messmaker & marineguy: Thanks for the compliments. While I wouldnÂt exactly call it "low maintenance", I think youÂd be surprised at how little time it takes us to do the entire 2-3/4 acre yard. In the spring we have to do it once a week, but as we get into summer the growth slows and that interval gradually stretches to every two weeks plus. WeÂve averaged 21 mowings per season in the 5 years weÂve been in this house. In the fall and winter, the grass stays green but doesnÂt grow any, so we donÂt mow at all from the beginning of November until probably the middle of March. As I said earlier, we use two tractors and honestly, it takes my wife and I about 5 or 6 hours to do the entire yard including trimming and cleaning the tractors and equipment. Everything is set up so we donÂt need to do much trimming with the weed whackers except around the house itself and one small section of hillside too steep for the tractor. Both tractors are set up to mulch so we donÂt need to pick up any cuttings. Most of the trees are evergreens so thereÂs not much leaves to worry about and for what leaves there are, I use a backpack blower to blow them into the barked areas. The bases of most of the trees are barked and there is a 6" strip of dirt so we can mow around them without the need to trim. The same is true of the seasonal pond (it fills up in the winter, dries up in the summer), the gravel paths, planter areas and the pasture fence along the back stretch of our property. I hit all those strips of dirt with Roundup in a backpack sprayer twice a year and that takes care of the trimming. Although it might look smooth and manicured in the photo, itÂs really just fairly bumpy mowed former pasture after we cleaned out the blackberries and brush. None of the field was smoothed with machinery and we only seeded the bare spots with pasture mix. And none of the yard is irrigated at all except by Mother Nature. I do occasionally walk around the yard with the backpack sprayer full of a selective weed killer to control dandelions and such and once a year we fertilize a relatively small area directly behind the house that we use as our back yard.

I got past 35! But now stuck of 56 which is the split screen with the chocolates and black screened jellys. I can't seem to get to the bottom level and when I do miraculously I can't keep back the growing chocolates. It makes me crazy how slow the game is to clear so I can click on something, but meanwhile the chocolates keep invadingâ¦. I think I need a striped one and a dotted chocolate, but those are so hard to get in the small upper area! Hate this gameâ¦..

Slush - I asked at Ferguson's this morning; evidently all the Ferguson's are independently owned, part of this unbrella company that is actually "a Wolseley Company". Evidently they're the Whole Foods of the plumbing world, having vertically integrated the market across the country, gobbling up small dealers and reps for many years now; I guess they're the biggest out there, supposedly. Funny, as I was not particularly even aware of them, due to the inhospitable interaction of many years prior. I think it's well worth a phone call to inquire into the "satellite"-ness of the Ontario office. It's likely that's just a parts counter and not a show room. Hopefully this guess is wrong but I would definitely take a second to scout it out in advance. (sorry!) FWIW I'm beginning to value increasingly more the sense that this is a selection that could critically depend on actual sight (as opposed to sight-unseen internet ordering). Even though it means hauling kids, it's possible this journey just might be valuable. If you can possibly stand it, I might opt for the upscale-est showroom you can find, attitudes, notwithstanding. They seem to have more to physically show, I think. G'luck!

My quirk is that I don't go to bed to sleep until my body tells me I need to sleep so sometimes that means I can stay awake for 48 hours but then when I sleep I sleep for a good 8-12 hours. One day last week I shockingly slept for 16 hours! My brother is the same and so is one of my nieces. We call it the family curse. When I was working 60 hours a week I slept normal night time hours because I was tired enough to go to bed. Yesterday I went to be at noon and woke up at 10 pm and I have been up since (it is now 7:30 pm) If I have an appointment or need to go out I have no problem and will be ready to go. When I lived alone I would do my housework, cook, bake, do laundry at night. Now my style is cramped since my brother and my cousin moved in. My cousin has her bed set up in the living room so during the night while she sleeps I am sitting here in the dark, trying not to make noise. Once, when I was in my 20s I couldn't sleep except for a few cat naps, this lasted for 3 weeks. My Doctor wanted me to take sleeping pills and I wouldn't take them. That was a miserable time for me, not getting any deep sleep. Eventually it worked itself out. I should have been born in another time zone haha