An owl's eye is probably the most efficient organ of vision possesed by any animal. It has a visual sensitivity at least 35 times greater than ours, and possibly as much as 100 times greater. They can see well in both light and dark. They can't roll their eyes in the sockets because their eyes aren't round. They're more like tubes. To make up for that, they can rotate their heads maybe as much as 270 degrees horizontally and 90 degrees or more vertically. Owls also have great hearing. The "ear tufts" of feathers on top of their heads are not ears and have nothing to do with hearing. A bird's ears are holes in the sides of their heads, covered with feathers. Owls especially can hear high sounds like the squeaking of a mouse, or a mouse scurring across a field, twigs breaking, that kind of hunting noises. Do you know if there is anything I can do to encourage them to stay? Barred owls eat mice and other small mammals, as well as frogs, birds, and snakes. They can also wade into the water to catch fish. They like small prey they can swallow whole. Larger prey is ripped into chunks. They digest what is digestible, and cough back up and spit out a pellet of what is not digestible. Scientists examine those pellets to figure out their diets. CAN an owl kill a dog or cat? Oh my yes. Owls can and do attack, kill and eat small dogs and cats, although they prefer smaller puppies and kittens. It's not real common; it's not their food of first choice, but it happens once in a while. We had a Great Horned Owl in our last neighborhood that was killing feral cats -- according to an owl expert I talked with. Owls can swoop on their prey so quietly they take them by surprise; their feathers are fringed in such a way as to absorb noise. Owls usually behead their prey, and almost certainly eat the eyes first. So if you find a dead animal and the head and eyes are intact, it almost certainly was not an owl. A Great Horned Owl weighs about 4-5 lbs, and a grown Barred Owl is about the same I think, so it's not like they're going to fly away with heavy prey. The GHO is a little stronger than the Barred. The good news is they only hunt at night. So watch your small and baby pets at night and don't leave them out alone -- especially during nesting season when the owls have young to feed. Owls will attack a human too (not for kill/food of course), generally to scare you away from their nests. They have very nasty talons and can be very aggressive during nesting season so if they swoop you, stay out of that area after that for a couple of months. You might want to learn what months the Barred Owls nest in your area. I am not saying you should be terrified of owls. That would be silly. But you should have a healthy respect for them and some knowledge. Here, watch these daytime territorial attacks to see how brave and aggressive an owl can be... Fearless owl Here is a link that might be useful: Owl attack

We interviewed 5 GCs. First was sort of interested, but our job on an older home was different from the usual work he did building new and/or remodeling newer homes, and it didn't "feel" like a good fit, so we didn't pursue it, even though he seemed like a decent guy and his portfolio of work looked like quality. Second came to look, but when he saw significant structural work he wasn't interested - he was more a cabinet installer/internal design kind of GC than somebody to handle this project. Next one came HIGHLY recommended from a friend who had just done some similar work a few months prior. He came round and gave us some quite attractive rough figures compared to the previous and we wanted some time to think about his suggestions; called him a couple of weeks later to come back, we talked further and asked him for a written bid. Never heard back from him, although we continued to call him to try and get a formal bid. #4 was referred to us via a very bizarre chain of events: even though we got the feeling the project was stalled since we couldn't find a builder, we decided to close on the equity loan anyway since it was all ready to go. At the closing, the title agent started chatting to us, noted that we lived in the same neighbourhood as her family including her brother who oh-by-the-way was a contractor and did we have one yet? I took the number partly to be polite and partly because he was (literally) around the corner, but didn't hold out much hope. In the meantime, I already had an appointment scheduled with a fairly glossy design-build firm so I kept it - they said that we would need at a MINIMUM double our budget, so that was a short meeting! So... feeling somewhat trepidatious I called the guy around the corner that had been recc'd at the bank. He was out of town but we scheduled a meeting for a few days later. He spent 2 hrs at the house, and drove me to see some work he was doing on another property (beautiful work - sealed the deal from my point of view). He came back a few days later with his associate to have another look to see how they could manage the structural stuff, and emailed me a basic proposal a few days after that. We hashed out the remaining details by email and he started 3 weeks later. He CLEARLY wanted the job - he was interested in the house, he (as I later learned) was fascinated by the books on our shelves many of which reflected his own interests and he definitely wanted the gig and he just liked us as much as we did him - it was clearly a "good fit". I had seen his work, his licence and checked his insurance was ok (they all were, of course!), but other than the title agent had no personal references. The day we started work I was PANIC STRICKEN with "what if's?" - I was letting a perfect stranger cut my house in half, I had no human references and aaaaaakkkkkkkk... what was I doing! A neighbour reassured me that she'd seen his work in the neighbourhood and, that in fact, he'd turned DOWN a job she'd asked him to do, but even so - I didn't necessarily do this "by the book"! As those who have been following my renovation know, this guy has been AMAZING, transforming our ideas into reality at a more than fair price (in fact, I truly believe he undercharged us somewhat given the numbers I see other people throwing around for their work). And he, his wife and kids have become friends in the course of it all, so it has truly been "win win" even if we DIDN'T find him via a "conventional" route. Anyway, long answer. I guess the short version is if they follow through, they want the job... !

