Hi keepitlow you asked in other thread When do you put them out for good? My figs are still dormant with little green tips. Should I start putting mine outside too? I put them out for good when night temps NEVER dip below about 40 but never on grass always on blacktop driveway or cement patio which keeps my containrs somewhat warmer. It varies from year to year. Some of mine now have green buds but there still tight and when they start to open the night time temps usually do not get below 40 but there have been odd years so if we get a cold spell they go back in garage until it passes. I then move them to the back yard patio eventually and leave them there for season in full sun. You asked should you put your outside too, what state do you live in? Do you have a place to easily move them back in at night when temps get below 40 each time? Are your containers 1 to 3 gallons or plants 1 season old? Im very careful about the temps the last 7 seasons and never have hurt them but im sort of a fanatic when it comes to my fig plants. ; ) You also metioned Last season I wintered all my figs in a unheated shed in Z6....all 6 of them died! I lost my first plant doing that in my backyard shed, i gave nextdoor neighbor a plant several years old and he stored in his shed covered with blanket thinking his would be ok but it died as well. Mine go in attached insulated garage each year as that 1 loss was enough for me. Martin

Debra, I see THE Sooner migration every year and it is really a sight to see. LOL Sometimes I walk the dogs on those big travel days and stand on a bridge over I-35 and watch the endless procession. It is amazing. I am well familiar with the UT-OU rivalry, having grown up in Texas (Fort Worth) and having been stupid enough to go to the State Fair of Texas a couple of times on football weekends when I was a teenager. We learned pretty quickly to pick a different weekend in future years because the football fans take over the fair on "that" weekend. LOL That was back in the wild and rowdy days in the 1970s and 1980s when the Longhorn and Sooner fans turned the streets of Dallas into a crazy street party/pep ralley the night before the game. Dallas would have every available cop on the streets and filled up the jails....and still the fans partied on. I think the weekend lost some of its "spirit" when the city of Dallas started clamping down on the street parties...they kind of ruint that great tradition when they started making so many rules and so many arrests. I'm sure the streets are safer now, but the street parties and pep rallies are missed. You always knew the weekend would be full of 'interesting' news from the street parties and ralleys. The world is a meaner place, now, and I guess if the street party type pep rally nonsense was still allowed, it'd probably result in violence. Oh, the good old days.... And, the way I keep track of the Texas State Fair IS the OK State Fair because I know the one follows the other. Being closer to Dallas than to OKC, that's the fair we usually go to, although sometimes we make it to both. One of the radio stations sponsors some sort of 'rest/meal stop' for the OU fans as they journey down. Some years it is in Paul's Valley and some years it is in Marietta at Carl's Jr. You always know when it is 'almost' OU-Texas weekend because the gas station/convenience stores in Marietta put out big displays of OU merchandise. (And, yes, you OSU fans, they put out big displays of OSU merchandise too.) Bob, What kind of grafitti do they put on the bridge? I assume it is pro-OU and anti-UT? Jay, We got a laugh at those people's "we're winter Texans" comment. Every year, we get to meet at least a couple of these snowbirds in a most unfortunate way. Without fail, once or twice each year, an RV will catch fire traveling down the highway in the fall (or when headed back north in the spring) and our firefighters will be dispatched to put out the fire. Needless to say, by the time the firetrucks arrive, the RV is fully engulfed...they are highly flammable and burn fast. The smart 'snowbirds' disconnect their vehicle from the RV and save the vehicle at least. Not too long ago, our son was driving down I-35 in Texas and saw an SUV pulling a flatbed trailer holding another SUV. Unfortunately, the SUV on the flatbed was on fire. They got the people to pull over and our son and another guy who stopped to help were able to disconnect the flatbed and save the first SUV. Unfortunately, the road sloped downhill and the trailer with the burning SUV started rolling backwards into traffic....it is a funny story to tell now, but it wasn't funny at the time. Four or five other guys stopped and helped our son get the trailer with the burning SUV out of the traffic lanes, and then the fire dept. (our son's wife had called 911) arrived and put out the fire. It was quite a spectacle. One thing I never knew before Tim and Chris became volunteer firefighters (which led to Chris becoming a professional firefighter) was how often vehicles on the interstate catch fire.....semi tractor-trailers, pick-ups pulling big horse trailers, regular cars, buses, etc. You name it, if it travels down the interstate, it can burn. We have a small fire extinguisher in each of our personal vehicles, but they won't put out a vehicle fire unless you catch it the very minute it ignites. Still, we always stop and try to help someone when we see a vehicle afire by the side of the road. Dawn

Hi Allison0704, I came across this thread while looking to see if you had posted other pics of your beautiful house. I read everyone raving about your kitchen and found those photos. It is absolutely beautiful! I can see why you are happy in your home. My job puts me in the middle of your type of situation, between the ARC and the homeowner. I manage an Association and their facilities in Georgia. Given that I have not read your governing documents, but having read your posts, I would say there were probably lots of mistakes made on behalf of the Association. I'm glad that you have worked things out to your satisfaction. Unfortunately, volunteer homeowners, whether on the ARC or Board of Directors, are considered the "scum of the earth" by some residents. Seldom have I met any who is there for reasons other than the "good of the community." The more homeowners become involved with the running of the Association, PRIOR to the developer leaving, the better off your Association will be in the long run. Developers have total control until they turn operations over to the homeowner HOA. Those departure circumstances should be documented in the covenants. Usually, that will be upon reaching a certain number of years or when there is only a small percentage of properties unsold. I do not want to paint a broad brush of all developers, but some have been known to leave HOAs totally bankrupt. It can be a very difficult situation for the homeowner HOA, if you are not prepared and are surprised by what you find upon their departure. I wish you and your neighbors well. Again, I'm glad you worked things out and I will continue my search for photos of your beautiful home.

So a month has flown by and we finished our second gunite shoot last week so I finally have a little extra time to give an update and post some pictures. First: There were some concerns brought to my attention about the quality of the plumbing (crossovers/heat bending and such) work so after looking into it a bit here is what I did. 1. I had 25 yards of sand and AB gravel delivered to my yard. 2. I proceeded to backfill the plumbing trenches with sand by hand/shovel and water hose until a good layer of sand was underneaththe plumbing. This took two days but I think it was worth the effort. 3. I then used a mix of AB and sand to continue filling the trenches 1/3 up, and any crossovers to get adequate support. 4. I then hauled out 30 yards of trenched dirt/rock as it was not my intention to use any of this crappy material to fill back in the plumbing trenches. 5. On the first gunite shoot I used the gunite rebound (3 or 4 yards) and lots of water to continue filling trenches. 6. The next day I used a bobcat to finish backfilling the trenches with AB gravel to grade level. 7. The plumbing has been under pressure at 40 psi for over a month with no problems. (I was told by some very reputable plumbers that setting the plumbing pressure any higher then this is a bad idea.) Undoubtably my plumbing will last for 20+ years maintainance free! :) Second: I took some extra time and expense to have the engineering firm I used send out an engineer for two on-site inspections just before each gunite shoot. It was good piece of mind for me to have the engineer on site and give final approval of the construction before gunite. Neil Anderson is the engineering firm and I am not sure if you could find one person in Northern CA who would disagree with the statement that they are the best there is. All right, onto the pictures and the progress. One week later it was time for the second gunite shoot: So I am calling it a little over half way done at this point and it has been time consuming road to get to this point as an owner builder. But I still have to say that doing an owner/build is a GREAT way to go. I would recommend it to anyone instead of using a pool builder unless you live in TX near Kelly. Then I would just use him!