Lorna - While rototilling may not be the best thing for the soil food web, I think that the septic system work has done more damage than I could ever do with a rented tiller. Maybe I wasn't descriptive enough of the actual work that the contractors did and gave you an incorrect picture of the situation. They dug a 25'-30' diameter hole that was about 20'-25' deep as well as a 10'-15' deep by 6' wide trench across most of the yard to connect into the waste pipe from the house. This work was done because the old 1950's septic tank had begun to collapse into itself and they also had to dig up the ground there so that it could be pumped out and filled in for safety reasons. All of the plumbing is at least 2'-3' below ground level. Whether this is a leach field or a drain field, I think it should be okay to pile 3"-6" of compost on top of the ground and till it in. Especially since I'll be doing a bit of re-leveling as I go along. The contractors had 2 large machines in the yard at different times (a combo front end scoop-loader/back hoe and a regular old bulldozer) and the end result was a yard that looked like a war zone. They were nice enough to offer to come back 6 months after the work was completed to "re-level" the ground where the work was done, but considering the damage the machines did to the asphalt driveway, front yard, and side yard, I think that I'd rather do it myself than invite them back.

By now I am sure you have all heard of the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti yesterday. I am a long-time volunteer with a hospital in Haiti. So as to not break any Gardenweb rules, if you are interested in making a donation to our nonprofit hospital for disaster relief in Haiti, please contact me at cfipp at yahoo dot com and I will send you information on how you can help. Please keep all the people of Haiti in your prayers. Carol

When I set pebble-style sheets, I almost always pull off a portion of the perimeter pebbles and rotate and reset them by hand. Doing that blends adjacent sheets together into a seamless look and eliminates a the sheet lines that you can see telegraphing through in your floor. If you want to keep your pebbles "as-is", then a charcoal colorant is the only color I'd recommend as the grout will blend with your pebbles and hide those sheet lines. So I agree with your choice of color. Aquamix Grout Colorant is the colorant I recommend. It is epoxy, it's a fine product. Colorants can be screwed up, so I'd have a get-together with the folks at the tile shop and with your installer. Tell them you're willing to try the colorant, but if you're not satisfied with the results you'll retain the option of having the entire pan R&R'd at no cost to you. If they hedge, have them R&R it now and get a better pebble installation and the proper grout color in the process. Good luck with it. Right now the floor looks like it's covered with peach mildew.

I may not be tuned to the lingo here, though. We can stay online here, so anyone else can chime in with other tips or methods :) Are you saying he wants to see an image of you on a white background? So then using one of the selection tools, you could outline yourself and then hit copy/paste. Then you have an object of yourself separate from the rest of the photo (background). Select on the background area and use some of the color functions or the exposure and light functions to change it to white. You'll likely need to select the pic of yourself and use the tool for blurring edges to soften the transition between yourself and the background. Do a soft shadow on that object, too, for a little depth : ) Make any sense yet?