Yeah, I have an Orbit timer setup with three different valves, each valve runs three sprinklers (I wish I had put in an underground sprinkler system, but oh well). I haven't measured how many inches yet, but I run each valve for 15 minutes (45 min total) each day, until it starts to runoff. Now I'm down to 15 minutes each valve every 3 days since it's only in the 90's now. It does take a lot of water, but it's well worth it and water is dirt cheap here...imagine that in the desert! (I only pay about $25/month for about 2500 cubic ft.). Soil is rock hard clay, no sand, you literally have to use a sharpened pick axe to dig it up. What I did to prepare was pick axe the whole dirt back yard (about 8" down), then mixed in a truck load of compost (about 30% compost). There were some areas where the grass grew great until the heat kicked in, so I dug those up last week and reseeded (I didn't dig down deep enough so the roots stopped growing). I water at 5am, and humidity is only like 10% usually, so yeah, no fungal disease worries here! In the peak of summer it gets down to the 80's only, now it gets down to 50's. We freeze overnight in Jan/Feb as well. I was amazed to see Tall Fescue growing here too (since it's cool season grass), but a lot of lawns here are fescue and that's pretty much all the stores carry. I use the generic Contractor's Mix from Lowes (which is one of the cheaper bags, but I've had great success with it), I'll have to check what cultivars are in the bag and report back.

Thanks for the advice Tropical. Very helpfull, and reasurring. My windmill palm is mostly in full sun all day. Theres a big maple tree on the street that shades it a couple of hours a day. Is the full sun exposoure why the new fronds are growing so slow? And yes, one frond looks like its opening already and is much shorter than the older ones. Also, some one told me that i should not prune the dead fronds intil the new ones come out. Not really sure what to do? My Windmill palm has gotten a lot of attention in my nieborhood. Mostly because i live in the Bronx, and im almost positive theres not many people growing palms here. Theres not much of anything growing here!!! Cant wait for next spring!! If my windmill survives the winter i want to try a Pindo palm. Im pretty handy so i plan i building a plexiglass green house to fit around it for the winter. Going to use christmas lights for heat when it drops below 20. Now all i have to buy is a parrot and train it to sit in the tree all day. This is the garden i just recently planted. all native plants, but they got me started with my green thumb. Hopefully as i learn more can replace some of the shrubs with bannana and more tropical stuff.

Just to clarify: the depot is not used for train passengers but as a covered area for vendors or music groups. Trains come through Gibsonville but do not stop. There is an official train station in Burlington. There are two town festivals, spring and fall, when vendors up and down the town main street pay a fee to sell and music groups perform all day. We don't have the regular market on those Saturdays. During the summer there are gospel groups and other musicians that play at the bandstand. Last night PresbyOpia played under the big tree from 6-8 PM and I went to listen. This was a very casual, sing-a-long and bring-your-own-chair kind of performance. There were 2 guitars, 2 mountain dulcimers, and my friend Bill on his hammered dulcimer - all sang. They played folk tunes, hymns, novelty tunes, and standards. We all sang along on Comin' Round the Mountain, Amazing Grace, All God's Critters Got a Place in the Choir, and other favorites. We only had to stop when the trains came thru! LOL! Teresa

For me, the rug works with the table and chairs as well as the cabin feel. The colors work with the oriental rug, and oriental rugs seem to be used as formal or neutral elements. I think the trick would be making sure you have some simple lines and rustic elements in the LR (your leather chairs are in that group) and maybe a couple of traditional or softer elements in the DR. Your chair fabric could be a bridge, but also a china or crystal bowl on the table instead of a wood one or a basket. If you don't go with the tribal rug, I like 2 and 3 in your blue group and 2 in the gold and red group. The wood has enough warmth than I wouldn't be looking to add more red.