Dantis, I saw your post and wanted to add an observation I've had. I don't know how old your lawn is, or your neighbor's lawn, but my KBG lawn is in it's 3rd summer right now. The first summer I used lots of Synthetics - Looked fabulous. Second summer, used lots of Synthetics - looked good. When it started looking less than great, I'd to buy a bag of Scott's weed & feed and throw that down. It would perk up, but only temporarily. This spring, it looked like hell. It was one of the last ones to green up and the thatch was unbelievably thick!!! The same thing happened to me in my first house - I was only there 3 years, but it was the same thing. Year 1 - Excellent lawn, Year 2 - Good Lawn, Year 3 - lots of fighting to keep it green. It seems that with a Synthetic lawn, unless you aerate and/or dethatch it AT LEAST once per year, the thatch builds up (at least in KBG), and really creates a problem. I just wasn't excited about spending $100 to have my lawn aerated once or twice a year. I found this forum because I was being a cheapskate and figured there had to be some sort of 'natural dethatching' method :) Don't get me wrong, I don't mind spending $100 on my lawn to make it look great - I'm just not excited about spending $100 for a temporary solution that my fertilizing practices would ruin. Reading up on the ecosystem of the lawn and how it works really made a lot of sense to me, so I figured I'd give it a try. I have a long way to go to improve my soil (clay), but my lawn has made great strides. The thatch is under control, and, even though I'm watering more than I'd like, I'm still watering a LOT less than the neighbors, and my lawn looks MUCH better! I'd rather spend $100 on soybean meal, corn gluten meal, etc., than an aeration any day. So, I guess my point is, your neighbor's synthetics will catch up with him/her eventually...Again, just my observations and opinions...

Like said above CL, goodwill, moving sales ect... Today I scored a brand new black leather lined Bentley Prince Street Carpet Company 8x8 area rug for $60, the owner/ designer won it at a show. Last week I scored a like brand new NS design leather sofa with black piping for $150. I also found a chair in the exact lines of sofa in fabric by (Sheril sp?) at my local goodwill for $85 but think I can get it cheaper. I'm getting things for my son and want to do a sort of kinda Jonathon Adler look. I'm having a blast looking for things and can't wait to find some cool stuff with color and other things needed. I literally sit pushing the refresh button on CL while having my tea, you have to be fast. http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/af170/jterrilynn/b7267bed.jpg" target="_blank"> http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/af170/jterrilynn/4d8bbec8.jpg" target="_blank">

I watched the Red Carpet with the sound turned off. Then I watched reruns of Victoria on PBS and the latest episode of The Walking Dead (which is getting too gruesome). I flipped back to the Oscars on commercials and saw the pretty young singer get clipped in the head by a blue banner. I decided I had really had enough when they brought in the "faux tourists". You think they could have hired better actors for that. It was ridiculous. I saw the Best Movie mix up on the web this morning. I am very sorry that it was first blamed on incompetent older actors/presenters. Someone's head should roll at Price Waterhouse. It was a shame the thunder was stolen from Moonlight's success. I did love La La Land, though. Sorry I have not seen Moonlight but plan to go. I like going to the movies.

erasmus, I had an oak tree downed a while ago, and I just use those chips generally sifting out the larger pieces. My success rate skyrocketed, although it's worked less well as its composted. Pine bark fines used to be sold as 'wood conditioner', but seems to have been replaced in the BBstores. I'm sure it's till available online. I've considered calling a mulch place to see if they'd sell me a small bit as they do use it in soil mixes. Fine sand was bust as said. I've read gritty sand is what to use, but I didn't read that part. when I started : (( Potting mix with perlite also didn't work. Big drainage holes are important, also. I would set the cutting up on something and try putting the sprinkler on a time. That's a great idea! OT stoves. Actually, almost any older stove is more accurate due to the by-pass Tstat they used. All modern stoves use an on/off Tstat so there is a wide fluctuation in oven temp with it over and under-shooting the desired temp to average the 'set' temp. It's an all or nothing flame and much cheaper to manufacture. A by-pass Tstat turns off the large flame as the temp nears and goes to a low flame until the desired temp is reached and stays on until the temp falls. Then the large flame comes on and the cyle begins anew. This is why grandma often complained that her new-fangled stove that the kids bought didn't bake as well as her old faithful. It didn't because the temp didn't hold steady. Of course, one of Chambers claims to fame was that it was so well insulated with rock wool, that one actually turned off the oven partway through and finished cooking it on retained heat as it was so well insulated. Regarding oven size, I also have a GE Monogram convection oven and thought I would season my cast iron oven baffle in it, but it didn't fit. It's deeper and less wide, but larger than my modern one. This is because of the fan in back I suppose. Anyway, I could bore one to tears with this conversation, but I do love my stoves and now so do all my friends! : ))