Most of those recommendations are for your "average homeowner" they are guidelines for those with little or no experience/knowledge about turfgrass. No, I'm not suggesting someone in zone 5 should follow my fertilization schedule for zone 7, nor I'm suggesting that an "average homeowner" in zone 7 should follow my fertilizing schedule - that's up to whomever wants to do that. What I am suggesting is that you don't have to follow every thing writen in lawn books because their approach to lawn maintenance is VERY conservative at best. ceighmey asked why his lawn takes so long to green up when his neighbors' fescue lawn are already green. My suggestion is based on personal experience and good observation of turfgrass during . Because I fertilize my lawn even in the winter is that I have green grass nearly all winter, and most if not all of my neighbors' fescue lawn are nearly straw color - just the opossite ceighmey observation. For many years I followed NCSU recommendation with little to no success, specially during the summer months. Trial and error, years of hard work, searching, reading, ect, and a tremendous desire to succed put me where I am today. I can finally grow grass like sod farmers do in the transition zone. I can grow grass where most people fail... Someone once said, "one size does not fit all." It certenly holds true for many things in life, what you read in those lawn books does not necessarily translate into success. The advise is solid and based on proven results, not books alone. ceighmey, where exactly in Kansas are you located?

Thanks for posting this. I was feeling quite badly for you, even spoke to my DH and sorry, but used your situation to try and make him feel better about ours! (mea culpa). He said it didn't help! LOL We have been renoing for over 7 years, can't believe it's been this long, and I'm starting to feel the strain now...am so over it! One of the good things that has come out of it though, is my ability to deal with confrontation. Like you, and I'm sure like most people it is not anything to look forward to...:>( My DH is an electrical engineer and is so capable I am lucky he can do nearly all the work required. But it is up to me to deal with any tradespeople and to get all the quotes, left to him he would just pay the bill. The only trade/quote I let him negotiate in the last 7 years was for upgrading our electrical service from 100AMPS to 200AMPS, (as that was his particular area of expertise). One day of work cost us over $3000! First and last time he arranged for anything! LOL

A place called 'resizr' might be easier for you than loading software. http://www.resizr.com/ Try that if you want to reduce an image I send files that are 5mb in size but it all depends on the system you are using and what their rules are. They might specifically slow down your uploads so as to manage their load on their servers. To them 1.17mb migth be a large file. To other servers 1.17 mb is not large. And if you send Text it will attach about 2 to 5 times faster because it can be compressed. While jpg and mp3 files can not be compressed. Neither can zip files be compressed. The compression is automatic during the attachment / upload process. Try http://www.resizr.com/ and post back to let us know if it works for you. Here is a link that might be useful: Resizr.com for resizing images

In 2015, people are now complaining about 4 hour cycles!! They must have degraded the motors and the detergents again. We are looking for a new dishwasher since our old one is severely clogged with deposits. We are using the SAME water source we have been using for 35 years. The big name detergent we been using has been stripped down until they it is terrible. Our glasses get coated with white mineral stuff that we have to use vinegar to remove it. The gray plastic racks are now white. This is new in the last few years. Also, the machine has started leaving food particles on everything. The glasses come out dirtier than they went in. I did a few tests and found out that two of the spray arms weren't spinning at all and the other one was barely moving. I took them off and all of them were loaded with chunks of white deposits that had clogged the spray nozzles. Vinegar barely did a thing. I had to grind them up by putting objects into the holes, but I couldn't get most of them out. Also, the screen on the bottom of the machine was almost totally clogged with a thin crust of white deposits. I scrubbed it over and over with vinegar and it finally started to break up. Bad move. Those little flakes ended up in the spray nozzles and clogged them worse. I can't get one of the nozzles to spin at all. Web searches have told me I have to disassemble the machine to get to the sump, which is probably also clogged. The top rack's cheap plastic wheels are so clogged with deposits that they barely turn anymore, causing the flimsy sliders to fall off the non-turning cheap plastic wheels they ride on. I have had to take these apart several times a week lately. Has anyone else had these experiences? We are throwing it out once we figure which of the 4-hour cycle, cheaply made $800 machines to buy.