Yes, learning how to graft is on the top of to do list. I am only interested in non-astringent D. Kaki. I have not come across the ones that have seeds. I eat store-bought persimmons. They are pretty much seedless. A few more questions: if I plant persimmon seeds to start trees that I can graft on to, those seeds need to be from a rather cold hardy varieties, right? Say if I have an astringent variety for a tree, can I graft non-astringent scions to them? Are they compatible? If these questions may sound dumb, now you know that I don't know much about persimmon!!

And, sparksals, we definitely will not get into a house just so we can stop paying rent. I'm VERY picky, and it might be awhile before we find something that suits our needs. But, I think it's better to start sooner, rather than later, based on everyone's advice. It took me 7 months to find a house. I walked about 50 or so used houses, then every new housing community in 3 counties, which was a good 100 houses. We drove by others and ruled them out due to location. Well, I HATED renting. I hope never to have to go back to renting. Ever. I hate it! I hated sharing walls with others, hating putting up with others' noises, hated padding my landlord's pocketbook, hated not owning a piece of the American pie. So I'd be inclined to buy sooner, rather than later. But I agree that you should not rush into the single largest financial investment of your life. Take your time, look around, get a good handle on pricing, find a good loan, find a good realtor, etc. I grew up on the bottom floor of a 2 family. It helped my dad get the American Dream. The problem was, the house was original when he sold as he came from a poor country and did not believe in "wasting money" to update as everything worked, nor did he have a lot of time to do things due to working 5-7 days per week. Your husband is still in school, and the real estate market is not at the bottom yet. We just kept renting until my husband was finished with school. It kept the pressure off him and let him graduate. Owning a home is more than just the difference in payments--if a leak occurs, you or your DH have to fix it. Depends on where the OP is. Some markets did not have an increase so it may not matter if they wait to buy. After what I went through, I would get out there asap. There are a lot of houses for sale in most parts, it takes time to cover them all. Yes, owning a home everything falls on you. With my truck driver hubby, something always happens the rare times he drives the roads. I've dealt with storms & tree branches as well as not having water due to the softener being clogged. A few months ago we put out $7,000 on a new furnace. Not knowing what you can buy for the amount you are looking at, decide if you want an updated house or good mechanicals like newer roof, furnace, upgraded electric, central air, etc. I know someone that purchased a house they did not move into until 6 months after buying it as it needed floors redone, the master redone plus other cosmetics. The master had been torn apart by the original owner, so this was a must for them to live there. They then moved in to have all sorts of mechanical problems, water heater, electric. I see a heating/cooling truck there now, don't know if they are fixing something else or doing central air. I can't stress enough to sign up on every site you can find, even the local smaller sites to get email updates. One site gives addresses in the emails where it may not say so in the listing. This site has been very helpful to me. Good luck. It's a good time to buy a house in most areas.

Love, I'm so glad you had a success of a weekend. Now you know it can happen, and you have a better idea of how to get there. You can keep improving on the things you learn work, so keep positive. You all will work out a good system. I'm really glad DH and BM were able to work out an alternative that works for all of you.

I read that. Better than expected with the winter storm in Mexico last winter I suppose. I bought some seed mixes ( finally found some I liked). Need to start another flower bed. My winter sown frostweed is already coming up, daffodils are flowering. Really way too early. Even the blueberries are flowering, but no bumblebees to pollinate.