So after all that rain, water is not standing in the soil at a depth of around 12". Not now, but it quit. And I dug some more as I said. If it starts raining as hard as it did, I have no doubt it will pool up to a certain level for awhile at least, but no more puddle on the sidewalk and into more of the rosebed. Then it started sprinkling and a couple small cavities in the deeper trench were holding water. Maybe it is not so bad except for the surface drainage problem. Does the subsoil feel gritty? Not when I scooped some of it out with my bare hands when I got fed up with trying to get a good pass at it with the shovel. But I threw a small pebble up on the sidewalk, brought it in and rinsed it off. It was gritty and took a bit to rinse it, rubbing between my fingers. Now I don't know what I've done with it. I didn't like getting my hands in the muck (don't mind getting them dirty) because there is broken glass everywhere, I'm constantly picking it up, and I didn't want to cut myself. The landscaper who planted the roses thought the drainage was adequate. Does it smell sewagy? Not at all. No rotten or sulphur odor. There were several worms in it, but they could have been at the sides I dug down through. I am now down to clay. It's only been like this since mid summer last year when we rototilled. Before that, I never noticed any problem, didn't pool on the sunken sidewalk slab, must have soaked through the grass or something. Or it didn't pool so badly that I noticed it and dissipated quickly or that dirt collected there. I scraped dirt off there, too. The dirt is either running back off the trenched side or from the other side. If I get it fixed, I can hose the rest of it off or more rain should take care of it. Does water seep in after you dig down another shovel bit at the back of the hole? Not yet. Not at all. At least when it isn't raining. I measured (roughly) and am now down to about 14 inches, maybe it's only 12, hard to tell with the bottom being uneven still, no seepage whatsoever. It all seems to be from water runoff, maybe from the other side and down the sidewalk, pooling, and overflowing out into that one spot in the rose bed. You can see how the sidewalk slab is in the first photo. Just the open trench got rid of the pooling in the bed itself, and the rose there is mounded now, before it made quite a large puddle in the actual planting area. There is one more slab like it, but it is toward the steps to the front sidewalk, and doesn't seem to cause any significant pooling, probably because it's close to a slope where it can run down. The slopes are washing mud onto the sidewalk, and I shovelled it back into the planting area. I'm hoping that once plants are established and mulched, that will stop. The guy who finished the barrier did a crappy job on that side near the front walk which makes it a little worse, but it does it on the other side, too. I've got everything I need except rock (was going to buy a bag at Hy Vee, landscaping pebbles, one bag ought to do it) to finish it up tomorrow if you think it is right except I want it a little deeper on the front end to allow for rocks, sand and 4" soil on top, then may have to compensate down the whole thing a bit, making sure it slants down in every part of it. Maybe 4" soil at that edge will still cause a problem, 2" might be better, but I would prefer at least 4. I googled for wet box and found some, mostly for marine uses, have no clue how they work or photos, was wondering if large pvc pipe filled with rocks and capped on the ends with some, no anything screen, landscape cloth, sieve, would clog up in no time. I guess that's why the pebbles are supposed to work, it kind of leaches out. In a bad rain, I don't expect miracles, but it will trap it underground (I hope) until it drains out. I decided not to try to trench it a foot or two more on the other side of the landscape barrier. Plus I have them coming to mark lines again, don't think that was close to anything but the further out I go, the deeper I have to go as well. I could do that, but it would be a lot more work. I could trowel under the barrier and not have to take it out, then slide the landscaping cloth through the opening, work in the rest of the materials and refill. Do you think I can make it work? I'd hate to have to dig it all up again. I would scream or cry or both.

I have Lavaglut and even with pruning, after a couple of years it was getting up to 4 feet tall... not good for the front of the border here... next spring I'm gonna really chop it down... Falstaff went a long long time ago, it's famous for being an octopus... I have three roses that are more wide than high, WS2000, Country Dancer and Eureka... so what I did was move them to places where they could sprawl and moved everything away from them. A pain to learn these lessons, but all in all the end result is all that matters... For the past 10 years, shovel pruning is a large part of the creation of the garden... My pot ghetto has really shrunk over the past two years between shovel pruning and tossing the pots that don't bloom the way I want them too. Either the wrong color or the wrong form... My neighbor is gaining a pot ghetto of my rejects too... When roses get too tall they either get moved to the climber fence or hit the road... Chicago Peace got moved to the fence... Peace hit the road... it's all a matter of preference, and how long the blooms last etc... Quietness got replaced by Home and Garden, Heaven on Earth got replaced by Nancy Reagan, and so on... There is always a better rose out there... Well sometimes... Distant drums had to go because of blackspot and I still haven't found a replacement for that color... I have Irish Creme there now but it just isn't the same...

We use the Lodge Logic cast iron griddle on our large center gas burner on the Caldera 36" . You can't tell the difference at all from cooking a steak or fish or chicken outdoors and using this grill pan. It is so perfect. The only thing is that the taste is WAY better than outdoors if you use charcoal. If you have a gas grill they aren't as hot as the Caldera and so don't give as good a result. My son is a pro chef and he was astounded at the flavor of the meats that we do on the LL pan and the smoky taste is amazing.Way more tender and flavorful and no mess at all if you have a good hood ( see below) If you look at the cost of the grill pan and then see the grill on the stove that is built in and also think of not being able to then have the burners to use for other cooking , then it makes way more sense to have the LL than a built in. As to vents . You need to get more CFM than you need. I have 1400 for that reason. The laws of physics come into play and the turbulence in the duct -work when you use it on high sends the HOGS back at you ( heat,odors,grease,steam) . So you need to have more than you think you will need...allow for height of hood and width ( do not have to have wider than cook surface ) but allow for this in extra cfm and length of duct run. I think that covers it. You have to think of your venting WAY before you look at the cook top...at the very least at the same time. Do not get a grill and then never use it due to the stink. Hope this helps. Look at the pro hoods from Tradewind. Google Tradewind liners...you will not be sorry. Mine is quiet and very efficient. c

My concerns, if I were looking to buy your home, would be that the dining, living and family rooms are well-located with a nice traffic flow, pleasing windows that match the rest of the house, and finishes that work well with the older parts of the home. If the family room feels like a garage, has garage-like windows, or an inconvenient or non-existent entry space, a big closet in the master would not overcome that for me. If the dining room is finished like the kitchen, and feels more like a kitchen than a dining room, then I wouldn't care whether you had 3 closets in the master. I If the modified and already-added spaces were pleasing to me, then the bigger closet would be frosting on the cake. It sounds like your neighbors cared more about expanding personal, bed and bath space than about living areas. Or perhaps the change to the bedroom areas is more natural and cheaper given how the homes are laid out and oriented on the lots?