v1rtu0slty, I would probably keep your young palm plant in the house for two or three years if you have a sunny window, until the plant gets a little bigger before planting it outside. Older plants seem to be hardier. Or find a larger plant at a local nursery or garden center in your area. Occasionally they will sell the Windmill and Mediterranean fan palms. I bought all of my outdoor palms as one gallon size plants and kept them inside for a couple of years before planting outside. The Windmill palm is supposed to be the hardiest, but the Mediterranean fan palms are almost as hardy. They have all survived outside with no problem. I don't believe light is required to get them to survive since they go dormant with the colder temperatures. The flourescent light bulbs that I use are for a small heat source. In zone 5, I'm not sure if an insulated box will work with no heat source. You'd be surprised how much heat builds up in a tightly made styrofoam box from the light bulbs. Good luck! Kevin

We have white and red oaks, hickory, and black cherry trees covering our lot. We wanted to save as many trees as possible, so after we cleared the building site, septic area, and driveway, we only cleared 10' out from the building envelope. After the house was completed, we realized where the branches of the oaks nearest the house would be in a few years, once the lower and middle branches sprouted and grew out from the sun that now reached them. We had the tree guys come back and cut down everything within 25' of the house. It costs less to get it all done at once. And if they have to take down individual trees near a house it gets really expensive! BTW, after we'd cleared our lot, lightning hit the neighbor's white oak (~2' in diameter) that was 3' from our lot line. It cracked the tree into 3 parts, which the neighbor had to rope together and tie to our other trees to keep the parts from falling on his house until he could get someone over to take it down. Huge chunks of bark and many branches of all sizes blew all across both lots. Several of our tall trees were bent over by the blast; after 7 years, they are close enough to being straight that they no longer look strange. You can't prepare for everything, but the obvious is that a large branch that is over or near a roof can be blown with great force into a roof during a storm, and probably will mean water running down into the house and causing lots of damage, as happened to a neighbor a couple of doors down who kept the 10' perimeter. Siding and windows broken by flying debris are easier to fix temporarily, and the damage would be more limited than a branch falling on a roof. I've seen smaller branches knifed into the soil after storms. The force of the end of a branch hitting the roof plywood or OSB or wedging under shingles can be considerable. Anne

I was in the same boat, but have learned enough to ask the right questions now. I do think you should talk to both the Leviton dealer and the electrician and compare notes. I plan on asking the electrician what brand and model of whole protector he uses and then checking that out. As long as it is rated to 40 to 50,000 amps and 700 to 900 joules - that probably will be good enough as a first line of defense. I have also decided that the Leviton in wall outlets are going to provide a good secondary line of defense for most (but not all) of my expensive appliances and are a very good value. I can add a second level of surge protection to my $5000 refrig for 50 dollars - that's a no brainer. So my recommendation for the second level of defense is either use power strips (which work OK under desks for computer equipment) or the in-wall outlets for things like TV's, washing machines, etc. These in-wall outlets are good for 15amp and 20amp devices - but not higher. There are a few remaining pieces to the puzzel that I am still researching, and when I find out information I will post it here. I still have a number of devices where I want secondary surge protection but the in-wall outlets or power strips won't work. My well pump, septic pump, bubble tub and dish washer fall under the 15 amp class BUT they are directly wired so there is no outlet plug. An obvious great solution here would be to have a circuit breaker that was also a surge protector - then I could simply use those breakers to protect the entire circuit that these devices are on and be done. I need 15A, 20A, and 30A breakers that are also surge protection devices - I have not found such a product yet. I also wonder if I need a special device for pump motors which by design create a small surge when they start up. I also have large current drawing devices that do have a wall plug like my 30 amp 240 Volt electric dryer that plugs into the wall, but I need a 30 amp plug in surge protector - and leviton doesn't appear to make one of those. I did find a 30 amp plug in surge protector made for RV Campers but it is for 120 volts only. In the end, I may just start out with the whole house devices for the primary protection at the main electrical panels and then use the leviton outlets where I can, and hope for the best on the other devices. I will then add surge protectors to the other things as new products become available - since this appears to be a growing problem. If you find out anything in your research - please post it. Thanks

Our house got broken into while we were in the process of closing and we were out-of-state. Fortunately, there was nothing in the house to steal AND we had an active and monitored alarm system. We received a call from the police department and they said it was probably some teenagers wanting to vandalize. They popped a window off the tracks using a screwdriver, but ran away when the alarm went off. In the 7 years we lived there, our alarm was never activated, but we paid for services every month. Just that one time prevented us from losing our sale and potentially costing us thousands in damage. It was worth every penny we paid over the years. I know a lot of people who put those alarm monitoring signs in their yards and may even have an alarm system in their house, but many burglars/bad guys know they aren't monitored or there aren't actual systems installed. They are deterrents for sure, but if you are showing your home, pay to have your alarm system monitored.