Thanks all, Strange as it may be sounds like a high speed electric with a light line might be what I need for my trimming. I guess it's this wussy city grass that's causing my headaches (I remember shredding through my fair share of heavy grass and weeds around fence posts in my youth out in the country which is why I was so surprised at the lack of results with my recent return to a gas trimmer). Maybe I'll try to borrow my friends gas trimmer (not an echo mind you) and try it with some lighter line as well. If it works better maybe I'll try the echo again. Again, thanks for the suggestions.

Sharon - So good to hear from you again. My sincere sympathies on all the moving troubles - it seems like a nightmare! Moving in the best of circumstances is no fun, but your experience sounds dreadful. When we first moved into our old farm house we discovered that the boxsprings (double) wouldn't go up the stairs, so DH sawed the wooden structure in half and we folded them. (The replacements had split box springs.) We also discovered that the new living room couch was too wide for all of the doors into the house, so that had to go into storage until we were able to replace one door( which needed replacing anyway) with wider ones. Glad that your husband has a job and best wishes on finding one yourself. Does your townhouse have a place that you can garden, either in the ground or in pots? If so, I imagine you can attend one of the plant swaps - in my experience folks are thrilled to be able to give plants to someone just getting started & you don't need to bring anything. If you were closer you'd be welcome to come by & pick up a plant or 10.

I'm going through that right now. She's a neighbor which makes it worse. This woman calls me every day on the phone expecting to chat for an hour or two or three. My handset has a speaker so I just let her talk away while I clean the house. Nothing I hate more than a person who talks AT me instead of TO me. Have you met people like that? You start to appreciate there is an art to conversation when you meet people who don't understand that it should be TWO WAY! She talks, I listen. I have no sympathy for her problems because she's so self-serving. Has no interest in my life. Day after day she calls mostly to repeat what she said the day before. She lives alone. Talking on the phone is her favorite pasttime whereas when I'm bored I turn on the TV or get on the internet. When I tried to ween her off of me by not answering the phone she started calling at odd hours like 10pm or 9am in an effort to catch me. She would even show up at my door if I didn't answer the phone after a couple days. I can't not ever answer her calls or she'll think I've died or something so now I "return her phonecall" with an email. She hates email because she can't monopolize the conversation and you're in control. That's what I recommend you try. Don't answer her phone call, instead reply by email so you're still being polite. With a properly scripted email you can impart a message without being overtly rude. Doesn't require brutal honesty. The shorter the response the quicker she'll realize you aren't interested in her. If I'm not home when my neighbor calls she'll have a conversation with MY ANSWERING MACHINE! She doesn't just leave a message she will talk until the machine cuts her off. DH laughs that even the machine can't listen to her for very long. She's the only person who has ever run the time out on my machine. A couple of times she's run the battery down on my handset because she's talked so long. I thought we had been disconnected but a slow walk to the other end of my house to pick up another receiver revealed that we hadn't. I just wanted to call her back to explain I didn't hang up on her when I realized we hadn't been disconnected. She was still talking! Completely unaware that there was no one on the other end. Didn't matter a bit to her. LOL The problem comes when people are too dense to pick up on "social queues". Those are the ones we all loathe because they force you to act in a way you'd rather not ...rude, curt, or the bearer or the silent treatment. But when polite hints fail you do what you gotta do!

No big dogs. 40 lbs max for me. I like dogs that I don't have to buy a truck to transport. I don't like dogs with smashed in faces much. Although I have met some I like personally, I don't think I could stand to hear them wheezing. They seem to have such a hard time in hot weather. Don't like german shepherds much, they kind of scare me, I have known so many over the years that were vicious. Would never ever own a dog that was even part pit bull. Exceedingly yappy dogs, like schnauzers, and chihuahuas. Although I don't mind dogs that bark, just those non-stop high-pitched yappers. I like the terrier breeds and I like (and have owned several) dachshunds. Longhaired ones because they are more mellow than the smooth haireds. But unfortunately the american breeding trend is to breed them smaller and smaller miniature sized. WAY too small for me. So I doubt I will get another unless I can find a breeder of the standard size ones (rare in america). No teeny tiny dogs that you could kill if you accidentally stepped on it. cicidae: Most shih tzus that I have known have such great personalities. My aunt had two, my co-worker has two, my sister has one. So friendly. Owned a border collie. Great dog to train, too high of an energy level unless you have a big fenced in yard. This goes for most shepherd breeds and hunting breeds as well. No retrievers, for some reason that oil on their skin makes me sneeze. And I live on a river so those retrievers would not get out of there I am sure. Nice and stinky. Cocker spaniel: that breed has been ruined by overbreeding. I have known several that have severe personality problems. Completely untrainable.