Others have touched on the lose of shade, and that is something I missed in my previous posts. The lose of shade on your house will significantly increase your cooling cost in summer, which is in effect damages as well. The value of this damage will increase year after year as the tree would have grow year after year, PLUS the cost of electricity increases year after year. Make sure to include this 10 years of increased costs in the damages which should be more than the cost of a replacement tree itself. This is all part of making them understand that you will be "the expensive pain in the ass" or they can give you what you want now for less money. FWIW, I am just a guy that greatly prefers to be "nice", and very much wants to get along with others. I'm just a guy that doesn't allow being screwed over without a fight. I understand that many have no regard for those feelings, and companies in particular typically have ZERO regard for those feelings and in fact use those against those that have them. Therefore I understand that one must have the ability and understanding to deal with them in a like manner. So when the cable is screwing up, and they want me to take off work for them, I start to explain to them hos much I'm going to charge them for doing so (you do have that legal option and they know it) at which point they say "what time did you say you get home again?". Or the car sales people, are lying through their teeth, you have to walk out the door, and then the next day they will call and give you what you told them they were going to do in the first place, then charge them another $250 for wasting your time the day before. You have to be able to set the emotions aside to win, and remember they have no emotions to hurt. Just cold hard results. They don't like it, so freakin what. They don't care that you loved your tree. After it's done, you can get on with loving and caring for your new tree, and they can get on with swindling the next person. All this is just my opinion from dealing with this kind of thing over the years. There are a few companies out there, even insurance companies, that aren't like this, but they are the rare exception. But if you find one, make sure to support them. Arktrees

I think we're growing an Alamo vine and didn't know it! DW spotted this vine coming up wild in our front foundation bed. She and I both liked the leaves. So we dug it up before it got more than a couple of feet long or tall, and potted it through the winter. We put it back in the ground in a new spot. It's growing fast, twining on a trellis, but no blooms yet. We might have put it into too much shade. I've lived in NE TX but never remember seeing an Alamo vine there. Since we spotted ours, I have seen others growing wild, on the edge of a particular local road where the land has been cleared recently. That is consistent with the words at the link about it growing in "disturbed soils." Here is a link that might be useful: Alamo Vine Merremia dissecta

Yes and Yes. formala1 gave you great advice. You can use any sac mix like quickrete, sackrete, etc. mix it according to the directions in a wheel barrow and pour. Do not use any thing listed as only portland cement, as it does not have any aggregate in it. Since this is not truely structural, you can use wire mesh instead of rebar. Just make sure the mesh is located with approx. half the concrete on top and half on the bottom. One other thing is to put a very slight pitch, away from the house, so water does not stand under the a/c unit. If you find any one with half a brain at the big box stores they can get you everything you need. I have included a link to quickrete' directions on small slabs. They also have links for just about anything you can make with their products. Although you can rent a mixer, for such a small project you can use a contractor's wheel barrow, but its up to you.' Good luck and have fun! Here is a link that might be useful: small slabs

Since my previous post, I built a brick mailbox. I used the 1/8" thick steel malbox from Blowes $50. Baked enamel finish, nice magnetic door catch. I did not put any additional coating on it. I now have a lot more respect for bricklayers. No sign of rust yet, but it's only been 1 year. If it ever does rust out, the replacement door at mailboxdoor.com looks like a great idea. I did some reading on the legal issues. In most cases, that's not really your land you are putting the mailbox on. It's the "highway right of way". If you intentionaly place an unreasonably hazardous obstruction in the highway right of way, you could be liable for damages. This is not a clear cut issue by a long shot. Telephone poles and fire hydrants have no reasonable alternative to there location or construction. A mailbox has an alternative which is minimaly hazardous (a metal box on a 4x4 wood post) and serves it's function adequately. Also a brick mailbox on a thru street or rural road with a higher speed limit is much more of a hazard than on a residential side street with a 20 mph limit. The prevalence of brick mailboxes in your neighborhood also will have some bearing on how much of a hazard you are creating. How likely you are to get sued over something like this varies a lot by location. How likely you are to lose the lawsuit depends as always, who has the best lawyer! You can , however back up 10 or 15 feet to just outside the right of way, and build a 10' thick 10' high concrete wall with no liability issues that i'm aware of.