That sounds like a pretty good deal and it is very doable, but it really depends on what your building skill set is and how much money you want to throw at it. If it were me, and much of the glass is already missing I would look into replacing it with double wall polycarbonate. Its cheaper than glass, easier to work with and can be cut to size on site. As for making it a stand alone and replacing the 4th wall, I would look into what it would cost you to get aluminum U channel in your area. That is how I would reconstruct the 4th side running 2 pieces parallel to the ground 1 at about 18" off the dirt, and another about 5' of the ground (of course depending on how tall the structure it these numbers could change (but since you said it was mounted to a house I would guess its roughly 8' tall on that side. If you could post some pics it would help alot with giving you more details, as I could then see how the structure it setup.

It's ok, Kitty! We all have a weakness or two... mine are bulbs and chocolate! Wouldn't a chocolate bulb be cool? Or a hippeastrum flower that smelled like chocolate? Mmmm! I know how tough it is to see all those gorgeous photos... and have that stack of catalogs and emails roll in, all showing the newest bulb offerings for the season! If it weren't for the fact that my account doesn't have a large balance, I'd be ordering more! That's why I like my PayPal card... I can only spend what's in the account! When I used to bead quite a bit, I had an addiction to beads. Even if I had no idea what I'd do with them, I'd buy more beads every time I went to a craft store or got my bead catalogs in the mail! There are just so many beautiful beads in the world, it was hard to resist! I still have quite a collection, but I can't see the tiny beads very well to work with them anymore. Then I discovered bulbs! Having limited space helps somewhat, although I find that I can keep sneaking one or two more pots in here and there. This year, I've set myself a bulb budget, and I hope to stay right around the low total... unless I run into a deal that's just too good to pass up, of course!

The only real way to fight mealies on H. compacta is by using a systemic insecticide on the plant (BATS). With all of the nooks and crannies, you will never hit all of the bugs by spraying. I would use BATS systemic on the plant as soon as you get it. Good luck in your hoya hunt! I just looked through Ted Green's updated list and found $195.00 worth of cuttings I want to order. Now, mind you, I have no room for any more hoyas, but that's never stopped me before! (:o) Thank God it's too cold to place an order now. Maybe by the time the warmer weather gets here I will have come to my senses.(or, maybe not!) Mike

I know people that have been scammed. Thank goodness I have never been scammed but I did have a situation that is similar in my opinion with someone trying to get away with a scheme that I feel I should have realized but I didn't until I suffered the consequences. I had a problem with a client about 10.5 years ago (a little before the time I moved into my new home) which is one of many reasons why I had to drop him as a client despite the fact he used to be a challenging good paying client that gave me cumulative hours with a lot of continuous work. My client (not giving names... he does not live in my state anymore and not telling what kind of business he was in.....) needed money in his bank account to close a deal on another letter of credit from the bank. He needed the money to show he was doing so well and claimed he was but the collection of the accounts receivable was slow. He told me he also had all this money coming in and told me he has the money in his related party account (he owned another business... I only did the work for this one business) but since both accounts were at the same bank he needed a deposit coming in that was not coming from him that day and needed it at the bank within 1/2 hour before they closed at 3 PM. He would meet me at his bank that was on the way to my bank and give me a check that was for so much more than my check I would give him. He told me to put it in the bank before 3 PM to give it time to clear first and he would put the check I gave him in after 3 PM. He said I could keep the profit for helping him make sure he did not lose this big client overseas that had a big order for him. I told him I do not have that kind of money in my bank account or in any of my accounts. He told me the bank was so local that the funds would be cleared before his check. He started to cry that he was a good client and he was giving me so much more for helping him not miss out on the letter of credit and the big order he has overseas. Since time was running out, I was not thinking and did this. HIS check bounced and my check cleared that was not in my account and about 11 of my checks had NSF that my bank covered but charged me for! It was so stressful getting all this back from my client (and my banker was so upset with me for falling for this kiting scheme) and I would have dropped him right then if I did not have to tie up some work-in-progress I was doing for him that I needed to be paid for ( I ended up deciding I could not finish it anyway for many reasons that were all good reasons). I was in the middle of getting things in order to move to my new place. As soon as I moved, I started copying anything of his records to show why I did not finish his financial statements so I would not be in trouble and typed a letter that I was withdrawing for his account and needed him to sign off on any records I was returning to him. I will never let anyone do this to me again. NO ONE that is honest writes a check for so much more than the transaction amount!