Thanks everyone, you guys rock. I believe he said he uses something like a bobcat for the tilling and that they will rake and grade where needed for drainage. A little lawn history... Last fall I had another company remove and till the remnants of the builder's sod fescue, which lasted for a few years but always got really stressed, due in large part to my bad/lack of watering practices. I believe they used a walk behind tiller and you're right t-w, I was definitely not happy with the bumpy result. I had them seed and straw a mix of fescue/kbg/prg which came in nicely but never seemed to grow very much. My plan was to get something down for the meantime until I could put Bermuda down, which I'm doing now (better late than never I guess) Now, the soil on the top 2" is very dry and sandy (turns to dust when you knead it in your hand) with lots of tiny granite looking rocks and below that is a moist clay like soil. The landscaper said it's not bad but super low PH so he will lime (which he said he doesn't usually do). Most of the grass and weeds are brown since he sprayed, he said he uses two types Diquat (sp?) and RoundUp. So I was thinking this weekend I would mow on lowest setting and bag it all up, he said I didn't have to worry about it and they would till it in, but I feel uneasy about that... Sorry for the long post, one more question on watering... should I do it in the first half of the day or do a watering or two in the afternoon as well? Thanks everyone, really appreciate the advice! Here's part of the lawn in it's current state...

Chances are these new hydrangeas will perform like the hydrangeas you already have. That is surviving, but never blooming unless you winter protect them. Living in Zone 4 I have never bothered to try figuring it is a lost cause. However I do have several Endless Summer hydrangeas that bloom nicely despite freezing to the ground each year. "... no mention of what zone they can be grown in, or any mention of the botanical name." For future reference, this should raise a red flag. A gardening site should provide both botanical names and hardiness ratings. Even then, I would check several references for hardiness since it is not an absolute or some websites have a tendency to be "generous" with the ratings on the cold end of the spectrum. Or websites will just say "hardy", but that seems to me to mean it will survive in zone 6. Or the plant may be hardy, like the hydrangeas you have, but the websites don't mention that it will never bloom. You can get good info on a forum like this before you buy or check with a local, reputable garden center. They will either not sell the plant or sell it with the warning that it needs winter protection.

It is an Acer Travel Mate. As far as Acer taking care of it....long story. First time I had it sent to them, it sort of crashed- The right hand 4 inches of the screen was blank, everything froze; when Acer tried to walk me through the steps to go back to original it would do 'nothing'. Period. Poop. Nadda. I went to Best Buy just to have them run a scan on it for what was wrong. There were 6 pages of things that were wrong. Sorry, I am not knowledgeable enough to tell you what was wrong. I talked to Acer again, and told them I was going to send the 6 pages along with the computer. When I got the computer back, the screen was fixed, but immediately I knew they didn't fix anything else, because I could not start the machine. When I called Acer and asked what the H*** was going on, they said because I could not tell them specifically what was wrong, they could not fix it.DAH?? They then said they only would fix what I told them was wrong- the 6 pages meant nothing to them- they 'didn't read any attached material'. I sent it back the second time. Supposedly, I had talked to a senior Tech, who would go through the computer and fix it. I got it back the second time, AND ABSOLUTELY NOTHING HAD BEEN DONE!! (at this point I am both crying and screaming). I should have waited to cry and scream- I had seen nothing yet. I talked to Acer for about the 10th time- I was to send it back. I sent it back on July 30th. I called on August 5th to make sure they had received it. Yes, they had it there, and were working on it now. Because I was going out of town to see family, I told them to send to a different address, where I would be. It was going to be sent out the next day, or the day after that. Well, by August 12th, it had not arrived, so I called to see where it was. "Well, why don't you call us back in 2 days- I can't track it right now". OK- I called back on the 14th. They told me they had never received the machine at all! I didn't have the tracking number with me, because, now I am 1500 miles away from home, and they had already said they had it on the 5th of August. (the FedEx address sticker was generated from Acer- they paid for the pickup from my home, and paid for the pickup). Acer told me that they had never generated a sticker, and even if they had, it was my responsibility to have the tracking number. They still denied having the machine. This garbage went on for almost a week- Acer denying that they were responsible for it. When I said they should have fixed it in the first place, I was then lying- 'it was working perfectly when it left the tech's desk'. Bull****!! Well, after them saying that they had no way to find it, and because I did not have the tracking number they refused to be responsible for it. Thankfully, I live in a very small town, and had talked with some friends on the phone about the problem Acer was giving me. A FedEx rep from Casper called me- the Fedex pickup guy had heard about Acer denying that it had ever arrived, and he told the Wyoming central office. A great person, by the name of Deb, called me, asked if I was having problems, and when I said 'yes', she had already looked up the info- what time it was picked up, when it arrived at Acer, who signed for it at a certain time,, etc. (other FedEx employees I called had been unable to find any info for me). Well, when I called Acer back with the tracking number, they were very upset to find out it was there- someplace. I finally got the computer back last week (it might have been a few days before that), and the D*MN THING STILL ISN'T FIXED RIGHT111 For those of you who may be contemplating an ACER- DON'T!!! NEVER, will I get an ACER! I don't do any business on the computer- all I do is surf/chat. As you guys know, I am still having problems, though at least I can get it turned on and get online now. I called Acer back, and have never received a call back. Ya know the cartoons where the guy gets mad and shoots the tv? Well, I am very much in that frame of mind. Except I want to shoot the computer. And maybe anyone who works at the tech support/customer service.Oh yah- the slot where the CD disk goes keeps popping open about every minute or so- they couldn't even fix that. And they were well aware about it. Please never reccomend Acer to anybody.

Circuspeanut said it, but I'll amplify: Have them be really careful inspected the blanks after they dry. Tiles can be set if the edges are wonky, but they must be flat, or slightly cupped at the worst. The best run of two colors of my backsplash tile (from a pro who makes exceptional quality tile) were totally unusable because they're twisted. The only thing they're good for is breaking into small pieces to put into crafts projects like stepping stones. Those blanks should never have been glazed, let alone shipped. Re sizing, does the studio have an extruder? Or are they trying to do this entirely by hand? If the latter, they can make a wood form that is the exact right thickness that they can lay the clay into. Use a wire pull to even it. Make another frame with twisted cross wires the size of the tiles, and press it through to cut. Be really careful wrapping so that they dry as slowly as possible. Try not to touch the edges before they're dry so that they don't squish out of true. This is a fabulous idea! What a wonderful accomplishment this will be! I hope that they'll get to have several rounds of sampling so that they can really learn what they need to to do this, and get a good chance to try. Oh! Also, if they're going to paint the tile, a firing with clear glaze over them will make them much better for kitchen use.