I started a year before because there were repairs we knew had to be done. Of course, like a 'house of cards' one repair turned into 100! We needed to replace two sliding doors which had fogged up, doing this led to tearing out a sun-room (Carpenter ants were discovered and beams were eaten)...which led to rebuilding that room, which led to replacing the entire roof (we had no plans to do), which then led to repainting, flooring, etc. In my foyer, we had 3 lose tiles. I used a handiman to cement the tiles which led to tearing up the entire foyer floor and replacing with new tile one week before we went on the market. We refinished all our wood floors in January which was the biggest mistake of all. Even though they said they were 'dustless' the whole house was full of fine saw dust. We rented a storage unit and filled it to the brim eventually. It was difficult because we had the holidays and didn't want to remove our holiday things and waited until February to finally clear it all out. We replaced some bathroom counter tops which led to replacing a sink and vanity. I refinished a tub. Long and short, I am glad we started early as we ran into unexpected problems which took time. When we finally listed, the house looked new and spotless. Never looked as good all the years we lived there. I didn't want to move! We listed June 15, 2010 and went to contract Oct 15, 2010. It is never too early to start. Good luck, Jane

We were without a usable kitchen for somewhere between 2 and 3 weeks. This included removal of old cabinets (Habitat did that for us), removal of old floor and installation/finishing of new HW, relocating and adding plumbing, a bit of construction to reframe an interior window (long story), having the whole kitchen completely rewired, and installation of new cabinets and countertop. There was another couple of weeks of kitchen work that I did myself (filling nail holes, caulking, painting, final coats of finish on the wood countertop, having the backsplash installed) but we were using the kitchen during that time. This is what made it go so fast: 1. not being a normal GW kitchen (cabs/counters are from IKEA). 2. LUCK. 3. Lots and lots and lots of advance planning on my part -- I was the "GC." 4. Wonderful trades (flooring, plumber, electricians) who came when they said they would and got their work done efficiently; ditto local inspector. 5. Great installers with extensive carpentry and IKEA experience who were available on short notice (see point 2, Luck) when original handyman bailed out after reno had already begun. 6. Choosing a floor finish that was ready to walk on the next day (Rubio Monocoat). 7. Using a countertop that could be installed by the cabinet installers (IKEA butcherblock). 8. Having almost everything on site in advance, and having me available to run to the big box stores at a moment's notice for unexpected bits and pieces (corollary: being willing to have most kitchen components come off the shelf from somewhere local; there were only a few special-order things). 9. DIY'ing the final steps and using the kitchen during that time. 10. Almost forgot -- keeping the scale of reno fairly limited -- basic footprint of room did not change (some wall and window work had to be done, but no walls were moved and we left the original plaster in place for the most part). I still can't quite believe we pulled it off so fast. It wouldn't have happened if the people I hired hadn't been so professional and helpful (a big deal, I know, since I'm just a homeowner and can give them only so much business). I really do sympathize with all of you with the longer renos. Your kitchens are on a different level than ours, though, and ours wouldn't suit everyone.