It depends on the contractor. One should hope that a contractor who works with stone would know stone better than a homeowner who does not. But, I would agree that this can much more a hope than a reality. The contractor has to work with it. It would be quite annoying to have a homeowner pick out stone that is hard to work with or because he thought he knew more about it than someone who works with it everyday. It could be add difficulty to the project, weaken the structure, and even seem a little insulting on top of that. I would suggest that you might be diplomatic by saying that you would like to go along and see what is available with him. Are you paying him to supply the materials, or are you paying the supplier directly. A lot of guys do not like to reveal their sources in order to protect their sources, especially if supplies are limited. Another question is whether it costs more to waste stone or to pay a mason for time picking each stone. Usually the labor is what kills you.

"...It's possible to make a car that does not break. Period..." Really? Even LEXUS owners have problems with their cars! And my old boss bought a new S class Mercedes. (S500) And it was eventually declared a "LEMON" and was replaced. Automobiles are still assembled by humans. And those huumans can have bad days and miss something on the line. It happens. And yes, not too long ago all American automakers built crap. But the quality has improved a great deal. So a Buick that's over 10 years old is not even in the same league as a Buick that's 2 years old as far as engineering goes. As a matter of fact, in 1999 we rented a brand new Park Avenue while on vacation. My wife called it a piece of garbage compared to our '88 Volvo. The power seat controls came off in her hand! Yeah, garbage! But I'll guarantee that the Lucerne is light years ahead of that Park Ave! In both quality and engineering.

Yachter, My original plan was to set a special tablesetting once a week, but this week I did it 3 times and since Sunday will be our anniversary I'm doing it one more time. But after this I'll only do it about once a week, especially during the spring and summer when I want to be outside. And no, DH isn't into my tablesettings, his birthday is coming up and he wants a tablesaw. LOL Your dishcloth bunny is so cute. And isn't your DH a real sweetheat for bringing them home to you! I would love to make some of those, but I can't tell from the pic how it's made. Can you tell from looking at it how it's made? Karen, If setting a pretty table makes you happy then go for it. I believe you said you don't usually use your dining room so you could play in there with no one to shove stuff out of the way to read the newspaper. ;~) Now, the kitties may still give you some trouble!

As silica said citrus have shallow roots but you DO need to remove that grass from inside the water ring by the citrus, grass is very prolific and can uptake nutrients more quickly than citrus roots can i believe now that you have gotten rid of the rootstock feeder branches that were robbing nutrients if you get rid of the grass that is also robbing the nutrients you will see some great color improvement and rapid growth improvement on that lemon tree. i would get down there and pull the grass out by hand shouldnt take more than a half hour do that and get all that grass out then stay on top of it once a week.