Linda, I got the shovel pruning term from the rose forum. I admit it took me awhile to figure out it meant to remove the plant. Thanks, Tony, I feel very flattered. I have done a little more ruthless removal, but it has been too hot and humid to really go at it. All the common spiderwort is gone (of course it is not, but the big clumps are gone). I don't even miss it. I reread "We Made A Garden" by Marjory Fish over the weekend and was inspired to deadhead and cut back with a vengence. I did some research on a tree I had received when I was on the shade tree commisison for our city. At a Tree City USA shindig a few years back, a local company had free trees for us. We had our choice of golden rain tree or Katsura (sp). I thought I had the golden rain tree, but as it hadn't produced any thing remotely "golden" I thought I better check. I have been deceived. I have a honey locust. I have nothing against honey locust except that now I have a honey locust planted between a tulip tree and an European Larch. 3 soon to be too too big trees. Which to remove is now the question. I stand in the side yard and stare. I walk around the outside of the yard and stare and mutter to myself, coffe cup in hand, trailed by 3 cats. Hmmm. The tulip is in the middle of the side yard, my "speciman tree". It has a kink in the trunk (never buy at a big box store again), and it leans a little (I now always use a level when I plant trees or have the dh out there with his good eye). But it throws shade just exactly where I want it. Locust tree is nice, dappled shade, close to propery line, as is the Larch. Really I should take out the locust because it is too close to the Larch and the tulip because it is leaning and crooked. If I do it this year, I can probably do it myself. At least the Locust. I don't think I have the will to take out 2 trees. I dithered for years whether I wanted a speciman tree in the center of the side lot or a formal pool. I finally decided on the tree because of cost and I like shade gardening. Maybe now I will get my formal pool, though cost is still a hinderence, especially now with ds in college. What to do, what to do. I see more dithering and muttering in the side yard.

Without having your dog right here in front of me I can't really offer good advice but the one thing I say over and over to people is to set a good example. If you want your dog to be calm, then YOU be calm. If you want your dog to be quiet then you can never raise your voice - you yelling is the same as barking. But dogs think about things differently then humans do so you'll have to learn as you go. The more you and your dog experience together the better you'll be at reading him and controlling him. Labs are usually very stable and warm natured dogs. Your more likely to have him pulling you over to meet other people rather than other dogs - but over friendliness is a problem also, just not a big one. My dog gets snarled at all the time, most often by little dogs. The owners make all sorts of justifications for it. Who knows the truth about it - it's just dogspeak, it doesn't seem to mean much to my dog and it soon settles down. My dog has also been attacked and bloodied while at the park. It looked horrible to us humans but the dogs got over it very quickly. It seemed to mean more to us than to them. I won't say they "worked it out", they seem to not like each other.. and that owner got banned from the park because of other dog owners complaints so we don't have to deal with them anymore. If you are concerned you can leave him in the car while you wait for the vet tech to assist you in bringing him in (they will understand when you tell them he is a new pet); or you can wait and go get him when they call your name; or you can wait outside the door if the waiting room is crowded. My main advice would be to NOT make a big deal out of it. Hold him by his collar if you can, keep him close to your side as you talk to the person at the desk. If you want to sit down, make him sit or lay down right in front of you or beside you. Stay as calm and still as you can. Don't talk to anyone, don't point out all the other animals, don't act differently than you do at home.. act like everything is normal and calm and that you don't even see the other animals. If he wants to sniff someone else I would stop him by pulling him by the collar away and keep him focused on your face. If all he wants to do is look around and your ok with that then let him but don't make a big deal out of it. If someone with another dog wants to allow them to interact ask them if you could take them outside to meet instead of dealing with it inside the waiting room. If they act put off just say you recently adopted him and don't know all of his quirks yet. I would not let people or children hang on him or play with him - leave that sort of stuff for the backyard or park. My dog is kinda glamorous so people often want to pet her which she loves but things do get out of control, especially with children so I make my vet appointments first thing in the morning so that I can be the first person there. One trick is to put a soft muzzle on the dogs face. Let the dog get used to it so that he looks like he wears one all the time. No one will want to bother him when he wears a muzzle. You are at a tender stage where you have to work out the details of the relationship with this new dog. Make sure he is understanding clearly what you want out of him. If not, get thee to a obedience class - it is mostly to train you how to communicate to your dog rather than the other way around.

Change out you siding with hardi board. Add a porch roof like the pic.posted that partically follows the roof line to camo. the fact that the roof is wider on one side. Starting at the new porch roof edge add a wide trim board that goes across to the other wall., where the main roof meets the side wall and use hardi shingles above in a different color than the body of the house. Consider nicer window upstairs. I cann,t see the total slope of your yard put it looks like you have enough slope to put in a rock retaining wall. Add a few semi large focal rocks above and some low growing evergreens and a nice stone walk way and multch . Add something like river rock and easy care plants down in front of the rock retaining wall and you probly have the nicest house on your block and it would all be easy upkeep if you use the right plants and multch.If your able to do it your self all that should be less than 3000. We did alot of the same stuff with ours this last year and consider it a learning exp. as well as sweat eguity.

Late to the party, but my 2 cents worth.... We have double ovens and use them both several times a week...usually at the same time. They're both used at the same time for a variety of reasons: (1) I'm using speed cook in one and convection in the other (2) I'm roasting in one & baking in the other (3) I'm using two very different temperatures (4) I'm baking so many items that I need both ovens (5) Anything that gets put directly on the rack for baking (like pizza) for the family goes in the bottom oven; if it's for me (gluten-free), it goes in the top oven. Sure, I could probably use just one...but then I'd have to wait around for round 1 to get done b/f round 2. It saves me a lot of time and foods are done around the same time I don't have to go back and reheat the items that were done in round 1. And, yes, I did live with one oven but I would always sigh (grumble a little) and tell myself...I can't wait until we can afford to remodel & get double ovens! (It became even more of an issue when I was diagnosed w/Celiac Disease.) [I have the GE Profile Trivection Double Ovens. It has a speed cook on top and convection on the bottom. Top can be used as speed cook/broil, convection single/multi/roast, or traditional. Bottom can be used as convection single/multi/roast, or traditional.] If you are considering getting a MW/Convection or Advantium as your second oven, remember this....*** If you are using either of them as an oven, you don't have a MW. *** You'll have to wait until you're done using it as an oven b/f you can use them as a MW. This point was the deal-breaker when we were planning our appliances. We use our MW a lot, just about all our veggies are cooked in the MW. So, rather than give up counter space, we got one of the Sharp MW Drawers. Others have put their MW in the pantry, others had upper cabinets modified to hold a MW in the bottom, still others built MW alcoves in base cabinets, etc. If counter space is an issue, there are a lot of things you can do to get a MW off the counter. All of the above pertains to our family. It's provided simply to give you things to think about & allow you to make an informed decision, not to try to convince you to get a double oven. As others have said, think about how you cook OR how you would like to cook and base your decision on that. Are there other issues that two ovens would solve? Is it worth it to you to solve those issues? (Maybe not, e.g., maybe you rarely bake or rarely use the oven for more than one item and when you do it's too rare to worry about.) BTW...Going from a 24" to a 30" would not have addressed any of the reasons that we had for getting the double ovens...but YMMV.