I'm very new to gardening, but I can tell you a bit about ABQ. I've lived here for almost three years now. I'm originally from California. ABQ is between 5,000-6000 feet in elevation so it's not just a matter if hot/cold but more UV as well. Snow here tends to happen maybe three times a year and it's pretty rare for it to last more than a day or two once it hits the ground. Most of the time it melts within hours. That's due to the aridness though, because we do have our 30-40 degree days. It's not like living in the midwest or the East coast, but it can be cold. We have approximately 60-90 days in the 85+ degree weather. You are also going to want to research what it means to have monsoon weather. Starting in July through September we can get very heavy downpours in the late afternoon. They dry quickly but it can be torrential while it happens. I have friends who successfully plant various squash, tomatoes, and of course, chiles. I believe that onions and carrots do well too. But anything that requires a lot of water would require a lot of vigilance. Watering hours are limited to early mornings and late evenings during the hot months. I can't say the price of water is outrageous but xeriscaping is heavily encouraged. Most houses have pretty big back yards which is nice for a gardener. Someone mentioned crime...try not to move to the Southeast side of ABQ. South of I-40 can get sketchy in places. Northeast Heights is one of the nicer and safer areas. The further north you can manage, the better the neighborhoods, generally speaking. The City Data Forums are a GREAT place to get more information. I used it extensively before buying a home. They did a great job with their advice and are very friendly. Hope this helps, Loretta

Is there another story of your house over the interior wall stove location in the kitchen? If there is, then it will be hard to vent that location. That would add to the cost of moving the stove there unless you do a recirculating hood. The range icon that you've used has a little grill on it - will you have grill on your range? If you do, you will want very good venting because grills can produce a lot of smoke. If there is just roof and attic above the range location or something else that allows the vent to go straight up like a closet that it can be run through, then getting the vent there shouldn't be a problem. I think that one adds the cost of running a vent straight up through the roof to moving the gas line, moving the range will come out about the same cost as moving the sink and dishwasher. If you have to get the vent to one of the exterior walls, it might cost more than moving the sink. How much is going to depend on construction details like which way the joists above the vent run. Outside cost issues, do you usually have one cook in the kitchen? The space between the sink and the range in Plan B might work better if you often have two or more working in the kitchen at the same time. It looks like the aisle between the sink and range in Plan A is a bit over 3' which is tight if you are going to have people at both of them at the same time, but okay if it is mainly a one person kitchen. Where are you storing dishes, flatware, utensils, pots and pans? In plan B, I guess that the utensils and flat ware could go in the 18" or 24" drawer units by the range and sink but dishes and or pots and pans might have to travel farther from the DW and range - or if dishes are stored to the left of the range, someone at the range would be in the way of someone putting away dishes. On the other hand, B is more convenient for tasks like filling a pasta or soup pot with water. And having more work counter/landing space to the side of the range is nice. For a one cook kitchen, the tight work triangle of plan B might work well Plan A gives more room to the table area. Plan B also gives more room to the sitting area. There is also traffic flow. Where do the two doorways on the right side of the kitchen go? In plan A, someone going between those two doors is likely to go through the cooking aisle. I can see why you would be torn between the two plans.

I live in Cold Spring NY (grossly expensive, high taxes) for past 30 years after leaving Brooklyn and am very knowledgeable about the pros and cons of locations in the mid-Hudson Valley. I must disagree with nyboy to an extent. Crime in Newburgh is pretty much limited to certain neighborhoods. Overall, Newburgh has fantastic housing stock and is very inexpensive for the Hudson Valley. School district is composed of both the City and parts of the surrounding towns, so it's diverse and not mono-ethnic or economic groups. What I have observed is a lot of Brooklyn ex-pats are now considering Beacon, across the river from Newburgh. Affordable, great commuting to NYC if that's required, lots of cultural and outdoorsy stuff to do. Downtown has become "cool", which is a great improvement over what it was when I moved up here. Less of a culture shock than moving to Ithaca, which has its own little snooty college-town issues.

" It's the Little Gem that is meant to have a pointed top and I'm told it just doesn't look right topped." I am not Anglo, but the tree itself is perfectly OK, what is not OK is the mismatch of the tree to the house. With respect, on the photo of the OP, the pointed tree and pointed roofline look like an arrow shaft and an arrowhead. Anything you can do to avoid or soften the 'arrow shaft - arrowhead' appearance will improve the aesthetics. It is not the best solution, but yes, you can shorten the existing tree (to break the visual connection to the roofline) AND shape the tree with a rounded top (again to break the unfortunate visual connection to the roofline as much as possible). If you decide for a replacement tree, make sure that you get a tree with a rounded crown and place it sufficiently asymmetrical relative to the roofline.