Generally speaking, with any plant you should water thoroughly, until the soil is saturated and runs out freely. I personally put my plants (even the 5 1/2 foot tall cacti, which is always a fun time) in the shower and spray them down, let them drain, and then bring them back out, so I have no idea what a ballpark figure would be. I'd say you're probably better off to move the plastic pot back and forth, because if you think it's heavy *now*, wait until you try to lift a 16-inch clay pot full of wet soil. That said, people do manage, sometimes, to water without moving their plant all over creation. Not sure how to advise on this one, because it depends on how blocked the drainage holes are, the season, the type of soil you have in the pot, how wet the plant is now, the temperature, etc. Also, to go back a few topics: Spider mites are possible, but not likely to affect the whole tree all at once within a few days of bringing it home. I would do a google search for pictures, so you'll know them if you see them, but I wouldn't worry about them either. dgmarie: I would think that neither the alkalinity nor the iron content of the well water is likely to be that big of a deal. Or at least, I would assume that the salt content of the softened water is a much bigger deal. I wouldn't worry about adding supplemental iron: it's probably not necessary.

Here in OK, we just had two new 1.0 hp pump motors (hot tub jet and hot tub circulation motors) put in last Saturday at around $600/$650 each, installed. I don't know exactly because it was covered by our home warranty. Thank goodness once the new pump was installed, we could test the heater and sand filter for the hot tub and found that shockingly, they both worked fine. We had no measurable amount of CYA in our pool, so we were able to de-swampify with large amounts of chlorine bleach from the grocery store and brushing and vacuuming. My friend joked that the Walmart cashiers probably think I'm cleaning up a crime scene every time I roll up with a cart full of bleach. For our 35K gallon pool, it takes about 4 of the 182oz jugs of generic unscented clorox ($2.95 each jug) to bring to shock level. To de-swampify, it took us about 12 or 16 jugs total, added in the right increments at the right time (started just at dusk the first night with 5 jugs, then hit it with two more about 10 am, then a few more a few hours later, and keep going like that so my chlorine levels stayed high for at least 36 hours. that is not exactly the textbook way to do it, but I didn't have the drop chlorine test that measures really high levels of chlorine, mine just goes to 5, and when it dropped below 5, I added another jug. in 24 hours you can see blue but cloudy water. continuing to vacuum all the leaves from the bottom is crucial, because the leaves will just raise your chlorine demand and it's a vicious cycle. as we started to be able to see the bottom of the pool, it was a lot easier to see where the leaves were to get them out. brushing stirs up the cloud and makes it so you can't see again, but must be done to break the algae's grip on the pool surfaces.) Also, rather than spending $1K on water for your pool, I would budget that for an automatic cleaner of some variety if you don't have one already. We are shopping around for one now, and cannot wait to have it! Since we are out of swamp mode (although we had a revisit to swamp when we had a huge storm with giant hail that knocked tons of leaves in the pool. it's taken us 9 days to get it back to clean, so we need to work on how diligent we are to bring it up again) we are tired of scooping leaves all the time and want a cleaner to help us!

I feel for you. This guy sounds pretty shady, and, unfortunately, you are new to this experience and too trusting. Most of the contractors I've worked with, even those whose work itself was good, have disappointed me in one way or another. I don't know any homeowner who doesn't feel this way. They start out like first dates, all eager to please, but then they gradually reveal their real, usually unpleasant, selves. I can't tell you how many times I've heard variations on the "tiler had a baby" excuse. People have babies. People get sick. Floods, snow, and hurricanes happen. Most people at most jobs would get fired if they kept using such excuses for missing work or not finishing on time. And though I've had quality work done by a contractor who didn't pull permits, I don't recommend it. Permit requirements vary state to state, and maybe even more locally. If he does have a license, complaints to the issuing authority may provide some recourse, but I'm not knowledgeable about this. I wouldn't worry about trying to win him over. If he's not trying to win you over, he's probably taking advantage of you and your niceness. Expecting him to change is like an abused wife who believes her husband when he says he'll change, or even worse, that the beating is her fault. This is an expensive lesson, but many of us have paid a lot more to learn to be more cautious. And just ignore the other contractors here who just want to blame you and brag about themselves.

Perhaps here isn't the best place for ideas when on a budget. In my world 25k is a HUGE amount for a kitchen update. But DH would do/did all our labor so I am bias. Leaving the lay out as is, I would look into replacing the door/drawer fronts. Chances are pretty good the cabinet bases you have are much sturdier and better built than anything new one would purchase. Materials have gotten much thinner, old growth wood is stronger etc. OLD IS BETTER from a construction point of view in most cases!! I love the windows in your kitchen. What does it look like from the outside? Yes the slider can be replaced by a french door combo where only the left side opens I DID IT I KNOW!. We did ours for energy efficiency and ease of opening. Remember the swing of the door is a space eater. Counter eating is all the rage but not great for little kids...where are you at with children and a dining room? We extended our counter top, it's easy to do. I agree you probably don't want to extend it in front of the glass but I bet the entire door can be made smaller but this will run into outside siding/painting costs...a french door and free standing counter top table may be least expensive easiest to do. It will be cheapest to find a french door the size of your present opening. A custom cabinet maker- could retro yours to accommodate a microwave but for the money putting one over the stove would be easiest, cheapest. They come with exhaust fans built in. Your lay out now looks very open, modern, new counter tops alone would change the look a lot!! Stand firm on your budget and resolve to freshen your space. Not everyone gets around to a full gutting of a kitchen!! Don't let what you hope to do be side tracked by things you can't/don't want to afford. In the end you don't get your money out of a full gut anyway!!!