A couple of interesting things about the Revitol spammer: The acne product apparently being promoted is listed as having one active ingredient - benzoyl peroxide. Apart from not being herbal, it's the same agent sold in lots of over the counter products. They list a bunch of "inactive" ingredients, including some plant extracts (and decidedly non-herbal sounding things like methylpropanediol). Why sell a supposedly natural product if all the "natural" ingredients are listed as inactive? The herbsncures site linked to by the Revitol spammer makes the following statement: "Allopathic medicine is the conventional western medicine that aims at producing a certain condition in the body which is completely opposite to the bodily condition under the influence of a disease...Although, allopathic medicine provides instant relief but it comes along with some mild to severe side-effects. Besides allopathic medicine does not provide permanent cure as it does not work on the root cause of the disease but on the effects produced by the disease." You're supposed to get the idea that the products they promote are an "alternative" to nasty old allopathic medicine. Except they all seem to be allopathic treatments as well, only with a lot more inactive ingredients. Evidently "allopathic medicine" has gotten to be a catch-all term for "Western medicine" and is used as an all-purpose putdown. What the phrase's users don't realize is that herbalism, as well as most of the "dietary supplements" on the market are just as allopathic as "Western" pharmaceuticals - they're aimed at countering the signs and symptoms that plague disease sufferers. The opposite of "allopathic" is homeopathic - a practice that supposedly ameliorates disease by giving you an extremely diluted dose of something that causes the same symptoms (but is basically just water). The vast majority of supplements and agents like Revitol have in common with homeopathic drugs that they're ineffective for what they claim to treat, but the resemblance stops there.

> I liked California Girls too. California Girls = the Beach Boys California Gurls = Katy Perry The spelling change was in homage to Alex Chilton who died just before Katy's record was issued, and his band Big Star, and their (probably) best known song "September Gurls". And why do I care? Years ago I played in a rock band, and that was one of two songs where I handled the lead vocals!

Chispa, as I mentioned in the first post, I do plan to pay my contractor/neighbor friend for any management type calls he might get. So, not relying on free neighborly help :) Thank you all again for your helpful responses. I would like to point out that we have done a lot of things in the past few years (as we added on and remodeled to suit our needs) as well as in the last few months to prep for this particular move. There is a new water heater, we don't have a furnace or any of those working type parts for HVAC, we have a new electric panel (as of a few years ago when we put solar on), etc. I've serviced all the things I can think of to service in advance. I have personal friends in the appliance business. I think the most likely issue will be one of "disposal wipes" or grease (because, I see so many people buying those freaking wipes at the Costco down the street and the city constantly "reminding" people not to put them down the toilet because they cause major issues in the city systems). I like the twist on the wording. That is easy to do. And, as I mentioned, we have all the appliance and other manuals which I'll leave in my utility closet and let them know about them. We have several points for water shut off around the house which I'll also let them know about (so, unless there is an issue with the main line, they should have water to at least 1 of the 3 full baths in the case of a plumbing issue). For the $3000 initial service fee to use a management company for even "a little while," we could put the family up in a hotel for a week should something major come about. Re: normal wear and tear. We have a carpeted hallway near our laundry that is only 2 yrs old. I have kept a sizable carpet remnant and as we were clearing out the garage, I decided to keep that (up in the eaves) in case of needing to replace a chunk after an accidental bleach spill or similar in that hallway. Likewise, I have a few extra tiles for each of the newly remodeled bathrooms should one somehow get broken. I have all the paint cans of the current colors in the house for touchups, etc. I hope I am going about my thinking and planning in a logical fashion. I am probably over-thinking it. Sadly, no trees in our yard to fall on our house. They were removed when the 18 house development went in immediately behind us 2 years ago. The only trees that would fall on our roof would be the huge doug firs of the neighbors. If that happened, it would be an insurance issue and the house wouldn't be livable for anybody whether I'm in the country or not... It will be plumbing. I am sure of that. We'll just hope I've preplanned and maintained and replaced ahead of time anything that could wear out or cause issue.

Bugs can be icky, so some "fear" or concern would not be abnormal. But it has to be in perspective. I had a bug phobia as a kid. Ended up taking entomology in college and laughed a lot internally as I dissected a cricket to learn all its internal organs and had to stare intently at the wings of a moth in order to discern the vein patterns and identify it. I was terrified of moths as a child. Friends even went so far as to tell me to take photos of myself engaging in these activities for proof. I later became a 4H judge for the insect collection section. If they only knew . . . For me, the key was being able to control the fear reaction. Being able to function even while afraid, and take appropriate action. Hysteria never solves anything. Last week I woke up to see a spider on it's way down a web string towards my face. I was pretty upset. But I quickly recovered. That's the key. I think I got over some of these things by living with and dealing effectively with some fairly icky insect adventures. I regained some feelings of being able to cope that way. Maybe a therapist can help with that, the idea of being desensitized. Most insect encounters can be dealt with. That's the key, realizing we are bigger than them and we can live with whatever they dish out. So many insects are either neutral or beneficial. Not downplaying the negative ones, but learning to discern the difference is fairly helpful. And having a yucky encounter or ten helped me live to freak out another day. I still get creeped out but it doesn't linger . . .