I had a good laugh cuz I coveted someones plants once myself many years ago in my old neighborhorhood. In answer to #10, I don't know Polish, so can't help there. But I was wondering if this lady is out in her front yard every evening when you run by. If so, I would cultivate her by start waving, smiling, and saying something like "Hi", "Good evening!" or "I love your gardens", "Nice weather today", etc. And keep it up every time you see her. After you've done that enough stop for a rest in front of her house when she's outside and start talking to her. Even pointing at a brug and telling her how beautiful it (or all) is. She may understand nothing you say or understand more than you or others realize. If she's a really elderly lady, could she be living with one of her childen? Maybe you could stop by there on a weekend afternoon, knock on the door, and see. All you have to say when someone opens the door is that you stopped to tell them that they have lovely garden. I have yet to meet a gardener who didn't love talking about their gardens, and only two who didn't want to share even their weeds. If someone who speaks English is also living in the home, somewhere during the conversation ask if when they prune their brugs if they would be willing to part with some of the cuttings instead of putting them into the trash can. Offer a plant/plants/cuttings in trade. There was one older gentlemen (many moons ago) who never talked to anyone in the neighborhood, but had one of the loveliest front gardens I've ever seen. After many years of watching this absolutely beautiful front yard develope, change, and grow, I couldn't stand it any more. I took some home made cookies over and met him and his wife (didn't even know he had a wife all those years) and thanked him for 'sharing' his garden with me, even if he didn't know it and I only did it from the sidewalk. I could never describe their back gardens in a million words. There are very few things that have ever taken my breath away, and that was one of them. I can't tell you how many wonderful hours I spent in their back yard after that and how many times he would walk to my house and spend hours giving me tips and helping me with garden related stuff. As far as the brugs by your hot tub, how close would they be? Brugs can be incredibly messy plants. They can also become quite large so will the plant itself be in full sun all day? They would do best with morning sun and afternoon shade or dapple shade down there. I'm guessing at that as I live in a Zone 9 climate (up by Sacramento) and I have some brugs that get full sun and seem to do ok (Charles Grimadli and Frosty Pink). However, I do water 'em heavily twice each day during the hottest part of the summer. I got several brugs to add to my gardens from the link below. Due to the summer heat, I don't know if she ships right now. But the brugs and hibiscus that I've gotten from here (Seed Sprout) have all been in excellent health and huge sizes and the prices are very good. Hopefully someone from your area can give you a better idea about planting them down there. Jenna Here is a link that might be useful: Seed Sprout

I pulled off the leaves where I saw the nymphs that day and haven't spotted any more nypmhs since, though have seen a lot of little gnat looking flies here and there. I guess I have been really lucky. However, the plant that was attacked has been stunted since. It is a Champion, is much smaller than my other plants. All flowers have fruit set, 3 or 4 toms really growing but it looks like the largest of the bunch has BER but is still green. I think I may let this tom mature even though it's yucky just because it will likely be my first tom ever and even for educational purposes it will serve me in that manner. I think the plant is finally starting to grow again but I have very little hope for this plant amounting to much this year. No flowers or fruit have dropped yet though. Otherwise I think I've got mild leaf Alternaria spot on all plants, one may have a spot of stem though only finally got some Seranade last weekend still haven't gotten around to spraying yet. I've got lots of other good foliage keeping the plants in business so it hasn't been a high priority and have been very busy in life otherwise. Sorry to hear you are having such a rough time again. This is terrible to hear. Have you resorted to something serious like Sevin? Maybe you shouldn't do a winter crop at all this year. Just concentrate on amending soil and making sure you have a super bed to put your plants out in next spring. Start spraying early etc. Also, over winter maybe you could do some research into what the folks at UC Riverside, UC Davis, and the San Diego folks have found out again regarding insecticides. I feel really bad for you. These things are disgusting. I'm so lucky my situation with them hasn't seemed to resume.

Well, as someone who just finished building a huge pool and watched my fellow neighbors build theirs, I can tell you that I would run like crazy from Mission. They worked on 3-4 pools in our neighborhood and there were complaints galore! We got a bid from them and then when I heard about the problems (disappearing for a month at a time during the build), we did not pursue. We narrowed ours down to Pacific Sun and Mission Valley. I liked both companies and would have been happy with both. We ultimately used MV Pools because of a slightly better quote and more options included. Our build is at the link below. We are thrilled with the way things turned out. I am too in Carmel Valley and I am happy to show you the pool in person. Just ask Mike from MV pools to bring you by. By the way, basically our whole pool building process is detailed in the thread below (and the original thread) including pictures, trouble shooting, etc. Hope it helps!! Katherine Here is a link that might be useful: Our Pool Build -- San Diego Sunshine

Insane numbers.....welcome to the world of regulation and it's direct affects on making homes outrageously more expensive (and we thought it was all because those pesky developers just want 100% profits). Generally speaking, you can expect 25-30% of a new home's costs to be directly attributed to regulation (zoning, permits, impact fees, meeting EPA standards, road requirements, sewer/water, the list goes on). California as a state has some of the most stringent zoning/regulation laws in the country, it's not unusual in some cities to see 40% of a homes cost due to regulation. So, it's not a coincidence that CA has really high home prices compared to other states (ex. Texas with some of the least restrictive regulations). So, I don't know San Diego specifically but given it's in CA, I would not be surprised if these numbers aren't accurate. Pony up and enjoy the ride, there is no lee way with your local planning department, etc. as they look at you without a care in the world telling you why rule #........means an extra $$$$$$$. Or maybe they just randomly decided they aren't going to follow their own rule, absolutely nothing you can do except open your wallet. We just got told for a one home build in an older neighborhood with all homes on septic that the new house would be required to tie into county sewer. Bringing the sewer would require going in the public road and re-paving the entire thing to public road standards. Meanwhile, the site was already approved to allow sewer through an easement previously established between two houses (obviously the cheaper alternative). Why the county decided their own rule already approved is no longer valid? Well, that's the beauty of govt., they can do whatever they damn well please. Probably not what you wanted to hear, just a cynic's take on years experience. Happy building and hopefully no NIMBY's on your block during your build job.