Braydyray: You are a generous person with a very selfish 'friend'. I do understand people who don't want to toil forever in their yards. I am one of them. I hate pulling weeds. So I paid my neighbors grandson to spend a few hours pulling them this past week. Best $25 I've spent this summer. The point is, I PAID someone to do this. I would never let a friend come to help me out and watch them slave while I did nothing. Dinner, flowers, some token of gratitude should have been shown to you. One of my neighbors cut back a few of my bushes (she knows where to cut them back, I just hack away), for me while I was gone for a weekend. Upon my return, I saw the work she had done. I asked her to let me pay her (she does not have any money). She refused; so I bought her a gift certificate for a pedicure. She's a runner, and loves pedicures after running 5 miles a day. It was a gesture to say 'thanks for what you do for me'. Your friend places no value on what you do. This is NOT a friend, as I am sure you know by now. Wish you were my neighbor, though!

Just about the only thing that makes that happen is a very good and recent sale in the "neighborhood" of a house comparable to the one being appraised. Sometimes you'll have a buyer come in with cash (as from an inheritance or divorce settlement) who doesn't bother to get an appraisal. That sale can set a new high---although it is usually used as a fourth comparable since that doesn't represent the "typical" buyer. Strictly defined, a "neighborhood" is the either in the same subdivision or within one mile of the subject. Ideally the sale should have occurred within the previous six months. However, in rapidly changing market conditions some lenders ask for comps within three months. There are all kinds of exceptions to this guidline; for example, when you are in a subdivision that covers several miles and the only comps are within the s/d but beyond a mile. And a comp in the same s/d is better even if it is a mile or two away than a house just outside the s/d boundaries that is only a half-mile away. Things like s/d amenities that would attach to the subject but not the comp "outside the gates" so to speak, even if those gates are only metaphorical. When you have semi-rural properties or areas with no subdivisions it is permissible to go further away and farther back in time for comparable sales. It's very possible that someone bought a house a few miles from you that was in some way very like your house---and bought it within a few months of your own purchase. It's all about group behavior and not individual actions... you look at trends in sales and what other people have bought recently in the same area, try to find sales that match your subject best. When you have no subdivision, or you're in a rural area or dealing with unique properties, often the most difficult task is to identify the most important feature of a home---the number of bedrooms? the tennis court? the five-car garage? the finished basement media room? That's why Realtors are such wonderful resources for appraisers---if they will use their knowledge. They know what is selling houses in their area. Sometimes it is a school district---I've seen people pay $300K for a two-two in a highly desirable elementary school district. That's what makes the business interesting, there is something different with every assignment.

