Most drilled wells have the casing grouted to the soil for the top 20 feet to seal out any surface contaminants. There's the question of how much water moves horizontally through the bottom of your well -- how quickly does your well flush itself? The way to check would be to add some sort of dye, wait a period, then draw some water to see how much it's dissapated. But how badly do you want to know? If things got really bad, and if it was me, I'd salt a little, or more likely, spread my woodstove ashes to help the sun to melt it by increasing absortion of solar heat. I don't know enough about other chemical melters to say, but I think I'd be cautious in the unlikely case that the well caseing grout leaked, and of course my first course of action would be to keep the driveway graded, divert runoff to keep the driveway dry, and plow it out as well as I could. Dan

Actually, I think your tiles look great. And I am really particular about things. As said, it is just the grey with the blue, they are too close in colour so they seem as though they are supposed to match and do not. Just go to another paint colour. For example, greys and palest yellows with white trim look fantastic. This isn't a bathroom but look how great the colours are: http://yournestdesign.blogspot.ca/2010/08/exploring-color-aganthus-green-benjamin.html Lots of choices. I painted a room in Benjamin Moore Weston Flax (at 50% lighter) and it came out very well, like the palest shade of butter (like a palest butter with a cream undertone). or look at this: http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-ca/for-your-home/rooms-by-colour/warm-and-cozy-yellow-living-room or http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-ca/for-your-home/rooms-by-colour/classic-yellow-living-room-with-a-twist Since it is a small room, I would suggest cutting the colour by 50% so that it would be really soft. ------------------- Or.... I had a bathroom with tiles in a design like yours and painted the walls in the palest pearl grey - almost an off white (be careful not to get a grey that turns blue or green). And they I added white accents (towels, mat) with some art with white and a bit of colour. When we sold the house the new owners really liked the room. Wait until you see it with another paint colour and your rich wood vanity. Your bathroom will be fine, I am sure. Post a photo and show us the success! Radley

I just packed up this week past and the kitchen was demolished on Tuesday. I can't believe how much stuff I have! No wonder I think I need more storage and have ordered uppers that go all the way to the ceiling! I tried to exercise some discipline and throw out all the old things I rarely use anymore. I wasn't very successful... let's say it was like removing sand from the desert with a teaspoon. I guess I'm just attached to my old favs, like special friends. Plus, my mom passed away last year and I ended up with most of her stuff - as the only girl child, my brothers simply delegated all that kitcheny/household stuff to my best judgement. How could I possibly get rid of the green glass citrus squeezer??? or Grandma's best china?? Or Auntie's hand painted china, etched aluminum trays or the ancestral beer glasses?? For the record, I did throw away all the sippy cups and souvenir kiddy dishes (the baby starts HS next week), and at least 2 dozen coffee mugs are packed to donate to the local thrift (I'm sure those breed in closed cupboards) but I still have at least 3 dozen I can't part with. Hey, who wants to come to my place for coffee? Or tea? I counted 6 teapots, keepers all. I do think I'll replace all, or at least most of my kitchen towels. They have all seen better days, even if they rarely see the light of day anymore. We are currently settling into our "temporary kitchen" in the wet bar area of our basement rec room. This classic piece of 1960s design and construction leaves much to be desired functionally, but at least it boasts running water and a usable refigerator. Ironically, in the 13+ yrs we've lived in this house, we have seldom ventured into this cubby-hole, except to access the beer fridge. Now, I can hardly wait until the kitchen is completed so I can start planning its renovation...

Yes vesfl, my Mary rose is nice and saturated deep pink. I believe this is because it only receives morning sun. I really like the nonstop blooming. The fragrance is actually pretty good, needmore. I just never cut any anymore, because they only last about a day or so cut. That's a real bummer, because cutting is a at least half the fun for me. I like to enjoy my blooms indoors, especially when it's too hot to be out much. My Mary Rose is VERY heavily virused, but still blooms really well. I am LOVING this cooler weather! I cannot remember it ever being like this in midAugust. I sure hope we don't get a furnace blast of heat after this, but it's likely. We are supposed to have a week of mild temps. Then September will probably bring our Santa Ana winds, heat, and fire. I dread that, but at least my water and electricity will get a break this week. Ingrid, I know what you mean. It really is always something, isn't it? Goodness, I think if everything was ever all perfect at once, I'd invite everyone I knew over for a look! I'd also make a utube video and post it here:) I don't have any raidiating heat, like you do. I know makes a big difference, plus the temp difference is substantial considering how few miles we are apart. I'm no fan of those LONG MRI's either. I've been putting it off, and it needed to be done. Yesterday I was worthless afterwards, as they had given me Valium in the IV. I've had lots of muscle spasms lately,(always worse in the summer heat) and they needed me to be still for two hours. When I came home, I was still dopey and dumb. Best not to garden like that. I'm thankful it was such a cool day, and not even the pots required water. I just watched some TV with Sebastian. Interestingly, I have found he will lay on the bed with me if I remove the comforter. Following the advice of someone here,(sorry name escapes me atm) removing the scent of Millie seems to help. He does however, continue to lose weight. I'm going to have to send him back in with my son soon. It's just so hard. In order to get the 75% discount,(which I need) he has to go to work with my son all day. Sebastian gets squeezed in for his tests or exams whenever they have time. He hates it there, and I feel terrible sending him all day long, adding to his stress. One day, he even came home without being seen at all, because they were so busy. I can't complain though, this would already have cost me thousands instead of hundreds, and I'm so grateful. The scary/confusing thing is that he has lost nearly 5lbs in 2 months. He is VERY sensitive to my health and emotions, plus Millie is bothering him. The head vet there says that amount of weight cannot be emotional. Yet, they are not finding anything. It's very troubling, and just adds to my stress, which in turn, probably adds to his. He really does stress out when I do. Sorry guys, I probably should have emailed that to Ingrid. I didn't intend to go into all that when I began. Cassandra, I'm not 100% about what I'm going to use. I know I need to do it fast, before my whole garden is affected. I don't spray or use chemicals either, but I'm going to in this barrel. I was just in no shape to have my dad stop somewhere yesterday so I could look over my options. I'll research and update it here. I know exactly what you mean about a bell going off on n your head. I have all sorts of bugs, and I complain about them, but most of the time I don't even identify them because I'm not going to do anything to them. When Jim posted pictures, I heard that same dingdong:) That's why it's never bloomed! When I looked, sure enough, the ends looked burnt and they crumbled off when I touched them. The midge can get into your whole garden and all your roses. You could have no blooms, and no new growth. Whatever we do, we need to do it fast. It's something like every 14 days the larvae hatch out of the soil and start eating and multiplying again. They can devastate an entire rose garden. Let me know what you do, too. I'm going to research and do something today. Lisa