They will tell you when they need watering. They will look wilted in the morning. Then water thoroughly. They will always look wilted in the afternoon of hot days. That is normal. You will find that in summer you may need to water once or twice a week depending of the soil and drainage, but in the fall and winter you may not need to water at all. Be careful in the fall, and winter since if the ground is not frozen, they can still suffer in a dry spell if they are not watered. If is very important to mulch them thoroughly. This will reduce the amount of water they need and help them through both hot and cold weather. If you can get snow sliding off the world, you will be very unhappy the first time a snow slid smashes your Nova Zemblas down. They will take natural snow and in fact love it, but a snow slide will smash the plant down. Here is a link that might be useful: How to grow rhododendrons and azaleas.

Right now, I need a sump pump...and I live on a hill. More rain in the forecast, too. The weather pattern has changed here - normally an El Nino year means severe drought in Oklahoma. Not this season anyway. With our normally semi-dry to dry summers, I use the garden hose to water EVERY day in most areas and every other day in other areas that prefer dryer conditions. We have our own well, so I can also use the sprinkler without ill affects on my plants. It is just like rain water. The birds, butterflies, bees and amphibians love it too. When I hand water, the birds follow me from tree to tree, so I spray up into the trees and they chirp and sing for me. The occasional tortoise will come out of hiding for a long, cool drink, too. I set the mister on the tropicals and water-loving ferns etc. to keep them happy. This takes all day. I use soaker hoses under my veggies when it is very hot and very dry to prevent scorching and so the water will get down deep where the nutrients are and encourage deep roots. For under my Phlox and roses, &etc., I screw on a fan sprayer and let it run slowly, gently and deeply under them to prevent leaf-scorch, and do this as often as needed. I even water in the winter if it is a dry winter. Soil heave (freeze, thaw, freeze, thaw) is terrible here in Okie, and in dry winters this will kill plants and even small trees and shrubs. And of course, potted plants need a drink just about every day in the summer. That is how I have to do it here to keep mine alive year round. ~Annie

So the dimensions of the grate on the wall are ~22.5" wide and 16.75" high. We have another problem. Not sure if it is related to the return Seems like the fan wasn't that strong and it was getting warmer. We've had 90+ degree heat this week. The AC guy came back and said our compressor was overheating. He said to shut it off for an hour and a half to let it cool down. I can feel the temperature rise after 15 min off. At any rate, he can't come back today so I'll turn it back on. Someone else can come back tomorrow morning. We are going to be out but will have the sitter let him in and have him call us when he is done. I asked if the guys should have caught an issue when they did the leak test. Maybe we would have just bought a whole new unit if we knew all these things were wrong. He said that back in June when we did the leak test it wasn't that hot. We just replaced a capacitor two weeks ago. Wish I had checked the thread sooner to ask him the above questions. The unit is in a closet in the garage so this vent is the only place it can really air out. The closet is somewhat spacious so not sure if adding something there would help. I don't think we want to cut a hole in the door and the back wall is solid concrete. I will ask my husband if he knows the tonnage and BTU. Thank you!

aprilneverends- I can so sympathize with you. When my mom decided to move to NM three years ago, I worked like crazy to get just the right furniture and accessories for the small 1BR condo we had found for her after much searching. DH and I both wanted her to feel comfortable from the get-go and very “New Mexico-y”. It was adorable. But I had forgotten that my mom was never much for decor, design, or cleanliness for that matter. I had forgotten that she never makes her bed, so the “look” I had put together with comforter, blanket, pillows . . . was wasted. I had forgotten that she runs life from a ”Cockpit” of sorts, meaning a chair that has multiple ottomans, plastic tables from Amazon and overturned boxes from Amazon masquerading as tables, all around it. All seating surfaces covered with throws that are covered with cat hair. All table/box surfaces covered with paper and this and that and coffee cups and . . . Regarding one rug-type cube ottoman: “Take that out, it’s hard to move around.” (sigh). She’d order something against my recommendation, then when it arrived, say “You’re so good with decorating. Where should I hang this 3’ x 5’ painting of a zebra?” I would tell her I would be glad to hang it for her, but she needs to tell me where she wants it, as I couldn’t really speak to a good place for it. And then a couple months of sniping and hard feelings would follow. Lather, rinse, repeat. Zebrad infinitum. My solution? I haven’t been inside her new apartment (independent living apartment) since we took out the last moving box. In October. But I digress. __________________ We each have about eight feet of hanging space and a built-in dresser. DH’s shoes are in his closet. Mine are in bins in a built-in cabinet in the bedroom. Other than that there is just the coat closet (where DH has way, way too many coats and jackets). We do try to get rid of something every time we bring in something new. We’ve always had older homes, and have never had a walk-in closet. We’ll go to open houses and builder parades and stare in wonder at some of the huge closets. I’m sure when we eventually build our retirement home, it will have a walk-in closet. But it should remain quite sparse, as I hope to have only seven outfits by then. One for each day of the week.