I wouldn't worry about the MOUND but would disguise the system itself. With, er, nonprickly plants that would be easy to walk around! Looks like you have a new active septic system. Good luck. You'll need it. You may want to disable the alarm, especially if you go on vacation. It goes off if it gets too low and beeps...and beeps...and beeps.

If you have the room, you could move it to a nursery area to see if it will revive. However, I find Niobe always gets wilt, and mine is about 6 years old. It is the only one that I grow that gets wilt of more than 30. Type 2 or B prune vines are more likely to get wilt than other pruning types, but I grow several other type 2s that never get wilt, including HF Young and Guernsey Cream. This is my second Niobe with wilt, so I think that it is just more prone to it. So the cycle on mine is to sprout, throw out a few flowers, wilt for the rest of the season. It's a good thing that the rose that grows a few feet away grows vigorously so that the Niobe's poor performance isn't too obvious. There isn't a clear cause for clematis wilt as far as I know. I've seen that it might be disease or it might be that the roots can't grow fast enough to keep up with the top growth. You could try pruning it back earlier in the season next year to see if it would help, but you might want to just replace it. Consider planting a new clematis on the spot that is not in the early large-flowered group. Jackmanii Rubra or Viola might be possible substitutes. The Clematis on the Web search might help you find other possibilities.

That chimp has more smarts than some people I know. I'm talking about the one who would not have jumped off at the last minute. I wish I had rented a Segway when I was at the Louvre in Paris. You can ride them all around the grounds. It really looked like a lot of fun.

I have a 15 in mixer lift cabinet and 12 in cutting board pull out cabinet. The rest are all drawers. My only regret is I should have made one of the dish drawers 2 shallow ones instead of a deep one. It is glorious to have all my pots and pans in drawers! They are better organized, they do not attack me when pulling them out, and I don't have to get down on the floor to see them. Dishes are fantastic in drawers too, no more reaching! I can see all my gadgets in shallow drawers, my knives are out of sight, and I even just put my spices in a drawer. What on earth does he think you must put in cabinets? I was a bit nervous at first since I've only ever known cabinets, but I'm a complete convert now! It's just like having all the fance pull outs inside the cabinets, but you don't have to open the door first. I bet it's just new for him.