My solution to deer is to plant things they regard as cotton candy all around the deer corridors of my property. Except during drought or overpopulation, this strategy works very well and they leave most everything else alone. I noticed years ago the deer tend to use the darker areas of my landscape as their "highway" to the neighborhood lawns and gardens. I started lining hosta and other deer favorites along the spots that don't get heavily illuminated by the surrounding street and house lights on my property. While I rarely get to enjoy the over 90 hosta plants I have planted around the two acres I own, the ones closest to the house sometimes do okay and everything else thrives most of the time. Also it makes me feel good to know the deer and I are not conflicting to a point where more drastic, intrusive measures to their nature would be required ... especially since they were in this patch of woods first. On the topic of different sprout times occuring in the same tray, I'll leave the answering to others. I use to do that but found it so irritating to deal with that I quit putting more than one kind of seed in a container.

Vannie--that's part of the problem. Many schools in the North East don't have AC at all. Many of the schools in our area are old, large, brick buildings (read 'ovens' in this heat!) that were built in the '20's, 30's--no AC then, and way to expensive to retrofit now for just a few weeks use spring and fall.

I'd go for the midday rather than the evening. The 7:30 end time might put you a little too close to bedtimes for some kids that age. I know that for me, that's a time when I'd want a 6- or 7-year old to be winding down, rather than being all excited from a fun party. Also, about the free babysitting aspect of it-- that would be a bonus for parents with one child, but what about the ones with more? Were you thinking of inviting siblings to the party, as well as the kids in the class?

As others have said, if you own the land, then it's your land and you can visit as much as you want to. When I visit and know there will be people working, I usually take some coffee or food. It goes a long way in your relationship. You'll know when the basement has been waterproofed when you can't see the concrete from the outside. It should be covered in something black. Read online to learn the difference between damp proof and water proof, then talk to your builder about what they're planning on doing. Bare minimum code might not cover what you had intended. The two pipes on the exterior of the house tied to the drain tile might be bi-directional clean outs. It's a little difficult to tell from the photo, but if the vertical pipes are connected to the horizontal with a "y" rather than a "t", and they're facing opposite directions, then that's what it could be. Tough to tell what the other two pipes are from your picture. The PVC is a large diameter pipe that sits away from an exterior wall. This rules out sump pit connection since those sit close to the wall. It can be assumed that it ties to the interior drain tile so it might be a floor drain? Not sure what the thin one is but it looks like 1" copper with a fitting on the end? Do you know if the water valve is installed in the yard? Could be water. If you have plans to rough in a 1/2 bath, then judging by the pea gravel that appears to be in, you should see PVC for the toilet and sink sticking up. Ask your builder. You also don't appear to have any stacks for the other floors so plumbing probably still has to come in to lay the basement rough in and start the stacks. They'll also either have to dig under the footing or drill through the basement wall to connect to sewer, depending on your height differential. It's important to find out how high your basement is above street sewer tie in. Judging by the other houses, I'm guessing you'll be high enough and they'll dig under the footing to connect to sewer. Question: What's with the hole to get into the garage? Are you planning storage under the garage and using a precast concrete garage floor?