Sorry FTM, what you described does sound rather disgusting, but we have a rodent problem around our home and as far as I'm concerned almost any successful means of catching or killing a mouse or packrat is a good one. I normally just use common spring loaded type mouse traps, and even those things can get pretty disgusting to empty and reset, but it's worth it to keep the foul little buggers at bay and stop them from trying to move in and make my home their home. I can't say I have ever used a glue board and I doubt I ever will. but I have in the past used plenty of poison although I avoid using it in the house simply because I don't want them to crawl off into some hiding place and start rotting and sticking up the house. What is at stake is more than the mere annoyance of having them share our food and living space with them, they breed so fast and carry all kinds of diseases and my families lives and health come first over any rights or discomfort of rodent that try to invade my home territory. Don't get me wrong, I do not enjoy the inhuman treatment of any creatures, I just find it hard to sympathies when there is plenty of wild open acres all around for them to enjoy and live in peace. Invade my home though and the gloves are off, and don't expect any mercy. However, if you want to talk about man's inhumanity to man and human rights, read this article from Amnesty International. It's my own little rant (well, not just mine) that focuses on real people getting caught in a much larger sort of figurative "Glue Pad" and suffering and dieing. At least if a mouse was caught in a glue pad in my house I would know he was guilty (because he was caught in my house), but if I started putting glue pads all over the place in the bushes out side my home with the hope of stopping mice before they ever entered my house you could be sure that I would be causing many innocent mice to suffer and die needlessly. One good quote from that article "Respect for human rights is the route to security not an obstacle to it."

Okay, DH and I (and PB) finally came to an accord. After talking to the PB again, we are going with brick coping. We chose the bullnosed greystone color. It is very similar to the gray flagstone we had picked which had black in it and was a little sparkly. Greystone has black specks and is not a flat black color. PB said he would do the flagstone for $400 over brick, but he didn't recommend it because he has seen a lot of people cut from it, and it is quite rough around the pool edge. One of the reasons DH wanted to leave the fiberglass exposed was to have a smooth surface to back up to on the benches. I can see someone slicing themselves on that stone. Flagstone would not be smooth without extra expense to smooth the edges (not included in the cost). I know I said I didn't want brick, but I didn't realize that gray was a color option. Most pics I have seen are red...although I did like jescat's cream color. The gray goes better with our dark blue pool. I have looked for pics of it on the forum but cannot find any. Now I am finally set for Monday.

Glass containers are attractive and while some people have had success with them, they have a lot of experience in growing these types of plants. I agree with everything Rina said about the sand, but just a general rule is to avoid smaller particles like that also because it creates perched water in your mix and around the roots of the plant. Succulents store pots of water in their leaves and with no where for the water to go, the roots sit in it and rot away. For beginners I would always recommend terra cotta pots, which I find attractive anyways because they absorb water. Plastic and glazed pots can be used but you need to be a little extra careful with watering. -Erica

Oh, my, that's not good. We had solatubes in our other house and never had that issue! Did you install them yourselves, or have someone install them, or were they installed by a previous owner? First, go back to the installer. Sounds like it's not flashed properly. If the snowmelt is getting inside, there may be moisture from heavy rains, as well, so whoever comes in should check for wood rot. By the way, are you sure it's snowmelt, and not condensation? Either way, it shouldn't happen.