Sigh, we lost power over night between Friday night/Saturday morning. I woke up to the emergancy flash light flashing, first thought was oh no my greenhouse. Jumped out of bed, dressed warm, coat, boots and ran out to bring in the plants. The only thing I left out there was two pans that lettuce/raddish/beats and spinach are growing in. The only bad thing is I have some tomato plants in one of those plants that just got their first leaves. Those pans are to big to bring in. They are on the floor and I threw a nice layer of leaves over the one with the tomato plants. Not sure if they will be ok or not but going to try to get out there today and check on them. We got our power back around 11pm Saturday. But I had already unplugged the heater in the greenhouse because of the leaves, sure didn't want them to catch fire. Just looked up the street, a neighbor lost a bradford pear, it is gone. I hope it didn't hurt her house. Single mom. Guess some chainsaws will be buzzing today. The plus has been at this point with two storms the roads are still ok. I am sure over pass's are a mess. My deck is an ice rink, no way am I going to try and walk down the steps. Dogs will go out front for potty breaks. The trees are very pretty, I love the plants with ice, however don't like ice skating. I did walk out to the garden/tumbler yesterday. It has a nice thick layer of ice on it, I can imagin how thick today as we got another round last night. One more round comes through tonight. I have a rose of sharron that is trained into a tree, it was curled over yesterday to the ground. Sigh. I see tops of the treens in our wooded area that seem to be missing. I guess I will be making tons of mulch next spring/thaw. Ugg. I hope everyone that is effected by this storm are ok. Sandy

Hi Lori, I know - when we stew over something for so long we do get confused! Too close to the issue, I think. To answer you - well, it depends. I think taking the hard flooring to the stairway is not a problem if there is a door that is usually closed at the stairway. The hard flooring could be installed to meet the carpeting on the basement side of the door (so the break would not be seen from the hall side). If there is not a door to the stairway you could consider taking the hard flooring down one step to give a continuous look before the break of the step. 'Course, if you want to spend more money & have a continuous look (if the stairway is not closed off & especially if it leads to a frequently-used space such as a family room), then the hard flooring with a runner (such as indoor/outdoor - you don't want a high pile or soft, plushy carpeting on stairs) would be a good way to go. The hard flooring would then provide a link between the two levels & offer some more continuity that the existing carpeting would not. I know this answer seems wishy-washy, but the floor treatment does depend on what's around it & the function that goes on in the areas. Hope this helps. Kathleen

Scott, the trenches are deeper than they look - I shot from above. The pool has a 5' x 10' baja shelf as the first step in a large set of stairs. There is also a step next to the bench on the other end for the dogs to get out. I only wanted one way to get out on each end because the pool is for the dog's exercise. My dog friends have warned me that if you provide too many ways out, some dogs will retrieve the thrown ball or bumper, then exit the pool and deliver it to you on land, rather than retrieve it then swim the length of the pool back. Here is a photo of the stairs and bench with exit step.

someone was kind enough to give me a used green wire fence with t-posts - about 4 and 1/2 ft high. the last straw was seeing on my video camera their dog squatting on my property and the owner just watching. i couldnt find an excrements so maybe false alarm but this is poor dog training!! about the toddlers, yes he has wandered over here but the young sibling or the mother will come get him within a min or 2. i dont want to say they are bad parents because likely they just turned their back for a min and the toddler is curious. ive talked to them before and they apologize. they are otherwise good neighbors (well we can have worse) they are the earthy crunchy free people, not sure how to explain. im not confrontational but have communicated with them. just doing all i can so i am not legally responsible incase he gets hurt. someone asked for pic of property so here it us. the blue line will have to be a bit nicer since it faces the street, the iron ones maybe that was suggested here thoughts?