Your Roof Color Experience: Expectation vs Reality
Comments (11)
DLM2000-GW
8 years agoRelated Discussions
Do plants respond to your love? Your experiences?
Comments (37)Veimar.. Sing, talk, heck dance with your plants..whichever method works is all that matters. I'd love to attend a group or university where plant studies are done. Are you familiar with Calatheas? Leaves move suddenly like their cousin, Maranta, 'Prayer Plant.' I had one Calathea with large leaves that jerked suddenly and fiercely, one leaf would occasionally knock down a smaller, neighboring plant. I don't know why it didn't happen before. Many mysteries in this old world. Please don't get me started about people who buy plants or BIRDS to match furniture. Laura, I'm okay, thank you. It's too bad your work hours are so long. Or maybe not. Don't you love people who know their minds? lol. Laura, you're joking, but I knew a few people who's s/o's were jealous of everything including inanimate objects. Rodden, can't say I blame you. 5-months of winter! Summer 2013 through winter was the worse, coldest. I think we had 2-weeks in the 90's then back to cool. I thought OK was dry??? Low humidity? I can deal with heat, but when temps rise over 100F, I need more than a fan and open windows. Don't like a/c though. Plants are on stand-still when temps get too hot. Since you have rocky soil, you'd definitely need to amend. What about succulents grown in-ground? Agave, Optuntia? My niece lives in Lake Zurich, but she has artificial plants. lol. Sorry about your mom. I imagine your winters are nicer than our spring...warm enough for potted plants to be outside. What type of plants interest you? Laura, VA got hit with 13" of snow? Unbelievable! Is 2014 a record? Toni...See MoreQuality Control vs Cost Expectation
Comments (45)"Interestingly, it is a disprportionate amount of the sons and daughters of the poor and disenfranchised that bear the burden of military service. " Lakeguy, Not really sure where you're going with that. If you're implying that the US Army is taking advantage of the lower class by enticing inner-city high school dropouts to join their service (no GED required), I'd have to disagree. I don't think that taking a kid off the streets, replacing his .22 pistol and pants around his knees with an M-16A4 and BDUs and paying him $34,000 a year (or over $40k for an E-2 in a combat zone) is a bad thing. Of course when we lower the recruiting standards the end result is a sub-standard armed force, but in the fifth year of the Iraq war, with the US Army running on empty for the past two years, that's what it's come to. Say the kid decides it's not a bad career, and stays in beyond his initial 4-year obligation. At that point he's a sergeant (E-5) making $45k a year (not counting deployment pay/re-enlistment bonuses). While he's on active duty he finishes his GED, and starts taking a few college courses, and maintains a 3.0 average (being reimbursed for 75% of the fees by the government WITHOUT using his GI bill). He applies for a commissioning program, and gets his degree (using the GI bill, while being paid full time as a sergeant during college). Eight to ten years into it he becomes a lieutenant, and continues the promotions through the officer ranks, making a salary his boys back on the block could never dream of. At around 15-18 years the mustang (prior enlisted officer) tops six figures. At 20 years, he retires, pockets the pension, and takes on a secondary career as a civilian government employee for slightly more than his previous salary; he now has medical care and a steady income for life. He buys 30 acres and a few horses in Virginia, puts his kids through Georgetown, and never looks back. Culturally, it's a completely level playing field. Racial or sexual discrimination is absolutely not tolerated (the highly revered CO of the largest Marine Corps Installation on the East Coast is a black female). I can't imagine a better escape from poverty than the US military. All it takes is a strong work ethic, average intelligence, heterosexual orientation, an aversion to narcotics, and an ability to perform while scared out of your mind. Of course, the entire scenario is predicated on the fact he didn't get his legs blown off by an IED in the first year, or shot out of the sky by a shoulder-fired SA-16 in the tenth year. But that's where the love of your country and willingness to sacrifice kicks in--if it's not in you, no amount of money will get you to put yourself in harm's way, especially if you have a family. Here is a link that might be useful: enlisted pay charts...See MoreWhat do you expect from your roses?
