Too much moisture is never a good thing with peppers. THat being said. Do you cover your seed starters? Do you use any external heat? What temp are the starters at? Here is how I start my seeds: I use the 3.5" starter pots. I plant 3-5 seeds 1/8th of an inch deep in each pot by poking a pencil or other object into the soil. Then I drop one seed in each depression and cover it up (3-5 per pot). I place the pots in a larger basin to catch excess water dripping from the drain holes on the pots. Then I place the basin on my heat mats and regulate soil temps to between 80-85 degrees. My seeds normally sprout in 5-10 days. At two weeks, I figure they are not going to sprout. However, some varieties take longer, especially super hots so know the germination times for what you are growing. Several people on this forum post claims of seedlings popping up 30 days after planting. After my seedlings get one or two pair of true leaves, I then choose the strongest looking plant out of those that sprouted in each container and cull the remainder of sprouts. I plant about 30 starters each year and I use Miracle grow Orchid Mix. I put it in a bucket, get it thoroughly and then squeeze out excess. Damp, not wet. Then, I fill my 3.5" inch starter pots with it. Orchid Mix is basically miracle grow starter with some fir bark, perlite and nutrients mixed in. It provides good drainage which sounds like you are having problems with. It is about $4 a bag but for starters it goes a long way. Make sure you are not planting more than 1/4" deep. I prefer closer to 1/8". It is easy to plant them deeper than you intend. Heat is not required but anything from normal room temps up to 85 is better. The closer to the low 80's that you get, the quicker your seedlings will germinate. If you are using one of the domed starters, I would suggest leaving the dome off if your soil is not drying out within two weeks. Otherwise, i do use the dome until my plants have sprouted. But too much moisture can cause mold on the soil and on the seeds themselves...better to leave it off if not sure. Kind of a rambling post as many of mine are but I hope it gives you a little guidance and maybe a little insight into what might be your problem. As Claydirt and Willard3 said, at this point, I would give it a bit more time, especially if you planted deeper than 1/8th inch. If you are pressed for time, you will have to make a call soon on starting over but if you have time, then let them go another week or so. Bruce

nosoccermom I appreciate your knowledge on the right of way laws. I tried to research them myself but couldn't find anything specifically for my township and the general rules I did find were confusing. There is no curb or sidewalk. If there was a sidewalk his tires would be planted firmly in the middle of it. I still wouldn't like his car in front of my house but I would be a little more accepting if he would at least keep all 4 tires on the road. We are at the end of a subdivision near the cul-de-sac. Their is virtually zero traffic at our part of the street except for the 3 of us who live on the end. The road is wide enough for him to park on and still leave plenty of room for other cars to safely get by. He insists on parking halfway in the road and halfway in the grass in front of my house though. No, I'm not sure whether my property extends all the way to the edge of the road or not. I do know that the only person in our neighborhood who has a fence in their front yard put it up just before the ditch leaving 4 or 5 feet before the road. Many of us who have big trees near the road seem to have them a similar distance from the road as their fence. I suspect the rude neighbor who parks in my grass was right when he said I couldn't put the rock where I had it about 3 feet from the road because no one else really has anything that close to the road. I don't know if that means that the grass up to the edge of our dirt road subdivision is our property or not. I do know that he is making muddy ruts through the grass in front of my house as he pull in and out of "his parking spot". I also have to mow around his car leaving a corner uncut because he won't move. I work hard to make sure my lawn looks nice and neat. Those ruts and longer grass where he parks don't help.

Susan- I'm not sure how things are done in your office but I have a question. If your supervisor were to write her up or put her on probation or give her a bad review - would anything be done? Or would the union jump in and protect her? As a former supervisor for a branch library I had difficulty trying to get one particular library clerk to do her job. I supervised 10 employees- and this one woman was in charge of the other 4 assistants and she made out their work schedule. Needless to say she gave herself the best schedule, long holiday weekends called in sick every time we had work to do that she didn't want to do and gave herself all the simple easy tasks. She'd been getting away with this for years under the previous head who looked the other way and gave her great annual reviews. Unfortunately I was unaware of her history and I wasn't permitted to see her previous employee reviews. I came into the library and tried to make changes that were fair to everyone. She resisted my suggestions. She would call in sick and then we'd see her on the sidewalk with her friends or she'd call one of the girls in the office and tell her that she was out shopping. I wrote a detailed employee manual and job description based on our library's policies and Civil Service (union) descriptions and then had a meeting and asked everyone how we could implement this to make the library more efficient, eliminate work backlogs and create a more pleasant work environment. Everyone agreed to the proposed changes and willingly worked to improve our library. Everyone except one. When the time came for her annual review I tried to go a little easy on her, it was honest without being brutal and I praised her for the things she did well (not many) and made suggestions for improvement. She went to the union and complained that I was harassing her and since her previous ratings had been good it was difficult to argue against that. The union representative went to my supervisor and complained. My supervisor gave me my annual rating and critiqued me for being too harsh on one employee. After a year of that I decided to transfer to another branch. It just wasn't worth the hassle especially with the union backing her. What options are available to your supervisor? Is there a written, detailed job description that lists all the duties your coworker is expected to perform? Is there a daily or weekly checklist that he could use to measure her performance? You're right that you boss is responsible for making sure she does her job. It not only affects your work but also the moral of the entire office. Good luck.

Well, OSU has one of the finest undergraduate architectural and architectural engineering programs in the nation. As a former student, faculty member and Head of the School, I'm completely unbiased about the program! They would never consider your project for an educational project for the students, but many of the faculty practice architecture and do residential and small commercial projects on a regular basis. OKC and Tulsa also have many talented and experienced architects. As for phasing the work, I caution against doing anything and anymore than you immediately are ready to do and have to do to occupy the land. That's because as time goes by your thinking will change and modify (humans do this a lot). You run the risk of making your early investments and improvements outmoded or obsolete. That said, it's a good practice to master plan your site and project, exploring and deciding on building envelope location, how that will be accessed, general orientation. solar energy strategies, views and usable outdoor areas, utility access, well and septic locations, etc.--at least in general terms. An architect experienced in these things will be an invaluable ally early on and when you are finally ready to design and build. Until your house is designed (and it should be designed based on a sound understanding of your site characteristics), you will want to keep all of your site improvement options open. As to the options of RV living or over garage living, etc., you will have to sort that strategy out as best fits your lifestyle, schedule and budget. Good luck--exciting times ahead. PS: Ron Walker (Walker Construction) is an OSU architecture graduate and retired home builder in the Stillwater area who may be helpful. You can tell him I recommended you contact him. He built my home when my family and I lived in Stillwater.