Thanks for that pic of the Lady Banks. We had considered that also. The only reason we are reluctant to go that route is the HOA makes it so your plants have to be exclusively on your side of the fence, so I was worried about containment and I would not be able to grow them on the fence, I would have to put up some sort of trellis to for them to climb up a few feet from the white picket "barrier" fence. They almost treat the fence as an easement of sorts, because some have put up traditional block walls for privacy but they have to be about 3 feet behind the white picket fence. I like the Arizona Cypress, but on the flip side it might be a little too massive. There is a place down the road that has something that seems like it would work well, and it very well might be Arizona Cypress... they look like Italian Cypress but not in the slender spires, but much fatter and pyramidal. What throws me off is some of the pictures I've seen online show a more grey color tree with a "branchy" (not very dense) look, and some show them as green like Italian Cypress with a much more dense fill to them like Italian Cypress. So I'm not sure what the more appropriate examples or if some pics are even misidentified. I will investigate it further though. The Sumac is a nice tree and I would not be surprised if we added a couple at some point (the backyard area has over 1/2 acre that basically consists of grass and rock, no trees or bushes). To create a true barrier from the ground up I think I need more of a "bushy" option that covers all the way to ground level. Thanks for all the ideas so far. I am going to pull the trigger in about a week once, and leave time for any other suggestions. Right now I'm leaning towards the Japanese Privets (any other good privet for AZ?). The AZ Cypress is also on the short list if it is what I have seen at a nearby property like I described above. Thanks again!

Thank you! This is an existing bath/shower enclosure. The sheetrock is already there. The old walls had tile with like an inch of mud underneath. Our GC is putting the hardibacker over the sheet rock to bring the depth back up for thinset and tile which will have a similar profile as the old tile in that there are 1/2" bead trim pieces for the edges...it will not bump the shower beyond the rest of the wall at all. Given this, is it okay to have the following... sheetrock 15lb felt hardibacker 500 thinset and tile Thanks again!

Don't know anything about speed ovens, but first to clarify - there are some ovens that are steam only, don't have one of those, but there are also ovens that do steam and convection, called combis, and I have one of those. While some combi have a door with frame that is 30 inches wide, the actual oven width is normally 24 inches, the rest is trim to match the full size oven offered by the same manufacturer. With a combi, you can use it like any other convection oven, it has a much smaller oven cavity, which means it get up to temperature in 5 to 10 minutes. In that way, it is like a convection toaster oven, though much bigger and on steroids. In addition, it can use convection heat with just a little steam, which allows you to reheat food without drying it out. It might take 5 to 10 minutes in a combi oven ( depending on how much food ) to get it as hot as 2 to 4 minutes in a microwave, but I have read that the food reheated in a microwave will cool off quicker. Next, you can use a combi to steam only - I do that for shrimp, and for making cheesecake. Some steam veggies, though I only do that for spinach. Finally, you can use a combi in combi mode - full steam and dry heat, which lets you cook a turkey in about 90 minutes, and it comes out very moist.

That stuff patches up nicely. Much less expensive than replacement.