I have lived with 'functional' alcoholics for years. They can walk, talk, act 'normal' while having consumed enough alcohol to knock over a horse. Unless you know them, you can't tell, and until they've gone over their usual limit that is when most people will say "oh, Bob is drunk, don't let him drive". DH and I won't allow these people to drive to our home, and NEVER did we let our family members ride with them. Sounds to me like this woman is that way. 10 shots early in the day? Normal to a person like that. She'd likely pour vodka into her juice, pop, whatever she was drinking. You usually can't smell vodka (like you can say whiskey or gin) especially if it's her drink of choice. Whether or not her family knew, hard to say. They might know that she drinks, but assume it's 'socially' and not be aware that she's downing a 5th a day in her Big Gulps. One of the most difficult things to do is to deal with an alcoholic family member, that doesn't fit the stereotype of an alcoholic. Most people think of the mug shots of drunks when they think of alcoholics, not Aunt Betty who bakes cakes for everyone's birthday. Lots of people see nothing wrong with toking. They don't believe it impairs you. I disagree. But I won't go to the point of telling people what they should or shouldn't think. I do know that people I know will not smoke weed around me, or knowingly do so when they know I'll be around, since I do tell them I can smell it on them. We watched an interview with a woman I believe was the MIL, and attorneys for the family. Man. I'm a lay person, but I'd have fired those bone heads in a minute if I was hoping they'd represent my family.

Latest update...the electrician is working mightily, though some stuff will be faked for the inspection (three-ways not activated for example). The cabinetmaker I hired a week and a half ago (someone I'd worked with previously) to take over one part of the job...in the probably vain hope that the other cabinet maker and GC will then finish the painted cabinets on time...has already made and installed the oak upper cabinets. The custom wood hood is here and going in Thursday. But the carpenter didn't show up again today, so still no trim on the windows and doors, no grout on the backsplash, no stain on the patched floor. And the AWOL GC and cabinet maker apparently made a brief appearance, installed exactly 5 of the 25 plus missing doors and drawer fronts and left...again. Marcolo, I'm willing to allow a certain amount of judicious faking because the money does not get released to the GC. It goes directly into my bank account and it's up to me to decide when to pay it out and there's a deadline on my loan. If it isn't done by the fast-approaching deadline, I can no longer draw on it and any untapped amount comes off the principal owed. So...better to get the funds under my control. Believe me, I'll have no trouble refusing to pay until everything is perfect. I just wonder if I'll be in my grave before that happens. Melissa

In a town with lots of old houses people know who you are not by your last name but by which old house you live in. Setting mouse traps, wrapping windows in plastic and digging out draft stoppers are part of the "normal fall routine". Quilts, wool blankets and curtain rods of various sizes and shapes and condition have been hung over least used hallways,doors,windows. Down comforters are on all the beds not because they are fashionable but because they are required to keep the chill out at night. The idea of a heated toilet seat now makes sense to you. You gladly share your bed with the cats and dogs you have. That extra body heat comes in handy on those cold nights. The phrase "making do" takes on a whole new meaning when you are going thru a major project and either the bathroom is shut down or the kitchen. Hopefully not both at the same time. You know more about the house's history and PO's than you do your own family tree. You treasure every little tidbit of information you find on the house. Be it a pic, a mention in a book or just someone you know who knows someone who played in the house when they were a kid.

Johnny, What bothers me even more than the lack of water is that their ground is subsiding due to all the groundwater being pulled out of the ground. I don't believe the ground rises again when or if the aquifers ever get to recharge again adequately. I believe I read that somewhere. It would bother me if the ground I live on was sinking. I wonder what the folks in California think? Maybe at this point, in their 4th year of drought and with horrific wildfires and severe economic issues facing their agricultural industry, right now all they can focus on is survival and getting through the current crisis. At some point, though, they will have to deal with the issues of groundwater depletion and land subsidence. If they don't get great snowpack this year, then what happens to them next year? It is scary to think about. It doesn't really matter how much rain falls because rain isn't where the majority of their water comes from. It is snowpack. Did I not just learn that rainfall alone is not enough after making it into Severe Drought a mere two months after catastrophic flooding resulting from incredibly heavily May-June rainfall? All that rain that fell in huge amounts ran off more so than it soaked in so that we didn't have nearly enough deep moisture to get us through two months in which almost no rain fell. I'd hate to see Cali get only rain relief this winter when what they really need is snow. I have changed so much about the way I garden here, all in an effort to garden in a more sustainable way. I used to bring in bags of purchased soil amendments, but I am mindful of the fact that it is better to create your own amendments so your own property is self-sustaining.], so now I try to do it myself without buying bags of amendments. It is a lot harder if you are relying only on what you find, make or grow on your own property, but at least I know I am not bringing in peat moss (not sustainable and is transported great distances) or herbicide residue-contaminated manure. Mulching and compost still are important to me, but I also have to grow compost crops in order to be able to make enough compost and I grow cover crops/green manure crops to add more organic matter. It is a challenge every year to put enough nutrition and organic matter back into the soil to make up for what my plants take out of it, but I'm up for the challenge. I haven't even brought in any old spoiled hay since 2010. I miss having the hay, but I no longer have to worry about whether one of my neighbors sprayed one of those persistent herbicides on their hay. Trying to be self-sustaining is a lot more work than just hauling stuff in. Carol, Thanks for confirming my gut feeling that maybe SVBs don't make it that far north. Or, at least they didn't then. With warmer temperatures creeping steadily northward over the last decade or so, it may eventually get warm enough there for SVBs to become a problem. I hope not. I love Hubbard squashed but they are the #1 favorite of SVBs in my garden, so the only way I grow them nowadays is in their own little raised bed far away from the garden in order to use them as a trap crop to find and kill the SVBs when they first show up. That buys me a little more time for other winter squash varieties, or at least warns me to get floating row covers/netting firmly in place to thwart the SVBs. Dawn