My former neighbor started a high-tech, materials-handling facility, that claims to offer "true single stream disposal". Meaning you put everything in one large receptacle, the haulers bring it all to his facility, and pay a lower $/ton fee than the local city run "dump" charges, his facility then processes all of the material, separating out recyclables, and then transferring the remainder to the city "dump" and paying their higher per ton fee. His promotional material claims that his facility achieves a higher percentage of recycled material than the other processor in that area that offers "single steam recycling" and separate garbage disposal. When I was remodeling a duplex I own and had a large dumpster in the driveway, a couple of people stopped by to ask whether they could rummage through the dumpster to pull out any metal. My answer was NO, because I didn't want to risk them injuring themselves and suing me. Instead I made an agreement with one of them that I would set any metal waste aside for them to haul away, which seemed like a win-win. I wouldn't have to pay the disposal fee for whatever they took, and they knew enough about where to take it, and how to pre-process it so they could maximize its value. It was especially a win-win, when he offered to remove the entire oil-fired furnace from the low, damp, gross crawlspace, that we were replacing with a heat pump. The HVAC guy wrote up his initial bid including several hundred dollars for its removal and disposal.

Roxanna, just so you know....there isn't any pesticide that takes care of only the ticks. As a matter of fact, the ticks are pretty darned tough. The person you spoke to was either lying or misinformed. I would suspect the latter, if he was just the applicator. The comment about using 'only ten ounces for a hundred gallons of water' is a smoke screen.....a meaningless response that sounds good to the customer. The dilution rate depends upon the concentration of the active ingredient. I promise you, the rate that you were quoted was exactly what is needed to get the job done. It may very well have been 10 oz./100 gal.....or half that! The only thing that counts is what comes out of the hose and that will always be just what it takes to kill ticks, the tough guys. The non-target animals....the butterflies, lightning bugs and their beneficial larvae, bees, any insect, as a matter of fact, frogs, toads, lizards, and salamanders are all very sensitive. They came at peak bee activity time, judging by the time of your post. Bees end up taking it back to the hive. Grrrr, that's a cardinal rule for pesticide application: avoid spraying when bees are active. Cats, because they clean themselves, are probably the mammal most likely to be affected....other than those individuals who are very old, ill, immune deficient, very young, taking medications that affect the liver, and more. Pyrethroids have been found in milk. Alisande, the unmarked vans are hilarious.

We had referral lists from two roofing companies (the original one we thought we would use, as well as the one we ended up signing with) and drove around to look at the Gerard roofs they'd installed. They look better in person than they do in any of the photos. We wanted to see them in person because we were trying to decide what color to choose. When we first saw photos only, we thought we'd go with the Country Blend color. But when we went into the first company's showroom, we saw and immediately liked the English Suede color. The salesman gave us a sample of each color to take home. When we did our first "drive around" to look at the roofs, we decided we did not like the English Suede after all. It was great when it was in the shade, but when it was in direct sunlight the color was way too light and kind of "yellowish." Not for us at all. So, we figured we'd go with Country Blend. Oh, the salesman told us that "Gold River" was their most popular color. I'll interrupt myself here to say that Gerard has several colors that are available everywhere. Then, there are additional colors that are regionally available. In the greater Sacramento area there is a master-planned community known as Gold River. Condos, townhomes, duplexes, and single family detached homes. Each individual development within the greater Gold River area has its own set of CC&Rs, and there is also a set of CC&Rs that govern all of Gold River. Gold River remains unincorporated, and has its own Zip code. The median income in Gold River is over $120,000, and is the highest-income area in all of Sacramento County. Hubs and I looked at new houses in Gold River a little more than 25 years ago -- right before we bought the house we're in (purchased new). Although there were floor plans that we liked, we decided Gold River was not for us because everything looked the same. All residences were one of four different shades of brown. Because the association was responsible for front yard landscaping, there was a small number of landscaping designs from which to choose. Unless you're paying attention when you're headed home, it's really easy to end up in the wrong driveway. The homes all originally had shake roofs, and when it got to the point in time where roofs were needing to be replaced, a lot of folks wanted a metal roof. It was apparently felt that composition shingle roofs weren't architecturally desirable enough for the area. And, the master association wanted dark colored roofs. So, Gerard came up with a new color that they named Gold River that met the association's requirements for color. And no one can argue with the Gerard advantages. Plus, all the homeowners there can afford the product, no matter how big their house is. So, the master association approved Gerard Stone Coated Steel roofs, but they have to be the Gold River color. You don't have to live in Gold River to get that color, but you can only use that color and no other color if you do live in Gold River. ---- ok, back to my original narrative When I was speaking to one of the owners (the wife of the husband-wife team) of the company who is doing our roof, I asked her which color was the most popular for their installs. She said it was the Timberwood color. Armed with the referral list from that company, Hubs and I headed out again to look at roofs, this time paying particular attention to the Timberwood and Country Blend roofs, and also checking out the Gold River color. We decided that the Gold River color was too dark for us. We still liked Country Blend, but we really, really liked the Timberwood. To us, it looked the most like the color of actual wood shakes. So, that's what we contracted for. The Gerard Stone Coated Steel roofs are NOT noisier than a wood shake or comp shingle roof when it rains/hails. A metal roof that doesn't have an air buffer (created by the battens and counter battens) or that doesn't have a coating might be noisier, though. We talked to several different homeowners who'd had the Gerard Canyon Shake roofs installed and every single one of them said they'd go with the same product in a heartbeat. They said their homes stay cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter, and they have peace of mind knowing their homes aren't going to catch on fire from a burning ember from someone else's house fire. Oh -- that reminds me. On one of the streets we went to, there were 18 houses that had Gerard Canyon Shake roofs installed within the last 3 years. And 15 of those installations were done by the company that's doing our roof. Turns out that there had been a house fire on that street (it's actually a big loop with 51 total houses). All of the houses at that time had wood shake roofs. That one house burned down completely. The fire spread to the house on one side of it, and that house has not been inhabited since. The "fire house" now is a foundation but nothing else. The house next door to it has not yet been repaired and there are holes in the roof and side of the house where the fire burned through. It was because of that incident that 18 nearby houses had their roofs replaced with Gerard metal roofs. Others were reroofed with shingles, but those are not fireproof. They're better than wood shake, but they will still burn. Dees -- your homeowners association probably just doesn't want a plain metal roof. Have they SEEN the Gerard Stone Coated Steel roofs? Gerard even makes them to look like barrel tiles (think - Spanish or Mediterranean). The company that's doing our roof asked if we have an association to deal with and I said no, because we don't. But she said that they have all of the paperwork and they handle dealing with the associations to get the necessary approvals. So, don't give up hope!

Lulu, I'm glad your Jeep came through for you. Distracted driving has become a thing, unfortunately. Speaking of which, I've noticed among the mostly positive consumer reviews of the 2022 Outback a number of complaints about the touch screen. Apparently Subaru has buried the climate controls under a couple of layers, so that a significant amount of attention has to be paid tto making heating/cooling adjustments, often while driving. The point was made that for all of Subaru's emphasis on safety, they've managed to create a dangerous situation. I need to read up on the 2021 and 2020 models, and see if the problem exists there too. I feel like I'm always adjusting the temperature and fan, especially when I leave the house in the morning when it's chilly and am still driving later when the weather warms up. Sjerin, I don't know if you've been looking at brand new cars, but you might find more satisfactory seats in other model years. I hope so. I have the feeling I'm going to encounter the same situation when I start car shopping. I'm putting that off until after I've recovered from my May 15 gallbladder surgery.