Don't know if this will help or not, but here's my experience. The mature, 2-yr plants I purchased that were actively growing and large look silly to me. The ones that I already from the year before look much better, except where my newbie self did a hatchet job of pruning early this spring. Why? The mature plants hadn't been shaped & were allowed to grow gangly & lop sided because the nursery wanted the blooms to show, and they don't normally cut anything from a potted rose they're trying to sell. They all grew upright, lanky, and funny-looking. The ones I pruned had some "directional guidance" and went the way I intended. Another big thing I've noticed---I don't exhibit, so I tend to deadhead rather shallowly. I'm not trying to get long stems. Instead, I cut back just to where the nearest bud eye is emerging from a leaflet, as long as it's not too terribly thin of a stem. I don't get many long-stemmed roses for cutting, but I have very nice, full garden roses and that's my goal. ---Laura

Agree with camlan, a lot depends on who is listed on the lease. If it's your male friend, I don't really get the need to sign a paper saying the sister is out. If the sister that signed the paper is on the lease, the proper way to handle her being out would rewrite a new lease removing her name and replace (or leave) remaining occupants on the lease. Benefits all parties. Exiting occupant is no longer responsible for rent, damages etc. and remaining parties are assured the exiting occupant has no legal access to the place. One thing to check though as far as getting put out on the street (and where that signed paper might apply) are state residency laws. Those vary, maybe not even all states have them. As I understand, sometimes it's a small window of time, 2 or 3 consecutive weeks of occupying can be viewed as a residence, and eviction is required for removal. An example: heated argument, police are called. None of the parties have caused bodily harm to the other (or anything that could warrant being arrested). Person A is on the lease and wants person B (not on the lease) removed from the property. Only person B has been staying there 4 consecutive weeks, which both A & B admit to and agree on that point. Having no reason to arrest B, police will not remove Person B because that State's laws view anything 3 consecutive weeks or more as a residence. So it has to go through court. It would be worth a google. That's where the signed paper might be valid if the sister was never on the lease. The brother could simply show it as evidence she left, doesn't reside there, and not being a named Lessee has no rightful or legal access to the apartment. Best thing for all concerned would be to live apart. Hopefully while the child is still provided with shelter. That power trip "get out..." nonsense tends to not go away. It's a form of trying to exert control. The child picks up on that arguing as well, which isn't a good thing to hear.

Acey, I feel I should be enlightened by your post, but it just made me scared. LOL I'm not antipating any problems, but maybe i'm being too naieve? The house isn't a custom, but I did make a lot of changes, so hopefully those things won't cause problems. Like yourself, I also like change, hence my move cross country to TX from CA. I'm building a little larger than I probably should, but i'm anticipating a lot of family and friends visiting. Downsizing is always a possibility, as needs do change over the years. Trish, I think you'll be fine. You're in the same shoes as us.. You're going into a community, which I feel is a different process. I've been lurking here for a while, probably since February or March. Some of the posts made me wonder if we wanted a custom build. When it came time to pick between the 12 acre custom build & the community, trying to get info from the custom guy was like pulling teeth. Things he said to us.. go to such & such architects site, find a plan you like.. I should be able to build you something for such & such price as long as you don't go crazy with cabinets & stuff. Two weeks later, armed with ranchers he tells us.. oh well, only this house will work on that lot. So, we decided that if the community could sell us the exact model we wanted for under the base price with upgrades we'd go for it; they said yes, so we did. When you go into a community (here anyway), there's less uncertainty.. they have a better idea on prices, budget and might be able to afford to throw things in. We're also going bigger then what we need, but we've been feeling packed in for a few years and it's time to enjoy life a little more before he retires (or so we hope) On a scale from 1-10 how excited were you when you knew you were going to be building a home? I'm excited although I don't have a number to put on it. After picking the house my son had to move out for a few months to find himself; then during it my husband had that fall from his tractor trailer (delivering Mazda's). Two months later he is still out of work. We went to the house, they told us probably January.. We don't know if we still qualify for the mortgage, so the nerves are going.. that and we still need to sell this house. So far everything has happened for a reason, and I hope that once we get the word that it's time.. we'll lower the price & sell

I was just searching for tips on highway riding and came across this thread. I just took MSF course a month ago, bought my first bike (Harley Sportster 883) 2.5 weeks ago and have put on a little over 100 miles on it. The bike was intimidating at first, after only having experience on 250cc in the course for a few hours on the parking lot. So I took it to the parking lot to practice what I learned in the course. A week later my buddy and I agreed to go for a ride. Even though I was very nervous about riding on the roads, I decided to just go. My thought was "I would not be more ready later than I am now." It was very challenging and I made a few scary mistakes at first at very low speed, but I was getting better as the ride went on. We ended up riding about 30 miles with speeds up to 45 mph that day. I rode once more with him and then made a 30 mile trip on my own. It was even more challenging than it should have been cause it was drizzling and the roads were wet. It feels great to be on the bike, although challenging for me. So now I am contemplating to challenge myself a bit more and go on the highway on saturday morning, even if its just for a few miles. Of course I'm nervous about it. I also have advice to people who are very nervous to ride: First, read the tips that are found on this site: http://ridingsafely.com/ridingsafely3.html Second, if you think motorcycling is for you, then let go of the fear and just relax and ride. If its not fun for you and you're glad when the ride is over, such as one poster posted on this thread, then I highly advise to stop riding. I just bought my bike 2.5 weeks ago and can't wait for a good/warm weather so I can ride it. I even take a ride around the block if I don't have time for anything else. I LOVE it. Yes, I'm scared, yes, I'm nervous, but I do my best to leave it behind me while I'm riding. I'm not telling people to go on the highway if you're not comfortable with it, but you must enjoy it and ride without fear. As this site on safety says, riding with fear will get you into trouble. Ride safe and enjoy! p.s. As I've mentioned, I'm a beginner rider with almost no experience. So this is my opinion from my short experience and from what I've heard from experienced riders.