So we've moved in 3wks ago and the builder came with his excavator and tried to grade the land himself. I insisted he use the laser thing. My dad has one and came to shoot elevations with it prior to. Thus, we already had it figured out for the builder. We thought the best way to go about it would be to drain the water away from the patio and around the side of the house down into the front yard where it would finally drain into the street gutters. The back half of the yard didn't need any work according to my dad and his little laser. Of course, builder refused to slope around the side and use the laser. He said that you have to "eyeball" these sorts of things. My dad said that he'd do it with the builder's excavator while builder was present. (my dad graded his one acre piece of property himself and it drains beautifully) Builder won't allow anyone to drive his excavator except those who work for him. Thus, we let him do what he wanted to do (drain it to the back into a little "ditch" that he claims runs throghout the neighborhood between the backyards) This little ditch that he's referring to is simply a low spot between my property and the people who live behind us because they built their yard up. This low spot is still higher than our yard, so of course draining into there won't work. Even if it would have. I don't want a ditch on the edge of our property line! It was CLEAR even by eyeball that his plan wouldn't work. I asked him what we should do if it still didn't drain. He said that he'd come back and try again. Naturally, it rained that afternoon after he left and here are the results: Now what? He either needs to agree to let my dad do it or hire a professional. It's in the contract that the land has to be graded properly. We don't want things to get ugly yet because there is one final issue that will need to be resolved. We haven't approached him about this yet. The driveway slopes into the carport, so the carport fills with water every time it rains. We are going to have to fight to get more concrete poured ontop of the carport so that it's higher than the driveway. Builder will freak when we bring this up. Thus, we're trying to keep things nice as long as possible.

OMG I have no idea on fragrance! I just happened to be visiting Mom a few months before she passed, and saw it blooming so took a pic. I don't think it had bloomed much over the yrs. My dad was a tightwad and wouldn't let Mom water hardly at all. Their lawn was always brown by summertime. When my niece moved in yrs ago after he passed away, she kinda kept the flowerbed cleaned up and watered, so the few roses that remained began to perk up a little. Most had died back to rootstock tho. Except for this one and my massive SPICE TWICE rose that had been a test rose back in the 90s. I gave Mom a bunch of my roses when we still lived in the mobile home park because I ran out of room and was trying new roses. I always knew I could come back and get cuttings. I just wish I could remember the name of this one. All I know is it was a "Smooth" rose! This pic is awful. It looks like the rose is more of a lavender-pink on white, but as I recall, I believe it might've had a little faint bit of either yellow or apricot in the center. And seriously... I seem to remember the name being SMOOTH ANGEL. But I just don't know. I certainly hope at least some of the cuttings I took will survive and possibly bloom this yr so I can see what it is. I'm sure the new owners would let me come and get more cuttings. They were next-door-neighbors.

I too used to have a wall built in ironing board and loved it. In our new home I went with the drawer style similar to what you are showing. I like it for the convenience for just an item or two, but do not love it for larger items and more than a couple of pieces. Plugging the iron in on the back wall of the counter is not an issue at all and my counter is almost 40 inches deep

Good catch, Hillary, If I'm not too late, pls do not cut anything off, you're liable to cut too much off & the plant will collapse if you cut into its crown. Looks like you got it just in time. Rina gave good advice, I was going to suggest the cinnamon too. I don't usually wash the roots, I crumble the soil off dry. But washing it here actually allowed us to see you DO have some viable roots there; seems all is NOT lost. Sprinkle the Cinnamon on the roots, then pls pick the plant up & shake off the excess. Then pot it up DRY & pls do not water it for 3-4 days at least to allow the roots to heal any injury from them being handled. Perlite will definitely work in place of pumice, don't know abt the gravel, it may be too big. After all is done, just as curiosity, wash off that netting thing & pls see if you can spread it open btwn your fingers. I think it's some kind of synthetic mesh; they don't usually degrade over time. I don't know what these nurseries are thinking; but I'd be curious to see it clean, splay out btwn your fingers. Its presence would explain why the pups are pushing up & out thru the center of the plant, instead of the regular coming out from nearby or underneath the mother plant. I recently repotted a ZZ plant plant, only to find a large piece of screen stuck to the bottom of the plant's roots. One never knows what one might find. Great save!! We look forward to updates in future.