rhome, some of your suggestions make me wonder where my head has been! They are so elegantly simple, but so not something I had considered! Keep those cards and letters coming! bmore, over the last six months we have measured, re-measured, read, cogitated, consulted with architects, plumbers, interior decorators, friends, neighbors, and winos off the street. There is no place for the laundry to go but where it is without incuring more expense than we are ready to take on. The center of the range is currently 63" from the wall next to the MBR door. It does not need to stay exactly where it is. Just generally on that wall. The same with the sink. The center of the sink is 31.5" from the laundry closet wall. It does not need to stay exactly where it is. It just needs to stay somewhere on the wall where it currently is. Again, thank you for your interest and for your suggestions and insights. Keep prodding me. It is helping me look at the problems with a new prespective. I think I've lost sight of the forest for the trees.

Chelated iron is a soil amendment (not a fertilizer) that acidifies the soil and prevents the leaves from turning yellow except for the leaf veins that remains green. It is usually needed where the soil is alkaline. Sounds like your plant is busy developing a root system and you therefore not see much growth above the ground. In Michigan, the end of the growing season approaches so I would not take any action now. Hydrangeas do not react much if you add fertilizers. If your soil is not deficient in minerals, they can live without fertilizers if you just maintain them mulched and, in some years, add some composted manure. Watch out with some MG formulations. They contain 30% nitrogen, which is high and encourages leaf growth and little bloom development. Hydrangeas like their soil to be evenly moist. No periods of dry, followed by wet and then back to periods of dry. So take appropriate action. If the soil feels dry when you insert a finger to a depth of 4" then you need to water. But do not overdo it and have the soil soggy wet(unless you just watered).

so you would know that leverage increases risk. This is not true. A levered firm will be more risk than the same firm unlevered. However, that is different than saying that leverage increases risk for several reasons. Essentially, the overall risk of adding debt to a firm depends on the overall risk of the underlying assets. For example, $100 invested in Enron stock in September of 2000 was more risk than having $100 invested in Enron and $100 invested in Apple, even if your marginal debt is $100. Moreover, this is largely not true for highly liquid assets. Essentially, having $100 and owing $100 is the same financial position as having $0 and owing $0. Looking at our example, you have added $500,000 of debt, but you have also added $500,000 of highly liquid investments. you had a good run in the longest bull market in history but it could also have gone the other way and you could have lost your 500k investment and now the bank owns your home. This statement is incorrect for several reasons. First, I have been doing this for 25 years now so the recent bull market isn't really relevant. Since the 1929 collapse (when the modern market was introduced) there has not been a single down five year period, and only a couple of small down three year periods. I put money in the market in 2003 and after 2008 I was still in the black. Meanwhile my house wasn't liquid at all. So had I needed cash, I would have had it available, the credit freeze didn't bother me at all. Additionally, the equity market recovered much faster than housing, two years after the collapse the market was back at 95% of pre-crisis value. Next, properly diversified investment portfolios don't just go to zero. They may lose some value, but it isn't like one day you have money and the next day you don't. One day you have money and the next day you have a bit less. Finally, houses are riskier. It is much more likely that your house will decrease in value than it is your investment portfolio will decrease in value. Above you mentioned a scenario where I could lose my house. However, in reality it is much more likely to lose your house or health from a maintenance issue. The house that is across from one my rentals has a foundation problem, the owner who purchased it in January of 2011 for $210,000 cash just sold it for $130,000 in November of 2018. Had he financed $168,000 and invested that amount he would have had $401,000 in investments and maybe fixed the house instead of giving it away because he can't afford the $80,000 to repair the house.

Thanks Raee, feel much better. A friend of mine told me the other day to start harvesting dandelions too lol. I couldn't take it anymore and ordered delivery from Kroger last evening. Salad stuff, light bulbs and a few other things. Just before they dropped it off I remembered potatoes. I forgot to order potatoes! Still waiting for test results.