototoxicity in humans (9). The product involved in the phototoxicity study was Tumbleweed marketed by Murphys Limited UK (9). Maibach (1986) investigated the irritant and the photo irritant responses in individuals exposed to Roundup (41% glyphosate, water, and surfactant); Pinesol liquid, Johnson Baby Shampoo, and Ivory Liquid dishwashing detergent. The conclusion drawn was that glyphosate has less irritant potential than the Pinesol or the Ivory dishwashing liquid (120). Metabolism Elimination of glyphosate is rapid and very little of the material is metabolized (6,106). Subchronic/Chronic Studies (Mammalian) In subchronic tests, glyphosate was administered in the diet to dogs and rats at 200, 600, and 2,000 ppm for 90 days. A variety of toxicological endpoints were evaluated with no significant abnormalities reported (15,10). In other subchronic tests, rats received 0, 1,000, 5,000, or 20,000 ppm (57, 286, 1143 mg/kg) in the diet for 3 months. The no observable adverse effect level (NOAEL) was 20,000 ppm (1,143 mg/kg) (115). In the one year oral dog study, dogs received 20, 100, and 500 mg/kg/day. The no observable effect level (NOEL) was 500 mg/kg (116)." http://www.pan-uk.org/pestnews/actives/glyphosa.htm The theme here is. Don't ingest it. (would you ingest fish fertilizer? I got food poisoning from it once as a kid because I didn't wash my hands after handling...not pleasant) Again Don't drink it, don't spray it in your eyes, don't Walk around barefoot while it is wet or spray it on your skin. The best method is in a pump up sprayer on a calm day to minimize drift. I adjust the nozzle for a course spray, not atomizing the fluid like I would for foliar feeding. This prevents drift and forces the fluid to go on the target and not into the air where you can breath it, get it into your eyes or on your skin or have unintentional drift. Care when applying is all that is needed. Once the treatment area is dry it is safe to enter and work around. My occupation is a Safety Professional. By reviewing the MSDS if I was to have an employee applying this material for me I would require long pants and shoes and Rubber or other light chemical resistant gloves and goggles while pouring or transferring it but not necessarily for the application.. The reason I would recommend this is that is the recommendation of the msds http://www.kellysolutions.com/erenewals/documentsubmit/KellyData%5CNC%5Cpesticide%5CMSDS%5C74530%5C74530-4%5C74530-4_GLYPHOSATE_41__11_30_2006_4_57_38_PM.pdf And the fully formulated MSDS http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/Monsanto-Roundup-MSDS-Docs7017.htm Recognizing, controlling protecting from and eliminating hazards are what I do for a living. I would follow the manufacturers instructions and recommend anyone do the same. To put this into perspective you will be exposed to between 100 and 200 PPM of benzene the next time you fill your fuel tank at the self service pump. If you can smell gas, you are being exposed. The Occupational action level where mitigation is required is 1 PPM. A person can apply round up and not be exposed to any substances listed as hazardous with a Threshold limit value by the American council if industrial hygienist or a Permissible exposure limit by OSHA. Get this. Alaska fish fertilizer has phosphoric acid that does have a PEL and TLV. http://www.growercentral.com/UPLOADS/PDFS/alaska%20fish%20fertilizer%205-1-1%20msds%20(02-05).pdf EMERGENCY OVERVIEW: Potential Health Effects: Primary Entry Routes: Eyes, skin, ingestion. Target Organs: Eyes, skin, gastrointestinal tract. Acute Effects: Eye: May cause irritation, redness and/or burning. Skin: May cause irritation, redness and/or burning. Ingestion: May be harmful if swallowed. May cause abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting and/or diarrhea. Medical Conditions Aggravated by Long-Term Exposure: Persons with existing skin lesions should exercise caution when using or handling this product. Chronic Effects: Prolonged skin contact may cause dermatitis. I am not going to quit using Alaska Fish fertilizer either nor am I giving up fueling my vehicles. I would post opposing views but the first one I opened Had a Trojan horse so if you are going to be searching for counterpoints do not open The link from naturescountrystore.com!!! It's infected with a trojan horse.

