The critters that wind up in the middle of the road can be funny or infuriating and other times down right terrifying. We have had several strings on this forum about frog and toad crossings and many of us have had to brake a little too fast when the headlights reveal a startled deer or two. (Have you heard about the deer in Colorado that have figured out the traffic signals? I've seen them.) On the same road where I acquired Birdy I had to get out of the car and herd a gaggle of geese marching mostly down the yellow line. Hey Horton, if you were missing a squadron, at least they were on Airport Road headed for the north-south runway. Another time I wound up chasing cows wandering along the same stretch. I've often wondered if I got them in the correct barnyard. You know it's really hard rounding up cows while wearing high heels, especially when there is a bull on the other side of the barb wire. Your turn. Sandy

It might be Virginia Creeper. It has rampant growth, can kill trees, and don't let it get on your house. Its very difficult to get rid of. The birds eat the berries and spread it for great distances. We have been fighting it for several years. Finally our neighbors have realized that it can take over their garden and have removed it, but it will probably come back and they will have to be vigilant about getting rid of it through the years.

This thread took a bit of a snarky turn, but it is obvious that it started when someone who doesn't understand the botany of the Texas hill country started defending "cedars." Whether you detest or defend "cedar" (really a variety of ashe juniper) in this part of the country is a touchy subject, LOL...they can be decent trees when they get large and do provide some wildlife habitat...and current thinking is they probably don't take as much water as was previously thought. However, they are also opportunistic scrubby little bushy things that will choke the land given the opportunity...this land was not originally covered with this stuff and clearing some of it gives the oaks, elms, redbuds and many other interesting and valuable native trees and shrubs a chance...also lets the native grasses recover in areas that were originally grassland. Now on to the original question. ;~))) aggie, I would choose the view if you think it will stay nice. I hope nothing happens to your majestic oaks, but here on the edge of the hill country we have been through some freak windstorms that twisted some of our gorgeous oaks and elms off and the occasional ice storm that coats everything can do a lot of damage to our beautiful oaks (which are also brittle trees.) As other posters mentioned..things happen to trees. If your view will not be endangered by development, etc. you really can plant trees where you want them (and where they benefit your house siting.) There are quite a few trees that are either native or very well adapted here which will grow pretty fast with a little supplemental well water...I am talking good trees like bur oaks, Monterey and other white oaks, some elm varieties, etc. You may also get a good breeze on the edge of a bluff which can be a big advantage in this climate!

There is definitely some calculus involved when determining what scale a renovation is, that involves both price and taste/finish. I think a middle-of-the-road renovation generally is around 10-15% of home value. But this frequently is retail cost, factoring in contracting labor, etc. Had I paid retail all along, my renovation would not be taking so long (coming on 2 years, thanks to interruptions for school), but would also be completely unobtainable for me on a students budget. Retail price for what I've done so far would be well over $60k. I've spent about $8k, through careful combing of craiglist and auctions, and free labor (dad). What I've gotten for my $5k* is amazing, however: SubZero 611 (craigslist, owner was upgrading to a Liebherr) SubZero 700BR (craigslist, never used) Gaggenau EB270 (craigslist, barely used) 30" Black Kohler Gilford sink (craigslist, display sale) 40sf of countertop slabs (bankruptcy auction) cork floating floor (craigslist, GC overage from a large job) 18 solid wood kitchen cabinets (friend upgraded her kitchen to Poggenpohl) steel spiral staircase (craigslist), going to the work/sleep loft we built over to the kitchen. *What about that remaining 3k, you ask? That went to a retail-priced 30" Bertazzoni Pro all-gas stove. Craigslist failed to deliver on a stove. There are some consolations- I absolutely love the range, and Bertazzoni had/has a free range hood promotion going on. So while I was never going to buy a $1200 range hood, I'm happy to get one for free. I did cry a little before spending full price on that stove, and a lot of it has to do with the calculus of middle-of-the-road and high-end. I'd talked myself into being reasonable, and just buying a perfectly fine mid-range GE. (Which was still going to be over $1k.) But the fact remained that the GE would stick out like a sore thumb in the kitchen I was constructing. And since craigslist was not coughing up a $500 Viking or Wolf, I finally accepted that I needed to pony up for a good-looking stove, and the Berta hit the sweet spot of no electronics, pretty, and reasonable (for a designer stove) cost. Being your own contractor is not easy, and craigslist is a minefield-- but even in it's half-assembled state, I'm completely in love with my kitchen now. (Possibly tinged with lingering gratefulness over the little things, like having a working sink to wash dishes in, or a stove that doesn't leak gas.)