While I garden at home, I spend way too much time going back forth for things and since there is more than 1 gardener in my household, I am finding it a necessity to develop my own garden bag (akin to a tool bag) that will house my favorite implements. These will include: Stiff tape measure Spade with a ruler engraged in it Pruners (precision and larger) Ziploc baggies Plastic bags (for plant trimmings that cannot go into the compost, trash, etc) Alcohol swabs (sterilizing pruners) Gloves (more than 1 pair, just in case) Hand cultivator (one side has tines, one has a hoe, great for breaking up roots) Weeding sickle Rasp for sharpening things Strips of old T-shirts for tying things Pocket knife/Leatherman Zip ties Wide brimmed hat. If I gardened away from the house I would probably add sun screen, water bottle and a camera to document anything that I feel I would need to research later (bugs, foliage spots, etc), for many people this could be accomplished with their phone, but I would not trust my memory when comparing images online later. Pen and paper is always a good idea too.

How about going to a wedding reception, seeing people you care about and haven't seen for a long time, only to not be able to hear them because the band was playing so loudly. A few years ago, we were seated with an Egyptian general from a former government. He was fascinating, but the noise level forced us to shout. He eventually left in frustration. The rest of the folks at the table chose to sit silently, just watching the young people dance. We would have left also, but we were the designated driver for others. My husband and other veterans we know, lost a lot of their hearing in the service. I remember when (it seemed rather suddenly) it seemed to became necessary to play music at high decibels. It can make the music more exciting, but is it worth it?

You can always give it a shot and see what happens. Mine was planted on the NE side, right up against the house so it had good winter protection from the elements. Received good morning sun till about noon, then bright shade. The bed has been build up to about 12-18" above grade over the years. I think it died down to the ground the first year but came back from the roots. Each subsequent year the trunks have all survived. It definitely gives off the tropical vibe, but I grew tired of pulling it. I just hacked pulled some yesterday. If you want to give it a go, lemme know and the next time I pull some I'll send it your way for shipping. Garrett.

He didn't talk me into anything just wasted 7 months of my time and $50,000 for a plan that was 3X more than I told him on day one (very emphatically) that I was going to spend. So here I sit $50k poorer with a large set of drawings I'll never use that I put so much time into helping develop. I have no idea what to do next. That's what my architect inadverantly talked me into. He had no idea whatsoever how much anything costs as he evidentally only worked with millionares with unlimited budgets. Heck the biggest red flag was in December when he and the only contractor willing to even discuss the project at that point with me were wasting my entire work day when they were supposed to be talking about reducing the cost on my project but, instead they spent an hour or 2 talking about their experiences with rich clients and how very funny it was to have clients with unlimited budgets that would build something, not like it, and tell them to just tear it down and do it again another way. Knock me in the head with a hammer(pardon the pun)! IMO it seems architects in my small city (Baton Rouge) like clients with unlimited money who don't care how many anything costs. I am a hard working person who has worked their behind off for all that I have. I was so intimidated being a female going to get a huge loan and hiring an architect (seemed pretentious). But, I felt with an investment this large, I thought it was the right thing to do. I felt sheepish doing it. It took 5 month in the process to finally go to bid and 2 out of 3 contractors refused to waste their time doing a formal bid and personally told me so. They said the architect was crazy and it was a totally unrealistic project and that I would be wasting my money and that the drawings were horrible. On December 24th (yes Xmas Eve) the architect told me he would do everything in his power to make it right. The story ends today March 2 with me having NOTHING still and waiting. So, I would also advise never, ever use relatives or feel obligated to use someone related by marriage. No matter how good people say they are. Trust your instincts and stick to your budget. Or you will be sitting here waiting 7 months later with no plan, much poorer and frustrated. I know I sound mad. I am. He is now fired. I don't have any recourse that I know of. I finally got my loan approved (post mortgage crisis) after much frustration architect frustration. Now I have to start over. PS I signed the first architect agreement or SOW on 7/28/08. Put timelines in writing or it will cost you money! My SOW said 4-7 weeks for drawings to go to bid? That was 7/28/08