Any progress on this issue? Do not add any soil to you property until you have a full drainage plan! ÃÂ Getting an engineer involved is advisable, but expensive, I know, I am one. :-) ÃÂ Consider these issues: 1. Drainage should take water away from the house, as quickly as possible, w/o flooding or causing erosion to you or others. Water near the house can cause many problems: ÃÂ movement near the foundation can move soil, which could cause the house to move. More immediately is the dry rot the moisture will cause to the wood of the house. Mold can form ÃÂ Maintaining any vegetation is a problem. Mosquitos will love it.ÃÂ 2. Adding fill material improperly could make matters worse.ÃÂ 3. Water always flows downhill. So, where is the water going. Try to follow it. The best way is to get the elevations of your property surveyed. I love the ability of a contour map to communicate slope of the ground. And water will follow the slope.ÃÂ 4. Decide on the outlets for water from your property. ÃÂ Drain water to the street, if possible. ÃÂ If not, build dry wells, but check percolation rates carefully. ÃÂ Be very careful about draining water on to neighboring property.ÃÂ 5. Find the sources of the water.ÃÂ 6. ÃÂ Create drain paths from (or near) sources to the outlets: There are several options to do this: (a) ditch, which needs a slope of at least 1%, 3 % is recommended; (b) Underground drain, such as a French Drain, which needs no slope, or a mini-storm drain pipe, which only it needs at least 0.1% slope, or combine French Drain and pipe; (c) pressure pipe,collect the water at a central spot and then pump the water. There are a lot of pages about all of these issues on the Web. This can be a big job.ÃÂ Good luck!

I'd heard about grapes being bad for dogs, but just recently learned that onions and garlic seriously impair blood clotting...every dog i've ever had would pick the onions out of whatever, but they all ate a lotta garlic! Got over my February hump, i survived the Make-A-Wish trip to Florida...all in all, it went waaaay better than i would have imagined, the two handicapped kids had a pretty good time and didn't get sick, though the 18-year-old autistic girl went major manic on us the last few days...challenging to say the least. The other 5 siblings (all foster or adopted) in the family did great, too, i was really proud of how helpful they were, even without being asked. Wish they were more like that at home! I managed to avoid all "attractions", and even got to go to Tampa on my day off to visit an old friend...saw the sunset at St Pete, drinking Margaritas and watching the dolphins jump...went gator hunting at some state parks(didn't see any) and shopping (came home with a case each of ornges and grapefruit and three flats of strawberries), hung out with my 'neice and nephew', bought baby stuff for my soon-to-be 'great-niece'. Liz and Robert came and rescued me Friday night, we went out for Chinese. Sorry, no pics, but they're more adorable than ever(in fact, we were all just freakin gorgeous) ....doing well, and still in love...sigh... Got home Sunday, got a new dog Monday, another big hump for me...a year old Lab/Fox terrier mix named Quinn, he'd had a kinda rough life of late, but he's settling in really well. I didn't want to take him so soon, but the folks were threatening to take him to the pound...kinda wish i'd let them, i'm coulda picked him up there for $150, up to date on vet care, instead, by next Monday, i'll have laid out over $400 in vet bills for vaccs, parasite checks, heartworm/flea/tick meds and neutering...yeeesh. After Monday, the biggest thing on my calendar is "Start Peppers" on March 1st...;~) My 11 hens are giving me 6 to 9 eggs a day, so my next weekend off is Chicken Noodle Soup Day at Thistledew Dun...carbs be damned! Winter's last hurrah, i'm just hoping for a nice thaw in early March to get my big ol' coldframe put together...dying to finally have some fresh green stuff.

I usually only give it to people who see it and ask for it. We have it near our mailbox, and a series of mail carriers over the years have all asked to have some. I will warn them in the future that it spreads well when it doesn't have serious competition. In my yard things like this and Bishop's weed (which I know others also warn people about) get crowded out by the other plants in my yard. :-)

Yes it is a fairly standard practice. It doesn't usually lead to anything, except for those sitting on the fence, as mentioned, or cases like my neighbours. They were recent empty nesters, but not yet planning to downsize. But they called back the realtor, 'just to see what it was all about.' Not having kept up with the current market, our neighbours (who have a larger property) were shocked that the realtor's comps indicated their house could sell for at least a half million more than they expected. Since they hadn't planned to move for several years, they said they'd only be willing to list their house for 30 days to see if his assumptions were accurate. On the eighth day their house was listed, he brought them an offer that was $615,000 more than what they had assumed their house was worth. They sold, and moved to condo a few years earlier than planned, but are really happy with their decision. We are also empty nesters, planning to move within a few years. But having kept up with the real estate market, there would be no big 'surprises' for us, so the same scenario would just have me tossing the card.