I think of my yard as "The Garden of the Good Intentions." Another gardener friend says it more bluntly - "my intentions are good but my execution stinks." Photos are terrible at showing the hoses, scattered pots, weeds, whatever. The heart sees the beauty that is there, or is dreamed of. Your garden looks good to me! Who cares about the trash bag, or tarp??? Out here, where it doesn't rain from May - Oct, every bit of lushness is a treat. People would kill for those hostas. My "Rooguci" clematis is a spindly little thing, and yours is so lovely - I've finally figured out that clematis wants way more moisture than I'm ever going to give them! Anita

We've had a lot of the regular anoles around too. I would put an over ripe banana on the rail of our deck, the flies came to it, and so did the anoles. Little bellies were soon distended with lots of flies. I saw one anole eat five flies within a few minutes. There is another kind of pink and black/gray spotted little guy not a native who hangs out too. Locally they are called Buddy-Roes, and I looked them up but promptly forgot what kind they were. Good to have them around. This is in zone 8b as well.

I see you're in IA. My advice is to Google red-shouldered hawks. They can be mistaken for Cooper's hawks or Sharpies due to the orange-barred chest. They are usually a very vocal hawk. They're not huge- just about red-tail size- but they will appear bigger than a Cooper's hawk and especially bigger than a Sharpie.

She will also have the opportunity to choose a successor... You should exercise caution on comments like this since this like so many of the other comments made will vary from state to state, right down to the name of the position. Here, there is no successor appointment power unless specifically provided for in the Will and the position is called a "Personal Representative". Also a relative, especially children of the decedents are often appointed without a question since it's often the norm here. The number of co-executors (which can be male or female unless you want to specify exectrix, or executrices), co-personal representatives, administrator and other terms for the same position is a personal choice. It sounds like the major responsibilities will be to pay for final illness, file taxes, dispose of real and personal property and the like. You may want one or want more than one. One thing you need to keep in mind. YOU do not appoint the executor of your estate, you nominate someone or more than one and the Court is the one who approves it and appoints them. They have NO power until that court appointment. If you nominate someone and your relatives don't like it and have reasonable reason, they can go to court and challenge it. Also, you need to give the executor powers in your Will or the Court will have more involvement. Former Chief Justice Warren Burger made a mess out of his estate by giving his executors no power. You should also decide whether you wish them to be bonded and/or supervised. I assume she has a Will currently and is considering changing the nomination which will require something in writing and it's probably best to do a new Will if it's a simple one or at least a codicil. A notarized letter may be sufficient depending on your location, to convince a judge of desire and intent as long as others don't claim duress. There's advantages and disadvantages of having one or more than one. Depending on the amount of work involved, it's often nice to have someone share the work. Normally there's not a ton of decisions that an executor makes, but there can be, depending on the estate. There is no one right answer whether to have one or more than one. In my Will, I'm nominating two people, if they agree to serve, and giving the option that if one does not want to or doesn't qualify (or meet the requirements I lay out for them) the other has the option to serve individually or have another co-personal representative and I am nominating in order of preference a number of other people whom I trust to be cooperative enough to make it easier on the person. There's a lot of ways to avoid hassles. Name beneficiaries on bank accounts, certain properties can be as a trustee or in joint tenancy, living trusts, and more. Properties can be given away or sold, however that can be tricky in places two, because here, you can't give away large sums right before you die or the Courts will yank it back under the theory that you knew you were dying and tried to give it away to avoid taxes or the like. Another thought: You could have her put a power for you to appoint a co-exector to assist. But nothing stops you from having someone assist you with certain things. Just keep in mind that as an executor (or whatever name it's given) YOU are responsible to do it right and if someone wants to make trouble, they could so it's something to be cautioned about. How much squabbling would you honestly expect? Greed does different things to people. I've sure seen a lot of it in my own family. Good luck.