Comments (18)I'm with catsrose - "I rarely shovel prune anyone still alive". I anthropomorphize my roses - they are like pets. If they get sick, I worry about them and try to make them get better. I also love to just observe what they do - roses do the most amazing things, especially old rose varieties. I am fine with waiting 4-5 years for a climber to get going - is is wonderful how a rose which has not done much for 4 years suddenly sends out thick, huge, climbing canes which go up like an elevator to 8-10 feet in one jump! Some of my roses are still surviving which were planted by my DH's grandparents and even great grandparents, so they are family heirlooms which I feel responsible for taking care of. I have new plants rooted from all of the very old ones (many of the originals have died, but they were 100+ years old), so I will not lose them. I figure the ones which survived so long (with very little care) did so because they like our climate, soil, etc. So, I plant more clones of those, as well as getting others of the same type (such as old tea roses). To my astonishment, two of my roses turned out to be very rare - one was "lost" in North America, although surviving in Australia & Europe. The other one we think may be "lost" all over the world. They have both gone back into commerce from my garden. So fun! So, the bottom line is that I am a caretaker, and a collector. The only time I shovel prune anyone is if they have some sort of horrible disease that the others might catch - this has only happened once, and it was traumatic. We only have 1/3rd of an acre, and much of that is taken up by the house, garage, and long driveway. Also we have many huge old trees, so the sunny places for roses are limited. Oh, we also have deer. However, I have found that my "expectations" - that my roses will enchant and delight me - are always met. Jackie...See MoreReality bytes.... (Decor function vs. form)
Comments (26)Yes, I have a cat with IBD like symptoms though technically he doesn't have it. He's just had digestive distress since we got him ten years ago. Unfortunately it's flared up recently. I've always picked rugs that hide potential stains - wine, coffee, cat barf - and get rid of any carpet once it looks hideous either because of wear or stains. I'm overdue to get rid of my bedroom carpet but dreading the wood floor experience so I'm going to cover the worst of it up with a rug as soon as the cat's digestive flareup is under control - which will be soon I hope. Below is a stain hiding rug (also very cat barf resistant for easy cleanup), cat hair protectors for chairs, faux fur rug to minimize white cat hair on navy ottoman, plush blanket on back of sofa to keep white cat hair off that and a blue/white blanket on the ledge because the cat decided he liked it there....See More
autumn.4
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoDo you think siding color and landscape can effect the color(s) the roof shows? I actually had our decorator look at the shingles to help and I am glad I did. I wouldn't see an undertone even if it snuck up and bit me.
She looked at the one we finally settled on between 2 (we figured we could at LEAST pick that out on our own - haha) and we ended up changing it to the runner up - weathered wood. Ours looks much lighter than Amber's - maybe lighting. So thankful, it looks great with our siding and seems to go with a lot of different siding colors.
DLM2000-GW
8 years agoautumn.4
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoDLM2000-GW
8 years ago
ILoveRed
8 years agoDLM2000-GW
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoILoveRed I don't know if that's good news or about your shingles or not but I appreciate knowing yours appear lighter. What brand/color shingles did you go with? Tried searching for pictures but when I search your name nothing comes up - sorry I can't remember which house goes with what screen name.
I haven't shown anything on our house plans yet - been avoiding it because we love it and I'm not sure I want to hear or have thick enough skin for the inevitable :-/ but you've asked before and there's no point in being a wimp, right? You can see from this view in our 3D program that we have a lot of roof. The hipped section is over the front door and will be metal - we hope. We had planned for all metal but backed off due to cost.
Lavender Lass
8 years agoILoveRed
8 years agoDLM..my house is ten yrs old. I've been here on & off for a long time. I built the house with GW help. Doubt there are any pics online at this point. We are selling it and building again. so I'm back again :-) I haven't posted the plan we are likely to build either. Just bits and pieces. I'm not that thick skinned either.
i like your house a lot. Very interesting how you did the shed dormer/lights on the front. Your house looks like my style. Especially like the front porch. Does it have a "friend's entry" on the back? Is that what I'm seeing there? Will that be brick on the bottom? Nice that you can see it in 3-d.
Maybe I will get the nerve to post my plan :-)
I'm hesitant to post pics of my present house. Here's a pic of the back to illustrate the roof thing. Message me if you want a front view. Just had pics taken for listing. South back...do shingles fade?? Thought they were black when I picked them out. Black shutters on front windows. No idea what the shingle is after all this time.
autumn.4
8 years ago
Amber