Just finished prunning and cleaning up that front yard section. I just can't believe how much sun there is there now. Anyway, the older bigger roses in the front bed, which were put in 2007 had no damage worth mentioning. Did need some hard prunning to get rid of broken limbs here and there but as soon as they leaf out and start growing that will be unnoticeable. The newer bed section that had Heirloom roses from last year and the year before took the worst of it. Nearest the tree trunk so most flattened. I had to dig and loosen soil around the roots on some of the rose shrubs and pull them back upright as they had ben pushed down. Broken limbs so they got harshly prunned. Then the really little ones from last year are in truely bad shape. Two of them are just not there at all, must have gotten dug up and lost with all the trampling and root digging. I will just replace those as if I need an excuse to buy more roses from Heirloom. The rest of the babies in that section got beat up badly but own root roses come back so they should be fine after awhile, even if extra small. I was also out there on my hands and knees with a cutivator and trowel digging and brushing dirt off the buried Siberian Iris. I was happy to find many of them. So while most are still there some of a partial row is totally gone. That would be were they dug to get to the tree roots that went straight down so that they could have accress to cut that root with the chain saw and lift out what was left of the stump. So now I am going to have top find my lists and see whats missing from that area so I can replace them.

Angie_DIY - That tile looks really "old school"! But, I think the wallpaper totally trashes the tile. In case anyone is keeping track, I now own 4 kilns. I have promised my husband I will reduce it to 2! :) Anyone want a cheap kiln to make their own tile? We are almost done with the kitchen. I have never been so relieved to start painting a kitchen in my life! Wow, we have worked on this a whole year. The worst part of the whole project is behind us - grinding down the concrete so we can put down the bamboo flooring. Here is a tip. If you take tile off of concrete, which is messy enough, you will also need to use a grinder to make the floor completely flat again. In hindsight we should have done it when we pulled up the tile. Anyway, I found that wrapping my cabinets in that plastic they use to wrap pallets with (comes in a roll) keeps the dust from sucking in through the cracks and getting all over the dishes and silverware.

Thanks for that link - very helpful read. So, I'm still trying to wrap my brain around all this before I go to far. Let me explain. First, I'm trying just to understand how this works. I understand it in theory and in that article but, in our setup, it looks like all it is really servicing is the water spigot on the side of the house. The water comes in from the left, down into the tank and also to the right through the honey well then just... on to the water spigot that comes off the house. That's it. Now, I CAN simply unthread the pipe a bit further down, and then into another pipe right by it, to hook the house to the well water in an emergency - as it was shown and explained to me by the seller. So, is it to keep and regulate pressure to the house, its there just in case of that? That might all make sense to me except, why does it make the bang sound when I use water out in the yard from a different spigot. I can't seem to understand how it is even involved there. I see the one pipe go into it. That's it. So anyway, on to what the article says, and others after I've googled a bunch. So, banging on the side of it, it does sorta sound more thud ish than hollow, so I do wonder if it is water logged. I understand if it is water logged the pump will turn on immediately any time you use the water. That is the case here. It does have the air valve at the top, and air does come out - not water. So that is good. I read I need it to be pre charged to the psi (minus 2) of what the pressure needs to be for the pump to turn on. Or two less than the .. in (something). I can't find the exact term again as I type this but it was in-something. SO now what I'm trying to figure out. How do I find out what that number is, I don't see anything on the pump. Am I to put the pressure valve on the drain at the bottom and see what it is? If it's over pressured or under pressured wouldn't that give a bad reading? Is that what the honeywell is for? It says 50psi It looks like on the right. I don't know what the "diff" is on the left. So, should I turn off the pump, drain everything, drain the tank, then pressurize (or depressurize) the air to 48 psi? Everything I see says this is a simple task and I feel like I'm almost there, almost understanding it... just not quite there yet. One thing I do know for sure, it's a good sign water didn't come out of the air inlet. ;)

Here are some more thoughts on the MN floorplan vs the SD drafts I've been sketching... Old floorplan notes: CONS too much wasted square footage (office, formal dining room, bonus room, foyer, laundry room, loft) foyer - nowhere to sit or hang coats master wc - shares wall with guest bedroom (sound privacy issues) PROS good sight lines from piano to living space laundry near master 2-person walk-in shower NEUTRAL (things people warned us against, but don't bother us) laundry against kid's bedroom Draft floorplan notes: CONS front entrance - spills into kitchen, entrance feels a little abrupt (I don't want to waste sq footage on a grand entrance, but would prefer people to see something "special" upon entering) master bath - unsure of shower dimensions, vanity clearance, wc location master bed - is it possible to flip w/ master bath, but still access bedroom without passing through bath/closet? upstairs - larger closets (but ensure 2 twins / 1 queen still work) kitchen - island shape/placement? all sorts of questions about max efficiency in kitchen garage - unsure of necessary dimensions (we NEED 2 car + motorcycle, would be nice to have room for 2 more motorcycles --- also driveway should allow someone at least one car to park close to house without impeding garage access) bonus room - not 100% necessary, but I truly love the location/utility of this room in current house covered / sheltered porch area - where to add it? probably has expensive features we don't know how to design around (corners, water lines all over the place, etc) laundry - make it deep enough to leave baskets on floor in front of machines when lazy PROS good sight lines from piano to living space laundry near master master near kid room master+kid on first floor powder area separated from bathtub garage entry goes into kitchen (near pantry/fridge) stairs go up on the south side (hopefully bringing some light in through the stairs window) family/guest entries combined (less wasted sq ft) family/guest entries have a bench and a place to hang coats NEUTRAL (things people warned us against, but don't bother us) laundry against kid's bedroom master wc - shares wall with master bedroom (the sound privacy issues aren't a concern here)