No days off for the retired. I spent the day dashing outside and back inside, dodging rain and trying to get things done. Pulled Dandelions, planted out a few huge pots of Liatris corms and several pots of L. coronaria (4 year old WS plants. Not bad for a "short-lived" perennial). Did a lot of hit-and-miss weeding (good wet weather activity), and worried about all the rain making the lawn grow (still have too much of that). Rainy weather is a good time to sharpen stuff, so I spent a couple of hours filing and grinding various garden tools. I can hear the Bamboo shooting out there. The first new shoot of the year appeared yesterday...outside the grove, in a Willow bed. Time for some root pruning.

Gonativegal, I hear ya. A little thanks goes a long way, and is rejuvenating in itself. I am a plant technician for a large interiorscaping company. Our company implements a partner program (two people per route), and I am a "lead" tech. I'm responsible for a 2-person, 2-week route full time and get paid pretty much squat. But I love my work. I grew up in small business my whole life. Before coming to this company I worked for a very small interiorscaping company, a job that luckily fell into my lap. I feel like my present company has taken a rewarding form of art...of creating and maintaining beautiful landscapes and green areas indoors...and turned it into cold, hard, corporate bottom lines. It is so depressing sometimes. One day I too would love to start my own business. Personally I like the 'family' feel of almost any small business, and know that if I had my own business it would bring back the satisfaction and pride that seems to be diminishing lately...feelings which make the sore muscles and chapped hands of hard work feel like it was all worthwhile and productive.

mmomof2: You are the boss and remind Hubby of this fact. It does help to make the house temps a little more even in the summer by running the fan. It also tends to keep the air a little cleaner by running it through the filter more frequently. You are waisting very little $$ by running the fan only. Figure a 3 amp fan motor with electricity at 10 cents/kw-hr (insert your own electric cost for more accurate figure). So: (3 amps x 120 volts)/1000 watts/kw x 10 cents/kw-hr) = 3.6 cents/hour to run the fan at high speed. Running the fan for 12 hours/day for 1 month will add about $13 to your electric bill. I would gladly pay $13/month to keep my wife happy.

LMAO, yes, I'm busy packing. since, someone asked me "did it sell" 24 hours after I listed, and as anyone in RE should know, it's not sold until escrow closes. So, actually, we are in contract (I have a backup offer) to close beginning of Next week. Yes, I subtracted what I would have paid a realtor from the asking price, looking for a quick sale I also subtracted my carrying costs for the winter. Average DOM in my zip for sold homes is 180+ days. Oh, and sorry I put it 30k belove comps asking price not selling, it was very hard to price as no really comparable homes had sold in the past year when I was pricing it. There was one house that went under contract that was similar to mine in age/square footage/looks, I only knew the price it went pending when I priced my house. I priced my house 10k less than their asking when it went pending. Turned out I sold for same amount. As for realtors not wanting to show my property, it's the buyers who decide what they want to see, maybe a few realtors passed on showing my house. Yea, so what. This post was edited by alexis5555 on Fri, Oct 31, 14 at 3:21