I had bad dreams last night about this Garlic Cheese fiasco. I was going to every store I could find looking for Kraft garlic cheese roll because I HAD to have cheese grits for dinner. Lord luv a duck, what a night. Meldy, I've made the grits with garlic powder when I was visiting yankee cousins and they requested them, it just wasn't the same. That old cheese roll (previously put out by Kraft) was just the right thing when you added cheddar to it. Suzy, thank you for taking the time to send me the link to the Amish store. I checked out the site and later on today when I get a chance, I want to order some other things also and of course get the cheese. If it works out for my grits, Kraft will be forever in your debt. I fired a warning arrow across their bow this morning. A BOYCOTT by the genteel southern ladies casserole brigade if they don't fire up that garlic cheese vat pronto.:0)

Florence, I'm really sorry this isn't resolved yet and continues to bring her pain. I'm sure that watching it is very hard on you, you probably feel so helpless. Divorce sucks and the fact that it was him that wanted it and is now turning the kids against her is a huge slap in the face, I have some choice names for him, but surely can't put them here. Is she in PA? If she was in NJ, I have an awesome attorney. My guy would probably have him in contempt of something by now. You ask, if it's legal for him to do this. Probably. I don't know the specifics but sounds like she is getting an apartment & he is keeping the house, and when she called the truck to come, he probably figured she was almost done. I actually would do the same thing, especially if I was moving back in, which it sounds like he is doing. The thing is, he could have said that he needed her out by such & such and after that she'd need to make arrangements to get in due to the locks, but who knows, maybe he's afraid she would lock him out? IMO, Robyn is probably better off to just get her stuff and go. The sooner she does that, the sooner what ever kids will stay with him can get settled and if I'm right, they will see all too soon exactly who they should have lived with (not him.) Kids are strange. As you know I'm divorced twice; there's been times my son stood up for his dead beat instead of me, or my girl did so. Now that it's been years, the truth has come out and they know who was lying and who wasn't. It's funny how my girl is now remembering everything. Robyn has to learn to forgive the kids for what is going on now, as much as it hurts. Even though it sounds like they are older, they're still feeling this and probably don't know what to believe. Everything will work out in the end, it's just going to take time to get there. Rick will get his eventually. Karma is like that.

I've had the same problem this year with my basement. For weeks all I could think of was "A River Runs Through It" or "Waterworld". :-) Tomatoes hate being waterlogged. Moreso than most plants. You could always stick your finger (or a stick) in the ground it see if it's soggy down around the roots. Or, if you pull up one of the plants, check to see that the ground is not waterlogged around the roots. If it is, that is likely the problem. I doubt anything leached from the roof into the water and killed the plants. We are down to some of the most likely suspects: 1. Water - way too much or way too little. 2. Herbicides -- either sprayed nearby and drifted unto the plants, or in the manure (or soil, if brought in). However, I would expect to see deformed and stunted foliage prior to death. Looking at the dead leaves, it's hard to detect any distortion in the foliage. The wilting leaves don't look distorted. 3. Disease. There are several diseases that can cause wilting, but disease is not obvious from the photo. Afterthought: Since your sedum looks unhealthy also, did you use cow manure on that too? Many farms use pasture pesticides that pass right through grazers' digestive systems and into the manure unchanged. Then we take the manure, dress our gardens, and it causes our plants to die or at least struggle. When getting manure or soil or compost, it would probably be a good idea to ask which pesticides they are using in their pasture. Then use accordingly. Link to an article below - just in case it applies to your situation (which is hard to discern). Here is a link that might be useful: Herbicide Carryover

Hello, been lurking a bit. Lots of good info here, thanks. FWIW, I agree that if the things you can't change are right and there is room in the price to do the rest ... thats a pretty good place to be. I knew the minute we walked into our current home, it would be ours, more than 20 yrs. ago. We had looked at a few dozen as I recall but the search was over when we got here. Since then we've added several investment props to the pile and since last fall have been looking for a new joint for us. Found an REO that is the only house of hundreds that can tick off every item on our list. Trying to convince the bank that they should stop holding on to it has been frustraiting, aggravating, stressfull etc. but now it is finally fun. They are offering counters in less than 24 hrs. and moving proposed closing dates up. Still not moving as much in price as they'll need to yet but it is vast improvement. Guess submitting the roofing bid and the well test did the trick :-) It kinda feels like I'm the lone bidder. Its got great bones and for us, a great loc. (acerage close to where we need to be). Its way more than we need but the lot, loc. and subdivision are pretty near perfect. Some minor damage from the eviction but I'm pricing that in and will order the full blown insp. once we have a deal. I was at the auction, I know the number ... they might get it but I'm thinkin not. There is a lot of inventory out there.