Firstly, there's not much engine braking on automatics. Secondly, you are far more likely to lose control on a RWD car with braking on a slippery surface beacuse the back axle swings around (try braking with only the back brake on a motorcycle on a wet road). An upshift to prevent engine braking would be to meet emission standards because it reduces the vacuum pressure in the inlet manifold. An automatic never runs in idle unless you put it there. And downshifting when you floor the throttle has always been standard on all automatics. I think the overheating would be because of the AWD problems, problems with synchronising the rear and front drivetrains ? Landrovers with viscous diffs used to chew up tyres.

We actually did both things you mentioned: built a house and remodeled an existing home. The decision to build turned out to be a good one, not only because the house turned out very well but also because we now live on a lake, so our home is an incredible sanctuary for us. I will say, however, that our new 2500 sq ft house with some "bells and whistles" (i.e. beautiful wood flooring, multiple showroom bathrooms, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, and 72 different species of plants in the landscape) is a lot more work than our previous house. My DW scoffs at idea of how various things were supposed to be "low maintenance." It takes the two of us four hours just to superficially clean this beast. Even though the process of building the home went well and brought the two of us closer as a result of the new-found respect we had for each other, it was mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausting (even though we had a contractor build it for us). And both of us were in our 40s. It would have been less stressful if I hadn't been the GC, but the additional cost would have been an even bigger stressor. Fortunately, our old house was only twenty minutes away - we didn't have to uproot ourselves from the community, learn a whole new city, re-establish ourselves, etc. I can't imagine what that would have been like. Remodeling, on the other hand, was a very unpleasant experience and caused a lot of arguments between us. You would think with our previous building experience that it would have gone smoothly, but remodeling is a whole different animal. You are constrained by the often dysfunctional floor plan of the original builder and are continually at the effect of shoddy materials, poor planning, or just outright stupidity. You have to put up with things you don't like because the cost of changing them, like a horribly colored fireplace, is prohibitive. And it is harder to control costs because you don't know what lies behind the next piece of crumbling floor board... or unyielding clipboard of the local county bureaucrat. We were mandated to put in sidewalks/gutters, widen the road, and put in $13K of landscaping just to bring the property in line with local statues. This was after a county planning meeting where we were told (prior to buying the property) that code compliance costs would be "minimal". In the end, I think the most important thing is to discover what is the essential, core experience you want to have in your retirement years. Is it new experiences, intimate time with each other and/or family, spiritual growth, or a unique combination of things? Once you find this "touchstone," it should be easier to decide if building a house really fits in with what is most important to you.

Just from my own real life experience as the mother two toddlers, I can tell you I own over $3000 worth of DSLR body and lenses. My best shots of my kids actually come from my Nikon Coolpix S8100 (under $200). I'll give you the lag time is more than my fancy DLSR. And yes, when I have time to pull the DLSR out I can get a much better photograph, but I can stick my Coolpix in any bag I am taking anywhere and it is always with me. So I get all the candids. My DLSR is bulky (and my kids come with enough baggage already. I love my DSLR, don't get me wrong, I have it for many other reasons, but if she is looking for great shots of her child, a fairly easy point and shoot is way more practical. Kalindi

First I would go back to your vet about the scaly patches if you have not already. These could be something else and could be serious so please have them checked by your vet! I don't want to scare you but my 12-year-old dog had a patch of scaly skin and hair loss and it turned out she had a bacterial and fungal infection and skin cancer. The best thing would be to have allergy testing done to find out the source of the allergic reactions. Barring that I would recommend using a limited ingredient grain free diet. A limited ingredient diet is one with a shorter ingredient list which usually uses only one type of meat as the protein source. This way if your dog continues to have a reaction to the food you can narrow down the possibilities of what is causing the reaction because there is a small ingredient list. Keep in mind that it can take several weeks before you see a difference when trying a new food. Some examples of good diets of this type: Natural Balance Potato and Venison Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Fish BLUE Fish and Sweet Potato California Natural Herring and Sweet Potato Canine Caviar Venison and Pea Pinnacle Trout and Sweet Potato Honest Kitchen Force For the psoriasis type spots I would ask your vet if they carry a line of products called Douxo Calm. This line includes a shampoo, spray and spot treatment for allergic dermatitis. I have used their other product, Douxo Seborrhea, on two dogs for different skin issues and it worked REALLY well. If your vet doesn't carry it, see if they can look it up for you and if they think it is ok to use, then you can order it online.