I understand, Seil. More than 25 years ago, I would leave an overhead, oscillating sprinkler going over large areas of my Newhall garden, requesting the community gardening staff to turn them off when they left for the day, on triple digit days. The horse manure mulch disappeared quickly. The foliage was huge, plants even more so, and they flowered amazingly. Water was cheap and plentiful, so not an issue there and then. There were no disease or insect issues. The plants were fully clothed in very dense, durable foliage and there was no such thing as sun scald nor Flat Headed Apple Borers which became great issues once that type of watering had to be discontinued due to availability and cost. Black spot and mites were frequent issues with the own root plants we propagated as volunteers at The Huntington. I learned early when bringing home any new plant such as those to pull off all of the foliage before bringing it into the garden. I had an area in filtered sun under a tree where I kept a pile of horse manure. I'd clump the newly arrived own roots in their pots together, surround and fill between them with the manure, often inside them as mulch, then overhead water until new foliage began developing. No mites, no diseases and the plants exploded into growth quickly. A bit of hardening them off in larger cans and higher levels of heat and light and they were ready for planting once they'd filled the five gallon cans. Growing them up in larger cans also permitted me to move them around to see what position was best to their liking. It often made quite a difference. At the beach, I had a number of customers who regularly used my "proprietary blend" of Ultra Fine and Miracle Grow sprayed every two weeks except between the middle of July through the middle of October. In the Perma Fog, it prevented disease, eliminated the constant aphids and saw flies and kept really terrible things there, like one lady's beloved and hated Paul Neyron, viable. He caught her heart in books and she was determined to grow him. He languished until I suggested the Ultra Fine and MG foliar application. She had severe bronchitis, but made sure she brought me a bouquet of beautiful Paul Neyron from her bush! Used during the heat, that mixture did burn, but when there weren't heat and light intensities to contend with, it worked wonders. NO way I could have ever used it in any garden at home! I tried it once, learned my lesson the hard way right there and then! Anything presented as being even slightly phytotoxic WILL burn here. I am in total agreement with your walking the roses daily. I can't imagine having them unless I wanted to walk them every chance I got. Each has its own personality, likes, dislikes, needs and will quickly let you know if you don't provide them. It's the best way not only to head off problems early, but also to detect sports. They can happen so quickly right in front of you and seemingly behind your back. A big part of the serendipity for me! Kim

Well sure, nobody can predict the future. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try! Our first home was intended to be short term. It was in an area with questionable schools, but we didn't have kids yet. Our plan was to be there 5-10 years and move before we had a kid in kindergarten. We were there seven years and moved when our eldest was four. Our second/current home was intended to last us "until the kids were in college" but we lacked the foresight to know we'd LOSE OUR EVER-LOVIN' MINDS and decide to have two more kids. And we realized when our dog developed a disability that it's extremely unfriendly to the mobility-impaired. (Plus side: she weighed 100 lbs so we got a LOT of exercise the last year of her life. :/) So we're moving forward and applying what we've learned over the years towards our best guess is about what will work for us. What more can you do? Important to note: I've come to love this plan (which isn't very bright, not yet knowing if the BRs will fit upstairs yet, but what can you do?) The only reason I wanted a first floor master was for eventual mobility issues (3/4 of our parents have health problems which make stairs difficult), not because I want my bedroom on the main floor now. The major drawback to the rough sketch we started with http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/4345095/floorplan-feedback-very-early-stage is a lack of playroom space on the main level which means, IME, all the toys will end up in the living room. A main level master would make an excellent playroom/craft room. It's close enough to the action that it would actually get used, plus there's a door. At this point the biggest drawback I see is the possibility that both we and an elderly parent might need to avoid stairs in which case either a small guest room on the main or planning for a future elevator might be a good idea. (Could whoever has the crystal ball please pass it my way?)

anglo, I'm the family tech support department. My kids are grown and out of the house now, but over the years, I've "supported" Macs, iphones, ipods and the ipad. Supporting involves using them when necessary to resolve problems. I was the one who needed to set up network (not just wifi) connections to a Windows system when a kid wanted to transfer school files to the family backup system. It was nearly impossible and much too hard. I debugged update problems, user problems, other hardware and software issues. I'm also in Silicon Valley and have a closer exposure to Apple and things and people in the Apple world than people elsewhere might have. Apple makes excellent hardware and software but I would call it on a par with its competitors on other platforms, not superior to. What they do excel at is creating marketing excitement and buzz, and passing out Kool-Aid to users to make them think they are in a special place when they use Apple products and convince them their products are worth premium prices. I have nothing against Apple products and I admire the company for what it's done to get to where it is. Personally, I think their products are overrated. I really dislike the inflexibility of their stuff compared to what can be done in the PC and Android worlds and I'm happy to not have to use any of it on a regular basis. Apple customers are maybe the happiest customers I can think of (considering other consumer products) and for that, both they and the company get what they want. I'm completely understanding of that. But it's not for me. PS - I have two grand-kids under 5, both of whom use iPads from time to time. The units are in padded, bunker-like protective cases. Both were told - you have to be gentle with these. If you break it by dropping or throwing it, it will be gone and never fixed. There have been no problems.

@wannabath - I don't know what a "perfect" tile install would be but my very skilled installers certainly didn't make me sign any waivers with regard to my marble installation. What they did with the help of my designer was to lay out the tiles so that they created a very nice variation. This is what my wood floor installers did in terms of taking the time to make sure that the boards were appropriately placed so that they appeared "random". They were just out last week because I am having them tile my balcony and spent a LONG time examining the tile samples and conferring with the GC and my designer to determine exactly how the job would be done to get the results I wanted. I spoke to my designer since I hadn't been onsite when my bathrooms were done and she said it was standard operating procedure for the tile setters to have the sample tiles available in order to evaluate and determine the best way to proceed. They went out on the balcony to look at the site conditions which was especially critical since I need the appropriate slope AWAY from the door and towards the weep holes so that the balcony has appropriate drainage.