For stone wall fans, two interesting talks at Blithewold: Walking Tour of BlithewoldÂs Stones and Stone Walls Saturday, May 6, 11:30 - 12:30 Dr. Robert Thorson, geology professor at the Unversity of CT and author of Stone by Stone, leads us on an outdoor walk through Blithewold, interpreting the stones and stone walls of the property: their age, how they were worked, how to "read" the landscape by studying a wall, and more. WeÂll also look at the stones on the mansion to discover their story. $10 Members, $12 Non-members DESIGN AND GARDENING CLASSES Stone Walls of New England Saturday, May 6, 10:00 - 11:00 am Stone walls are a defining element throughout New EnglandÂs landscapes and by preserving them, we are preserving our own cultural heritage. Dr. Robert Thorson, geology professor at Uconn and author of Stone by Stone, helps us to develop a new appreciation of these structures by providing an account of their formation. With just a bit of knowledge, one can tell a story of a landscape by observing the surrounding stone walls. Dr. Thorson also mentions some of the special places in New England to see these centuries-old structures and to test your new knowledge. Book signing will follow. Robert Thorson is professor of geology and geophysics at the University of Connecticut. H e writes a weekly Thursday column for The Hartford Courant, and coordinates the Stone Wall Initiative for the preservation of stone walls, now in the process of being incorporated into Connecticut State Museum of Natural History. He is author of Stone By Stone, a winner of the Connecticut Book Award for non-fiction. His book and work precipitated a curriculum development project (grades K-8) funded by the National Science Foundation. He is also author of Stone Wall Secrets, selected by the Smithsonian Foundation as one of its Notable Books of 1998, and Exploring Stone Walls: A Field Guide to New EnglandÂs Stone Walls. $10 Members, $12 Non-members Here is a link that might be useful: Blithewold Programs

Rosie, I will always stand by subway tiles. Fads may come and go, but subway tiles are always there. They are a reminder of my college days in NYC riding the subway. And of my great Chicago apartment that had them floor to almost ceiling in the bathroom, original from the 1920s, with a beautiful crackle. Figuring out a style for our kitchen and bath that is original to the house is a bit of a fun trick because our house originally had neither. It had an outhouse (long gone though some neighbors still have them as tool shed relics in the back yard). And it has what is known in these parts as a shed kitchen, which is just what it sounds like, a shelter in the yard that existed prior to indoor plumbing and electric. Over the years the shed kitchens were built on to and eventually enclosed, and in our case another floor and roof deck added on top. All of this balanced on the shed kitchen - what had been a rather campground like, picnic type shelter. In digging in to the kitchen floor to run pipes for a bathroom that we were going to put in the back stairwell, we discovered that the whole kitchen, and all the rooms above it, were balanced on two crumbling brick piers, and that the ground below was many, many feet deep of coal ash. In excavation, bottles, newspapers, and kids' messages were found dating from the 1930s. Who knows what version of our kitchen was built when. All of that is a long way to say, no real kitchen style seems authentic to our house necessarily. Our area has no Arts and Crafts references or architecture. Victorian and Italianate is more the style. I like to think of butlers pantries, nothing too flashy, wood, marble, stainless maybe. For our bathroom, we put in a salvage console sink with glass legs from the 1930s. It is quite handsome and seems to blend in to the hodge podge. Our hope is to cobble together a kitchen that seems to blend in to the rest of the house too. The one that is there now just feels very out of place with the old fire places, staircase, molding in the rest of the house. We don't need/want historically accurate, just more of an old time vibe.

Do you have a basement? Do you have some particular worry about the drainage around the foundation, i.e. some ongoing issues? Basically I would separate these issues and not think that adding a lot to your yard is going to magically fix the issue. The house probably should have had some kind of drainage (like French drains) around the foundation to deal with regular rain. "Flooding" could be a number of things but if it's the water table coming up too high, a yard that drains somewhat better isn't going to make that big a difference. So if that's your concern and you're really worried about it, consult a professional. You'll also want to look at your drainspouts and that they lead the right way. As far as amending soil for the garden part, if you really want to level things out it's going to mean adding a lot of organic material. This is going to depend what's available in your area, but wood waste, wood chips and wood in bulk are likely to be the cheapest. You may find local utilities (that clear wood trimmings around lines) may give away free. You can bury wood (hegelkultur) and add wood trimmings and chips either in ground or above ground. You'll likely have to repeat several times (the wood - any organic matter - will decompose and shrink over time). You'll hear that wood waste dug into soil may 'lock up' nitrogen for a while and make it harder to grow a garden - but over time the nitrogen returns to availability in the soil. It may take a few years but should eventually create a good garden soil. So partly depends on how big a hurry you are in. You can also do the way you propose it will likely just require a _lot_ of material. There's nothing wrong with doing a combination, either - all of the stuff will help. Sand is probably a bad idea. The more organic material, the more chance the soil biology will do some of the mixing for you. I'm mainly suggesting wood of various kinds as most likely available in very large amounts. As I said - the organic material/better soil won't magically solve drainage issues. It will help buffer rainfall some - less likelihood of pooling of water or standing puddles - but within limits if the soil deep down is all clay and/or the water table rises too high. This is pretty generic info - don't know anything about how bad your clay is (if you search here, you'll see lots of people have thick heavy clay soil problems), very little about how bad your flooding issues are, house construction, etc. There are more serious solutions to drainage and lots of info about ways to help, use Der Google. )