stxmona Tue, Jan 11, 05 at 7:41 Okay all you vertical glass on glass people - I need help. Last night I decided to grout a couple of bottles that I used Weldbond to prime, Weldbond to glue the glass on and have been sitting for a month. Mix up my grout to about the consistancy of soft cookie dough. Used my hands to apply it to the bottles. This is when the disaster starts...when I began gently rubbing the grout into the grout lines...some of my glass started coming off..okay a few pieces I can fix that. But as I went along more and more came off. Finally I gave up and put the pieces in a bucket of water. HELP - what did I do wrong???? I have NOT grouted anything vertical before. Was my grout to wet? Am I not suppose to rub into the grout line areas? I NEED YOUR ADVICE - I have to grout the fish vase this weekend and am now frighten that the same thing will happen!!! Bianchi2 Tue, Jan 11, 05 at 10:05 klinger Tue, Jan 11, 05 at 11:04 I have used wellbond and silicone for glass on glass. I really prefer the silicone, I am determined to use up the large container of well bond I bought though. I find it needs to sit or a good several weeks before grouting. I have never had any pieces come off when grouting though. It makes me think it hadent cured long enough, and maybe the grout was perhaps too thick. I think soft cookie dough describes a good grout inconsistency though. Is the well bond still showing white at all? If so it isnt dry yet.On smaller pieces I have put them in the oven with just the light on over night, or even with a low temp setting to help this stuff dry. My last large glass on glass window will likely sit for a couple weks before I try to grout it, it is too large for my oven.Cindy RE: Vertical grouting disaster!-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- misacreations Tue, Jan 11, 05 at 18:44 stxmona, I feel for you..that happened to me twice. The first time the piece wasn't glued properly, it was barely holding on. When it happened again I figured out that I was being too aggressive while grouting. I would wipe too hard to get the grout off and my sponge had too much water in it after I rinsed it out. Now, I used a plastic knife and put the grout on like I'm icing a cake. Next, I use a sponge and press the grout into the cracks, gently. I wait a few minutes and then start wiping away the grout. I grout the same or next day I finish a piece, so it doesn't have to be completely dry. I hope this helps you. misacreations Tue, Jan 11, 05 at 19:10 I use Weldbond because I have youngens and I'm pregnant. I'm probably going to try silicone after I have this baby. by: annsb (My Page) on Wed, Jan 12, 05 at 10:35 So from this discussion it seems that for vertical grouting then silicone is the suggested product although Misa has had no problems with weldbond so far! I take it then that if you can lay the piece flat when glueing and grouting then weldbond isn't as much an issue. But silicone might still be a good choice. How do you make sure that no grout gets underneath the glass tiles? And does it matter if a little of the adhesive squirts into the grout space? stxmona Wed, Jan 12, 05 at 10:46 Please ask questions ...it helps everyone!! Haven't had an issue with grout under glass pieces...didn't think it mattered if there is glue in the grout line as long as it is not a large clump....so I can't wait to see how everyone else answers that one!! I have had my vase (to large for oven) on the tiled porch in the direct sun for the last couple of days. I primed with full strength Weldbond (maybe my mistake). Will grout this Saturday so I can work calmly and wholely on it all day if need be...wish me luck!! stxmona Fri, Jan 14, 05 at 11:32 Thought you all would like to see Dawnmarie's reply to my email. Hi Mona, So sorry it took me a few days to get back to you. We are really busy trying to get the SAMA Conference ready to go in D.C. in March and things have been crazy! I am so sorry you had such a disaster with your project. If tiles were "falling off" I suspect is was a combination of two things. Not enough glue AND too much water used during grouting. It might be hard to tell from the glass diary photos on my site but I use ALOT of glue. There is that one picture where it is ooozing up to the surface of the glass tile. Back off just a bit from there and that is how much I use. The glue is usually 1/2 - 3/4 of the way up the side of the piece of glass. Waiting till it was clear was great but if there wasn't enough there to start, you can easily pop tiles off. You also mentioned your grout was soft cookie dough consistency. When using a glass base for a mosaic, you want to back the water down a bit when mixing grout. Soft Cookie dough is great for a terra cotta base, or even sealed marine plywood or cement fiberboard, but for a glass base that will not absorb any of the grout's moisture, you want to go more for Bisquick drop biscuit dough, wet but stiff, almost crumbly. I also do not use wet sponges during the cleaning phase of these glass based pieces. After the initial rubbing of grout, I let it sit for 10 - 20 minutes depending on the temp. in my studio. Then, I mist the piece with a spray bottle and wipe with dry paper towels. Let is sit for another 10-20 minutes and repeat until it is clean. It is on this second wiping, that I dip a gloved finger in a cup of water and smooth the top and bottom edges and leave them undisturbed until the final cleaning. With all the time we spend on a mosaic project, I completely understand how frustrating it is when things go wrong. Weldbond is certainly not the perfect product for every project or every artist. We all have several variables in our own work environments, work styles, materials, etc. that make the task of finding out what works best for the individual artist to complete their vision, the most challenging aspect of the work. For me, it is also the most fun! Best of luck with all your future projects! Feel free to share this with the nice folks on the Gardenweb forum. They have all been very kind to me, I appreciate it! Regards, Dawnmarie Zimmerman What a gracious lady for helping me!!! Below is the link...I did use her method closely for the fish vase.

Melissa, I totally agree that if we want to encourage community responses to the hardships that will result from climate change, we can't call it climate change. I am an optimist but I'm cynical enough to predict that when food prices rise or access to services is unavailable or too expensive, the blame will be attributed to business or other more short-term effects. I'm afraid that when food costs rise, the ones that will feel the brunt of the pain will be the farmers and the distributors and other processors in the middle will still get their cuts. I don't think we appreciate farmers and their workers enough since we don't usually directly see their contributions to the food on our table. Summers, I agree that we need to be very cautious about building on flood plains but for most of Nebraska there simply aren't flood plains. We're a pretty arid state, particularly when you get out to the rural west and north parts of the state that are the worst affected. There are only three substantial rivers in the whole state, and the Missouri only skirts the right side of the state without much contribution to this flooding. The Platte is more often dry than flooded even in an above average rainfall year, and the Niobrara hasn't flooded in the 30 years or so I've lived here. I grew up in Michigan and spent 10 years in Wisconsin where there's natural water nearly everywhere, and it has been a real culture shock to move to a place where natural water is almost nowhere. A vast majority of the lakes in the state (and there aren't many) are created lakes, and they're too small for boating except for one lake in the far west. What created this flooding was record amounts of snow this winter that lasted till early March, then a rapid warm up that had it melting within a week and there simply wasn't anywhere for that much water to go. Rae, that's a good question about which agencies are better at getting aid to the affected communities. Most of the local aid that I've heard of has come through churches and food banks that ferry the supplies up to the communities. A lot of the aid is also needed in labor to clean up affected communities, so that is also regional individuals driving up to help out. Our regional chain of HyVee grocery stores has been collecting money to send to communities, and I've been donating food and supplies and money through our church and the Lincoln Food Bank. Thanks for all your good wishes and prayers. Cynthia