Thanks so much for all your wonderful suggestions. The soil is a sandy loam, not sand hills. It is a bit on the alkaline side as with much of the soil in our area needing a ton or so of lime every few years to maintain a good agricultural balance, so, should do well for the acid loving plants. Thank goodness the deer don't seem to like our roses and azaleas so far. They have not generally been a problem in our area. Of course, one never knows, they may very well take a liking to the roses and azaleas. We have quite a few wild muscadines and while the deer to love them, It would appear to me that we have plenty of wild ones that it won't be too bad sharing some cultivated ones as well. With the fruiting trees, they would really be more for the deer than for humans. Our consumption needs are very light but we do really love watching the deer and turkeys. BTW, I'm not so much seeking free advice as simply open discussion. I know the landscapers in our area (very limited) and I know their plant selections well. Mine tend to be a bit more diverse than theirs. Most of our landscapers, all 2 or 3 of them, tend to use primarily the old evergreen stuff. Not exactly to my liking. I am familiar with the problems associated with Bradford Pears and have seem some of them locally. However, the wife wants some so it is likely she will win that one. I will have to give the evergreen tree business some thought. Notice from the photos that the southern and western boundaries are Pine Tree plantations. We live in the heart of pine plantations. If I choose an evergreen, it will have to be something like leyland cypress (we have already planted several cypress on the north side of the pond) or maybe a different type pine. An uncle about 2 miles away has some which have a more northern or mountain look which have trived. I believe they are white pine, will have to check more into that. Again, with respect to the deer, I have lived in the area 50 years and they don't seem too partial to the roses, azaleas or camellias in our area. Who knows, they may wind up liking ours but if they do, we'll probably enjoy watching the deer. I like man of johnofsedona's suggestions and will continue to think about plant selection and group composition. As for as my goals, I like the varying heights, different forms and flowers for all the seasons. I like the varied island look. There are a few homes in the area which have similarly long drives with limited islands and there are ones which have long drives lined with pears or other plant material. I prefer the islands. I suspect we will include different varieties of naturalized daffodils as time goes on. We MAY also add wildflowers but probably not as we prefer a little more "clean" and organized look for the drive. We WILL have a wildflower meadow, probably near the pond on the north and east area there. I'll do some more thinking this weekend. Thanks for your contributions. The pictures in the link above should give you some idea to our tastes and the area. Sincerely, Joel

Hi everyone my name is Kim and I am a 36 year old mother of 2 very active boys 11 & 7. I work for an elementary school doing tech support for their 130 or so computers and printers. I walk alot somedays and other days not so much. I have been overweight most of my life and still battle it each day. I am 5' 7" and weigh 183 now and at one time weighed 240. I have hopped from one diet to another never really finding anything that worked miracles. Only through healthy eating and regular exercise was I able to achieve weightloss of any kind. I stumbled across this forum on accident by search for Leslie's tapes and really really liked it sooo. I joined. I just received her tapes from Half.com for $19 (which didn't come with any extras just the set of tapes). I did the 2 mi this morning with just plain hand weights and really enjoyed it. There are so many wonderful and encouraging stories on this page I couldn't stop reading it. I really look forward to reading more of them. It really is good to know that I am not the only one who struggles with water intake, food temptations and exercising struggles. Please keep writing. I am really excited to start this program and I hope I can be as determined as you all.

I agree, thank you so much for sharing the details of your trip! It sounds like you are truly having the adventure of a lifetime :-)

"An honest licensed contractor who is worker's compensation exempt can comply with the law by hiring his help through a temp agency." I guess that's true, but I can honestly say that I have never ever heard of anyone doing this. Probably because they would have to pay the agency fees above the hourly wage that the worker gets and the whole reason people are claiming they are exempt when they aren't is because they are trying to avoid spending money. I don't think complying with the law is their main objective. Besides, the last place I'd look for experienced construction workers is a temp agency. "I can't believe the state only makes this requirement [liability insureance] of LLC's." I'm surprised, too, because California loves to regulate the heck out of everything. However, for every law there's a dozen ways to skirt it. Cali has workers comp laws and licensing laws, but people still find a way around them. The reason that there are so many unlicensed contractors out there is because there is a market for them. They wouldn't be in business if people weren't hiring them.