Well that certainly would make things easier! Probably a stupid question - but how much new growth will it put back on this year if I whack it back? Losing that height will leave a pretty big hole - but it's better than having it keep coming down until it gets reestablished. I doubt it's ever been pruned back (like I said, these people could care less about the yard.) Yesterday I filled 3 lawn bags and didn't make a dent. I'm estimating 4 or 5 more - more if I whack back this bush. haha

This decison was the biggest issue before we started to remodel and really held us back from starting sooner (we are now in the middle of it). We wanted to gut the bathroom ourselves but heard how hard it was to get the cast iron tub out. Ours was pink. We had bathfitters come, and the quote was over $3,000 for a custom tub and wall surround. Then we got a quote for reglazing -- $300. He said he would only do it in our downstairs bathroom where we have a window, but will not do upstairs becuase he won't use the chemicals where there is no window -- too dangerous to his health. So we were kind of bummed because getting the tub out from upstairs will be a bear. We were pretty set on reglazing because the downstairs is a guest bathroom and the bath/shower isn't used that much -- unless we move downstairs when we are old :) Then our plumber came to give us an estimate for the rough plumbing -- he suggested not reglazing because it doesn't last, and said here's a hint, take a sledgehammer to the tub -- which we did and it came out in 6 pieces in 1 hour -- and the town took it from the curb. He also begged us not to get our faucets from the big stores so he wouldn't have to rip our walls out in a few years. So now we have a new Kohler white cast iron tub downstairs and are not afraid to face the upstairs bath remodel. We will most likely get Americast upstairs because it is lighter. Just wanted to let you know what we found out about reglazing and an easier way to get the old tub out.

and since it mentions b/g/n it means it can use all of those technologies with n being the most current. So should you want or need a new wireless router any of those would work but you really want would be best with an N for latest technology and longest distance. I have my modem and router right on the desk beside my desktop so I actually prefer to simply use cables to connect. Just use the wireless for my portable devices.

One of my thermostats recently died after 10yrs so I started looking for a "smart" thermostat. After browsing the web I concluded I'd try the Nest (crowd fav) and the Ecobee3 (newest model but ecobee seems to have a very good reputation online). I wanted to share some of my initial thoughts between the two since there isn't much out there yet. Before buying these stats I realized I needed the 24v common wire connected and luckily our house was wired with 6 strand wire and all I had to do was hook up the 5th wire to the C terminal. This made life easy for me. I bought the Nest from Lowe's so I had that immediately. The Ecobee3 was bought direct a week later and it was 2 day shipping. The Nest had more heft and solid feel. It felt like it was worth the $250 whereas the Ecobee3 is very lightweight plasticy cheap feeling like my existing stat was. It was a bit hard to believe it was more then the Nest. I did have some cosmetic damage on my Ecobee3 and am in the process of exchanging the unit with them. Installation was similar on both. I had 5 wires and both units started right up after I turned the power back on. Ecobee3 has more initial questions than the Nest if I remember correctly. Once setup the Ecobee3 definitely has more things configurable for your HVAC system vs the Nest. The Nest app is smoother to operate. Ecobee3 app is a little clunky but has more settings to customize. Ecobee3 doesn't show the energy savings/usage yet but it says that feature is coming soon. The one thing that really interested me was the remote sensor on the Ecobee3. This stat is on our 2nd floor. We primarily occupy 2 bedrooms and if this thing can average the two rooms to better even out the temperature that would be great. We have tried adjusting the vents but there is still quite a bit of difference. Its a bad time to review these stats right now because my HVAC system isn't really running much. Just a tad at night to keep the house warm. I've decided to keep the Ecobee3 and return the Nest based on the more configurable settings and the remote sensor with comfort in mind.