Rickey, Of course it was Fred. Who else his age is out driving around visiting gardeners in the middle of the afternoon? LOL If you see Billy Fred, do see if you can find out what he knows because he may know more details. Nowadays, when I ask Fred "who" he is talking about, he often can't remember names and will say something like 'you know...that guy that lives over yonder' and, of course, I have no clue who he means. Having said that, I hope that when I am Fred's age (and I'm not sure what it is but think right around 90?) I still get around as well as he does. Sometimes I do have to get Billy Fred to tell me who his dad is talking about because, while Fred always seems to have his facts straight, he does have trouble remembering names now and then. I had wondered about those goats....about how he keeps them safe because I've never seen any kind of guardian dog like a Great Pyrenees out there with them. I heard a loud growling this morning from the woods oddly enough (and I was inside the house and it sounded like it was right there in the room with me!) and it about scared me to death. As far away as your house is from ours, it is odd we've both heard that growling sound recently. It isn't like we're so close geographically that we'd hear the same growl at the same time. I've never heard this sound before and I pretty much thought I'd heard everything there is to hear around here. The dogs were going nuts in their dog yard, and I ran downstairs and didn't see a thing, but the cats were on the porch wanting to come inside. After that growling sound, I canceled my plans to work in the yard. James, I feel like much of what you say is true, but we have both good and bad government employees and always will. I know sometimes the local wildlife people seem to say whatever the 'official' story line is but their eyes and body language are telling you something else. Our local law enforcement officers are pretty good about telling us to 'do what you have to do' to stay safe, because they know they can't be everywhere at once. They also come as quickly as they can when called, but with only 1 or 2 or 3 county deputies/reserve deputies on duty at a time, their response time can be frustratingly slow. Game bird, I promise, if you tell me you see three dinosaurs crossing the road, I'll believe you. And. on a funnier note....Chris was 15 when we moved here and had a huge iguana named Alex. He built Alex a nice roomy outdoor pen, but somehow Alex would escape and run around although he always came back to the cage when he was hungry. We alerted our neighbors, and I showed Alex to Bill one day. We were watching Alex from the road and he climbed to the top of the pecan tree, which was then losing its leaves for autumn, so you could see Alex very clearly. At that point he was about 5' long. When Bill saw him, he said he needed to warn his wife and daughters because he feared they'd about run off the road and wreck their vehicles if Alex ever ran out into the road in front of them. Bill was afraid the women in his family would think Alex was an alligator. Carol, I do think a lot of people know exactly how to play the system. Tim and Chris both work at D-FW Airport, which is incorporated just like a city, and has a large Department of Public Safety consisting of police, fire and emergency medical personnel employees. Their department has several hundred employees and most are wonderful, but there are a couple that of virtually worthless. How people like that keep their jobs is just beyond me. Dawn

When I was in college in the late 90's, I used a Rainbow at one of the houses I cleaned on the side. I LOVED it and knew one day I wanted a water vac. (*NERD ALERT) In 2008, I bought a Hyla. My then husband nearly fell over when I told the salesman I would take it. I think I spent around $1500-2000 with the carpet cleaner attachment and all the bells and whistles. In 2009, we had a house fire. I made sure the Hyla was safe when we exited. She survived just fine. In 2010, I used my Hyla while cleaning various residential properties for remodel. In 2012, we adopted another pet or two which means more fur. In 2018, I took the hose into the local vacuum repairman. He is an odd dude. He made negative comments about Hyla and was reluctant to help me. Apparently, it was a towel stuck in the hose, which he removed for a hefty fee. I believe he doesn't like Hyla because if everyone had them, he would lose business. The 2 repairs I've had to make in 12 years have been minimal and mainly due to user wear and tear. Our Hyla gets used A LOT. Fast forward to 2020. I still have my dearest Hyla, but not the dearest husband. I chose well! She always picks up after herself. She cleans like a champ. I can't stand the way a regular vacuum feels like you just push dust around the house. I am very attached to this vacuum and have always been happy that I purchased it. I pray she lives forever, but if her time comes to an end, I will 100% buy another! I write this review now, after 12 years of having this vacuum because I hate reading reviews and wondering if a product held up but not knowing because the review was written so soon after purchase. I'm here to tell you, if they still sell Hylas, I would 10/10 recommend. PS: I'm not a paid reviewer, I just love the hell outta my Hyla!

I would try to vacuum the worst of it up before your hardwood guys come. Even though they'll generate some dust (but nothing like I expected, they must use newer machines), you want to try to keep the area as dust-free as possible when it's time for the finish to go down. I recently went through this -- I didn't dust beforehand and saw a lot of bubbles and trapped particles in the finish. I called the floor guys back out to screen & poly (and then I dusted/vacuumed before they came), and the new finish is much better. I don't know if I made the difference giving them a much cleaner room to start with, or if they did a much better job cleaning up the dust before putting down poly (or both), but I'd say why take a chance -- get the worst of it off the counters, other surfaces, and maybe you'll improve your changes of getting a good finish on the floors.

I’m late on this but as a person who has rented, I get what Tori is saying, and I also agree with the majority of the people on this thread. Here’s my 2 cents and I may have missed something because I didn’t read every single reply. 1) wondering if the landlord would let you paint the cabinets? 2) if that is a no, it looks like your counter tops are black, and your appliance, do the kitchen walls in a nice crisp white, maybe get a large rung that has some black and white in it and do all your kitchen decor items in black and white. Maybe a fun graphic rug, check Overstock. Do black and white wall art. Utilize those white shelves above for more decor, books etc. 3) in the bathroom, same idea but maybe have more fun and maybe do a temp wall paper that embraced the color...maybe do palm leaves. Check the Tempaper website and also Amazon and Target sell that brand, It works beautifully and no damage when it comes off. Cover the floor with a rug if you can. 4) Don’t paint the walls in the rest of the house white it makes all the wood more pronounced. Check Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter, it makes the wood not so glaring. See if you can paint the chair rail and molding if possible :-). 5) Put sisal rugs everywhere you can to cover the carpet, check Overstock again. Do a beige border. 6) Get rid of those window treatments and do some nice grommet drapery from Target. Put it up as high as you can and have it just graze the floor. Don’t have it inches above the floor. I hope some of that helps since you are already moved in :-).