Thanks, everybody! Sorry to put this in the wrong forum, I just couldn't figure out where to put it, and I thought some other people with inviting gardens may have also had trouble keeping people out of them. The garden that came with the house is really striking, and people who drive past often slow down to look at it or ask me about it. There's 70-something raised beds that are covered in patterns of tiles. It's a VERY conspicuous house. So I'm actually a little surprised that tweakers are targeting it, instead of somewhere less conspicuous. So, I just bought a gigantic "NO TRESPASSING - violators will be prosecuted" sign today. It's ugly, but I guess I need it. And a solar-powered motion light, which I'll install tomorrow. I also found a crack pipe in my backyard today. :( It was hidden underneath a pile of weeds I'd pulled a few days ago and left on one of my garden paths, so someone has definitely been in my yard in the last few days. RE: tweakers (yeah, I mean meth)...There's a big meth problem in this town, and there isn't a single neighborhood that's immune to it. When I bought the house there was no evidence of parties inside, though - in fact it was completely pristine inside every time I looked at it. And I never saw any trash around the house before I bought it, but now the sidewalk on one side has become a dump yard and shopping cart parking lot. :( RE: getting to know the neighbors...I'm on a corner, and my next door neighbors are a little sketchy, unfortunately. Very unapproachable. Come to think of it, so are the elderly couple across the street, and most of the neighbors in general. At least one person has been looking after my house while I'm at work, though, because someone yelled at my brother-in-law when he dropped off a compost bin in my yard, demanding to know what he was doing there. RE: surveillance cameras. I've thought about getting one but wouldn't know how to hard-wire it. Is this something the police might help with??? I'm not sure I'd want anyone to KNOW I had a surveillance camera, though, because I'm afraid my sketchy next door neighbors are either selling drugs or growing marijuana and I don't want them to think I'm trying to get them busted. Because if they were busted, they'd just end up right back in the house, with a grudge (the family has owned that house since the '50s, so they're not going anywhere). I don't want to start any sort of war with the neighbors. Does anyone know if you legally have to post a sign when you have a surveillance camera? Thanks!

Thanks for all your hard work Karen! Can't wait to read it in its entirety. Jodi-

This house was 1700sf, but I want to "age in place" so I added a first-floor master suite, laundry and a new kitchen. The stairs are narrow, without a handrail, so I didn't want to use the upstairs master (it's now my studio)! The person before me lived here 30 years and had one of those lift chairs until she finally had to go into assisted living. The old kitchen didn't have original cabinets and there was only 1.5 feet (really) on two sides of the island, the cabinets were only 1 foot deep and the 1980s fridge couldn't be removed without removing the island (width of the sink and dw only). The rooms are on a 12' wide scale. So, my new master and kitchen are 12'x12'. My previous home that my husband and I built was over 4000 sf on 4.5 acres. I was an avid gardener (and blogger). I don't have the gardening/blogging in me anymore. I have 1/2 acre here.

I'm a great believer in crate training for any dog. Dogs are by nature, "den animals" and the crate becomes the "den" very quickly. It's truly a safety issues. If I have plumbers or other workers in my house, my dogs are crated. If the tornado siren goes off, we all go to the basement and my dogs are crated in a large crate, the smaller ones also being in the basement garage. If we were to have to go to a shelter, the rules are usually that ALL pets be crated! I would never leave a dog crated for 10 hours during the day and then crate them again for 8 hrs at night, but then if I were gone that long, I most likely would not have a dog. When I go out, I normally leave my dogs in the kitchen (NOT open concept!) with a gate up. One sleeps in the bed with me at night, the other in his crate (all he's ever known in his 6 years). When he is oneway an "only", he'll be given a "try-out" in my bed to see if he's a good bedfellow. If he is, he will join me. I like having something warm next to me at night and don't want another husband! There are breeds of dogs who are prone to separation anxiety, who if not crate-trained in puppyhood, will become so anxious they will destroy a house, trying to get out and get to their owner. BY that point, they cannot be crate-trained and will also be unadoptable. My next door neighbor had such a dog and he finally had to be put down, but not before he destroyed fencing in my yard (trying to get out of his in to mine, and then another fence to get out of mine, too!), and he killed two pet cats in the neighborhood, sunning themselves in their own yards. I've never seen a dog as terrified as this one was - he was truly psychotic. If he'd been crate-trained as a puppy, he would have been fine.