hidesert_windy - FWIW, the V.cardui "blew" through southern Nevada a month ago. And there was not very many of them down here, in fact so light that they were almost missed. Normal years the move north is usually at least heavy enough that even a person not interested in leps will notice them. Not this year. With all the crazy cold/hot/cold and very windy weather we've had this year I'd bet a lot of the early leps have their schedules out of whack. So I don't know if that was the migration or not. If so many individuals were probably killed by the freak cold fronts and storms. What you saw could have blown into your area, could have been over wintered pupa that emerged someplace near your area or even over wintered adults right from your area. Of interest maybe... the migrations appear to be cyclic and heavier than normal every few years. But since I started seriously studying leps in 1964, the heaviest spring migration of V. cardui I have ever seen was in about 1989-90-91 while living in northern Utah. Can't remember for sure which year and my logs are all packed in storage. But it was so heavy that the cardui literally covered any surface they could hang onto wing tip to wing tip, with more hovering and trying to find a place to land. The ground, all plants, buildings... everything moved with them. It wasn't localized either. I drove out onto the west desert all the way to the Nevada border on back roads to photograph them that weekend, and never found a place they were not just as thick. You couldn't even get out of your vehicle without stepping on them. The following week I left Utah on a business trip that took me to Boise, then Twin Falls, Sun Valley and Idaho Falls before making a loop through western Montana from Butte to Missoula, Kalispell, Great Falls and back down to Bozeman, then to Jackson Wyoming before returning home. They were just as thick everywhere I went along that trip and were actually a driving hazard. The roads everywhere were littered with uncountable numbers of them that had been killed by vehicles. No doubt I was kind of following the migration north much of that trip, even if it was scheduled by my secretary, but it was still quite a sight. LOL L.

Agree with the canopy idea. I’ll be the dissenting opinion here - I say paint the brick. I’m not usually one to advocate for painting brick, but I think on smaller houses and those that are more simple it makes a much larger impact. A white brick house will always be in style - so even if the trend fades your white brick traditional home will never look dated. If you want it to look more in vogue with today’s style, I would suggest a white brick (maybe SW Alabaster) and a light griege shutter (maybe SW Ancient Marble). I know some might say that scheme is overdone (at least where I’m from), but I can’t lie - there’s something so classic and understated about it. I think it will really transform your home. That said - painted or unpainted, the house is very pretty. If you opt not to paint, you can’t go wrong with some updated landscaping and new fixtures.

Ok, I understand. I was trying to just get to the point and didn't realize how helpful you all would be. I'm thankful for your consideration. My dad is an engineer and did the inspection. That being said the areas that need fixing are very obvious and I aim to do that. I have a price to take down three trees in front of the house for 1,000. The others I can handle with a chainsaw. I'll do the painting myself and have a contractor fixing the porch and putting new gutters. The contractor will also install new top cabinets in the kitchen to match the already replaced cabinets on the bottom. That's 5k. Also all the floors will be sanded and poly for about 3k. Does everyone agree that the foundation that's exposed should be dark blue to match all the shutters? I'm planning on sanding and painting the front door the same color as the shutters. I was considering putting the key stone window trim above the front windows as well. I will do a lot of the lawn maintenance myself. I am planning on replacing some of the lighting. And do consider the fans to need replacing. Does everyone agree that the columns can stay as they are? I need to see what happened to make them lean toward the road. If they can be salvaged I can save a lot of money there however I thought 10 inch pillars and a colonial railing and fence would add class to this house. The railing that's there is very water logged and they used siding that doesn't match the house.

Yeah I posted it twice. I couldn't get it to upload a pic from my phone so I did it on the