"So my questions are, since my lawn is primarily KBG and aeration will be again performed around september 1... is a starter fertilizer mandatory and beneficial just after considering I'll be putting down the 4th step come end of September..." Starter fertilizer is high in phophorus and potassium, it's generally used when "starting" a new lawn either from seed or sod. It isn't necessary to use it every year unless you have soil deficiencies. I suggest you get a comprehensive soil test (Logan Labs) to see what your soil needs. "should I be cutting the grass below 3" before putting it to bed here in Michigan and do I need to lose any sleep over the 3 8" diameter "dollar spots" i've aquired over this hot summer?" For a lawns final mowing for the season, it is generally suggested you cut it lower than normal. Fungal disease is pretty common. If all you had this summer was 3 8" areas then consider yourself fortunate. KBG should fill in those areas this fall if it's well feed and your soil is in good shape. "Do I live with the fact that I can't grow grass UP TO the neighbor's pine trees even though I've limed them and rake the needles every month?" This is probably more a function of shade than anything else. If you think it's a soil issue due to the pine trees, then test that area separately. " Will I ever be able to say I don't have to cut it every 3 days but can still enjoy this quality? Does any homeowner really have a PERFECT lawn from all aspects at the end of the day or do they focus on the parts they like... cause i'm getting close!" Seems like every three days is a little too often for KBG. Either you are over-fertilizing, or you are just cutting too soon. If you cut to 3", then you can wait till the grass is 4.33 inches high before you have to mow again. No lawn is perfect, but some people come pretty close. A perfect lawn should be one that you are happy with, and takes the amount of time you are willing to put into it. A golf course might be someone's idea of a perfect lawn, but those have teams of people that provide daily maintenance, a lot of water, fertilizer, and other chemicals. If you focus on improving you soil, then you lawn will follow suit.

Wow Paul, what a generous offer! We are planning to remain Florida residents, because so far we like the way the state is being run, and we are "homestaeded", so it controls our property taxes. We also enjoy the climate and ecology here (well, maybe I don't like the month of August so much). The area we plan to purchase land will be in zone 8 rather than zone 9 where I currently reside. We actually live on an imaginary line between the two zones right now. Yes, Terry, we plan on building again. Not a fun process at all, but we are going to build a Florida "cracker" style house. The initial settlers here figured out how to keep their houses cool in the summer without the central air conditioning that didn't exist at that time. I will still have central air, but it won't have to work so hard. I also love the full wrap around porches they had. The difference will be that we will build out of block rather than wood for termite protection. It's nice that you have some acreage to give you some space. I think you're correct in saying "there goes the entertainment"! My neighbor across the street likes to pull her chair up and watch me when I go outdoors. She says her dog likes to watch me. She is a nice lady, but I am rather a private person, and like to work in the yard for the peace it brings. One time she told me her dog couldn't stand watching me work so hard any more, so she had to go inside and close her blinds. I was planting roses and having a good time at it. The man that lives dirctly behind me goes out with his weedeater whenever I go outside to work in the back. He's actually taken the thing up on his roof twice and was running it along one wall to his house. I'm presuming he was using it to get dirt or leaves off his house and roof, but maybe he is just nuts. One day while potting plants he was out all day re-edging the same beds over and over. I can't imagine why, as I certainly am not the least bit attractive when potting plants. I started to get very annoyed with the racket and called in to my husband that maybe we should put the poor man out of his misery. He must have heard me, because he's not out with his weedeater as much. Of coarse his wife knows exactly how many times I go swimming, and that is with bushes and thick "privacy" screen. It put a damper on how often I use the pool. With today's building costs, we probably won't have another pool. Too bad I can't load the house and garden, and pool on a truck! Isn't all of this a hoot?! It's actually hilarious if you aren't the one involved on the receiving end of this. Oh, and one neighbor across the street paints his brown grass green in the winter. Anyway, we're hoping to find a piece of land that we can afford to grab up, and then we'll start building once we sell. So far we've had several "tire kickers" look, which is encouraging, but I expect the selling process will take a while. That's O.K. It'll give me time to propagate some roses and camellias in the meantime. Sorry Kate. I kind of took over your thread. At least you know you have others out there with less than desirable neighbors. Sandy

From the looks of the pic above. I'd say our houses might be of similar vintage. Do you know when yours was built? I look the more 'formal' ones like yours, too, but old pine has had my number for a long time.... I wish that my upstairs vanity had been pine (as the seller noted on CL) but it turned out to be poplar, so didn't take stain quite like I had hoped. The pieces above are in my area, so I hope to hear back from the seller soon. I hate it when something is just posted, but you never get a reply from the seller. I saw this last month, and wrote a few times, but never heard back. I'd sell something I have now to be able to get this! Look at the grain of the wood in the bottom photo. Here is a link that might be useful: antique stepback secretary

We've lived 13 years on our house and only did a few projects (play ground for kids, deck & shed, finish 1/3 of basement). But, now that I'm almost done with my kitchen, I find myself looking at the rest of the house and thinking what I want to do in each room....and I want to do it NOW! Of course, then my DH reminds me we have no remodel $$ left...that we need to *gasp* save before we can tackle anything else! (No loans for remodeling!) But I so know how you feel (when I'm in our MBA I find myself looking askance at the vanity, faucets, lights, floor, ...). I think it's all your fault TKOers! You turned me first into a TKOer when all I originally planned to do was tell my KD...do whatever! You showed me the error of my ways and, of course, it doesn't stop w/the kitchen! So....are we really THOers or TROers (Totally House Obsessed, Totally Remodel Obsessed)?