Craze, I think you should fertilize again: if you have doubts, give it a half-dose, with the hand held whirley spreader. I gave my lawn a full dose, of Lesco 24-1-2 (or whatever, on the last two numbers: but they were low numbers) from Home Depot, just yesterday, Nov 1st. You're in zone 5, and I suspect that you have KBG, and perhaps some fescue and P. Rye mixed in with it. The KBG especially would like to be really well fed, regularly well fed, 'maximized' if you will, like a sod farm does it. And you've seen how a sod farm looks, that deep dark green, and fully spread out, into every available open space in the dirt, while neighborhood lawns are just barely holding on, in July heat. The difference is nitrogen, and lots of it. And here you are. Beginning of November. There just isn't a better time of the year to put a healthy dose of nitrogen on that lawn, is there? And timing? Timing as far as "regular feeding" goes? Your prior app was end of September, just about optimal spacing from that app to this one. I'd put a full dose down, and your lawn will love you for it. If you absolutely must, you can compromise, and put a half-dose down, but that's not my recommendation. Give it a big 'ol meal, and it will be healthy, and amaze you, come spring.

cateyanne, Check out the "U-Sand" floor sander and "Waterlox" floor finish. I just sanded and refinished my "new" master bedroom floor (antique heart pine original to the house) and had great results with the U-Sand and Waterlox Original. The U-Sand uses four 6" random orbit disks and comes with its own vacuum system; there was some dust, but not much. It also gets right up to the edge of the floor -- you probably won't need to rent an edger. Yes, it's probably lighter than a "pro" machine and it'll take you longer to do the sanding, but as a first time DIYer I found that to be an asset. (I don't mind a little extra time if it means I'm less likely to damage the floor.) Waterlox is a penetrating finish that is very easy to apply and, since each coat "melts" into the previous coats, you don't have to sand between each coat. (Next time I'll probably screen before the final coat because in an old house dust particles seem to generate spontaneously.) I'm very happy with the product and final finish. I don't have any floor-specific pics online, but (provided I can do this correctly) here's a "before" finishing (mid-woodwork strip and refinish) pic: [IMG]http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd195/Synrgystyk/Bedroom%20Renovation/baseboard.jpg[/IMG] and an "after": [IMG]http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd195/Synrgystyk/Bedroom%20Renovation/P1020089.jpg[/IMG] The lower right corner of the "after" pic shows the same area of flooring as in the "before" pic. HTH Lorree

Clean it thoroughly and paint it with the enamel of your choice that is meant for outdoor use. Practice on something cheap - you need to have the distance and speed under control for best results. Also, check the price of having it "powder coated" black. It's sandblasted and then electrostatically painted. It's a super finish, and might be in your budget. Look in your yellow pages for local firms.

After the bath, a couple shriveled, clearly not liking it. But it's definitely satisfying to see white dots floating in the water. I left them out to dry and started to pick more stubborn bugs from some of my plants. Most of them were motionless, so I assumed the soap bath did the trick. So I left the rest alone. Nuked all the soil of new pots with boiling water, followed by a 4 minute cook off in the microwave. I set them off to dry for a few days, and I tried to pot them up last night. And guess what? The mealies SURVIVE!! Except for those that I had picked on, the rest still had tiny bugs crawling in them. You can call them eggs, larvae whatever, I got fed up. Took out my tub of rubbing Alcohol dunk half a containerful with more dish soap, and yanked everything into the concoction. Rinsed them into another tub of water, and set them off to dry again. This time I inspected every single one. Miraculously, no white stuff or survivors. I'm guessing it worked. The poor remaining plantlets all don't look good. I guess only time will tell if these all can be saved. Will continue to update... Oh, and I also found infestations on my new jades too, thankfully I caught the spread and am now containing it, or at least am trying to..