That is a pretty little wildflower and how cool that you can sow your Mom's seeds, collected that many years ago! Last year I direct sowed some Zinnias I had in a ziploc of flower seeds I've collected over the years. They were tall red zinnias called 'Scarlet Dahlia'. I figured they would attract hummingbirds (which they did). About half a dozen germinated and grew tall and red. The other day while organizing the seeds, I noticed the packet of Scarlet Dahlia was stamped "packed for 1991." Doesn't that mean they were harvested in 1990?! And some of them still germinated. I have kept my seeds in ziploc baggies in the refrigerator for years. Apparently some last a lot longer than you would think.

Happens every time - your faith wanes a bit, and you reseed the containers or toss them. Next thing you know, every seed you sowed and re-sowed and tossed is coming up! Maybe DH will keep the faith with you next year ... PV

We got this same type of cr-- from our builder before we finally wound up firing him and taking over the build ourselves. There were numerous instances of unpaid subs who filed or threatened to file liens against our property. We also learned that several prior clients of our builder had gotten hit with some pretty substantial liens after closing with the builder. In every case, the previous clients decided it would be cheaper to pay off the liens themselves rather than take the builder to court. So, the lesson the builder apparently took away was "I can get away with not paying subs as long as the amount isn't too much and I can keep the homeowner from learning about it until after I close with him." As an attorney you probably already know that in most jurisdictions anyone who provides materials or labor for the improvement of real property can file a lien against that property if they are not paid. No privity of contract with the owner of the property is necesssary. The biggest differences among jurisdictions tends to be the time limits that apply regarding when the M&M liens can be filed and what proofs, if any, the lienholder has to provide regarding the alleged debt. If your builder's payment to the excavation sub is only a couple of weeks overdue, I rather doubt the time limits to file a lien will have run out in any jurisdiction. The shortest time limits I've ever heard of are something like 30 days. Most are 60 to 90 days and some jurisdictions allow subs up to a year after their bills are due (which could easily be 60 days after the work is actually done). So, even if the sub has not yet filed a lien against your property, he may yet do so. Then, if your builder doesn't pay him, you could get stuck with the bill. Without lien waivers from every sub and materialman, you have no protection. And, unless you are on site every day taking careful note of who is working on your house and what suppliers are delivering materials to your job site, you can't ever really know that you have lien releases from everyone. Still, your builder should only be paid for work that has been completed and for which he has provided you with valid lien releases from the subcontractors. Our problem was that our builder turned out to be totally dishonest and, when we demanded lien releases, he began giving us bogus ones (i.e., documents he had signed himself or had one of his non-English speaking day laborers sign!) so even tho we tried to follow the rules to protect ourselves, we got burned anyway. If you feel your builder is basically honest but just doesn't have the money to pay the subs until he gets a draw from you, consider insisting that he agree to a modification of your agreement with him whereby you effectively become his "money manager" in so far as your build is concerned. Instead of writing checks to your builder and then trusting him to pay the subs who worked on your house, modify your agreement so that your checks are made out to both the builder AND whichever sub/supplier needs to be paid so that both parties have to sign the check in order for it to be cashed. If you were financing thru a bank you would first have to get your bank to agree to an unlimited number of draws - but since you are self-financing, the number of checks you have to write shouldn't matter. You could also agree that you will then make out a check for an additional 5% to 10% to your builder to pay him a share of his profit as he goes along. I wouldn't agree to more than 10% even if your builder claims his profit margin is more than that. In fact, I wouldn't agree to pay more than about half of whatever percentage I thought his profit margin was supposed to be. At the end of the build, when the house is done and every body else is paid, whatever amount is left on the contract will be paid to the builder so he'll get the full share of his profit at that time. In the meantime, you will know that subs and materialmen on your project are being paid. There is a possiblity that your builder will balk at agreeing to such a modification because he would rather have all your money in his pocket so he can pay off older debts to subs who built the last house he finished... and he has high hopes that before the subs working on your house actually file any liens, he'll have another house in the works and can use money from that owner to pay off the subs who worked on your house. Classic case of robbing Peter to pay Paul. Problem is, in this economy, your builder may not be able to find his next Peter and if you're the last one in line, you will wind up holding the bag. Frankly, you may be a lot better off having your contractor walk off the job and leave you with a partially finished house - but with that part paid for and no pending liens - than having him finish your house, collect his full contract amount and then find out that unpaid subs and materialmen are filing liens against your house that may easily total 50% or more of your original contract price!

Nope, don't have them and won't have them. I have enough experience trying to find addresses when I was with the PI firm and would go out to do process service. Talked to enough police and fire folks and saw firsthand during ride-alongs and other experience that they're not very effective. Snow, ice, dirt, parked cars, faded numbers, kids altering numbers... are just a start of the problem with curb numbers. It's another false sense of security pushed by people selling something. Even numbers on the mailbox can often be problematic. First, not all houses have street mailboxes. Some mailboxes are on the house. Many have them grouped, 3-5, some are across the street, down the street, some even a block away. How is that helpful? Far better to have LARGE NUMBERS on your house in a conspicuous spot. I have the numbers that are probably 8" high and very thick in a very contrasting color and it looks fine. I've seen the lighted ones and while they're a good idea, they also should be bigger. I've seen the solar lighted ones too and like the concept but again, they're not always easy to read. It's super easy to tell my house by the number. And the biggest peeve and complaint I heard of emergency vehicles are people who try to be fancy with their address and have the "written out" version rather than numbers (Twenty Three Seventy Seven), as they're in a difficult to read script, thin and small, but "look so fancy". Then the real foo-foo folks try to be fancier and put them in several lines. On behalf of all emergency vehicles "ARGH!!" When you abandon common sense to try to be fancy you assume the risk of delayed emergency response. If your trees and bushes are so overgrown that you can't see your house and numbers you're a burglar's dream. Maybe you should consider trimming your trees and bushes. Otherwise put large numbers on a post at the street high enough to be seen over snow drifts, plow ridges, parked cars/trucks and other obstructions. Turning their heads to the side to see an address is dangerous? Come ON! Sheesh! Sounds like another sales pitch! LOL How about turning your head and LOOKING DOWN? That's not dangerous? Can't buy that one. And yes, GPS is notoriously inaccurate. (And phone apps are worse yet.) It will get you to the area but that's the best you can expect. Plus I know of places where addresses have been changed. A friend's place had his address changed so it can take years for that to be updated in a GPS database. It's always a good idea to have someone outside waiting for emergency vehicles if that's a possibility. That's NOT a bad thing. Around here, the police will almost always if not always respond first to a medical so an ambulance can usually figure out where the problem place is located. Most cops know the locale quite well so they can find the place quite efficiently. FWIW as I mentioned on the parking, fire departments often have issues with people parked in the streets so they have trouble getting the trucks through. There's been times they've just pulled up and pushed cars out of the way so they could get through. There's the advantage of those huge bumpers and powerful engines.