Jay, I harvest Choy Sum the same way Chinese Broccoli (Gai Lan or Kai Lan) is harvested. So far I have picked twice from the plant sown on Ang.7 and the little stem for a 3rd picking is already showing. The 1st harvest gives me a beautiful rosette with a center stem surrounded with leaves and maybe a center flower head. The 2nd harvest is exactly the same rosette form and as beautiful and tasty as the 1st. The rosette is very showy in cooking presentation. Choy Sum in Chinese means "Center of the vegetable" and is often eaten in the rosette form so people can enjoy the center (a feast to the eyes and the taste buds). Unlike many leafy vegetables, Choy Sum center flowers taste great and flowering does not change the taste of the leaves. Too bad I didn't take any pictures before eating them. I was told that a Gai Lan plant can keep producing side shoots for up to 3-5 pickings. But the side shoots gets smaller after each time, and finally becomes impractical. I have not noticed significant size changes yet, but will not be surprised if it does get smaller. Come to think of it, maybe it'll be better to grow the regular Choy Sum so the 4th or 5th picking will not be too diminutive?

It is impossible to build a house without any mistakes. Building a house problem-free is an entirely different story. I think that a house can be built for a customer problem-free if that customer is not expecting perfection, is not all that detail-oriented, and is a passive type of personality. There have been many issues during our build that probably 99.9% of the world would have never ever noticed; however, we did notice and we had them changed/fixed. It's all a matter of perspective. As to your issues, I don't think that having two light switches covered during drywall or having to move a few cabinets here and there is at all a big deal. These are very easy fixes! (I'm not completely following your description of the kitchen window issue so I won't comment on that.) And, if four mistakes while building are all you've gone through, seriously...you're getting off easy! The foundation mistake though...that's inexcusable. I would have made them redo the foundation, and I certainly wouldn't have paid them to fix it. You filed your plans with the county right? Did you have to have a stamp to reflect the foundation change? I don't understand why you would be paying out of pocket to FIX labor mistakes. Surely you aren't paying the subs until the work is completed to your satisfaction, and or barring that caveat...at least until the work is done per the plans?!

I've been following this thread with interest because my DH and I have been having the same argument for years. He has the fireplace at the top of his list and I have about 10 projects above it on my list. I love your bricks, but do think they need to be cleaned up at bit (not the moss - love that). If you're going to keep them as they are, I would dig out the edges and lay landscape ties on either side to create a more distinct border. It also helps when gardening by creating a bit of a raised bed (easier to add compost, mulch, etc). Last summer, I did away with our old walkway which looked much like yours except it was ugly interlocking brick with grass growing in it instead of charming moss. I pulled up all the old bricks and laid them on the front boulevard with a for sale sign and they were gone quickly. The base they had been laid on was still in pretty good shape, I just bought bags of quarter down limestone from home depot and spread it over top. I bought new stones using my airmiles points and, voila!, I had a brand new sidewalk. I think the stones and all materials cost about $700 total. My neighbours got the exact same stretch of walkway done professionally and it cost them $2500. It took me about a week and by the end of it, I had the best toned arms (and walkway) on the block. Awm03, I would love to see pics and have details on your fireplace insert.

There are areas around here that are stunningly beautiful and look like a postcard with rolling farm hills and red barns. It's about 10 minutes from where I am. There are also lots and lots of orchards up higher toward the mountains. You can also go way up to Mt Spokane and ski in winter. The town is divided somehow into 4 places. There's West where the AFB is and its mostly plains areas, the South area is up on a rocky hill and it has great views and horrible driving in winter, the North side is more crowded, smaller lots, poorer area unless you get way out North toward Deer Park and its just really really beautiful. Farms everywhere and red barns and rolling hills and roads that wind up into the hills. So way out of town about half an hour after you break traffic it gets really pretty. We live in the Eastern part of town which is called the Valley. It's huge. There is East Valley, West Valley, Central Valley and Greenacres which is where we are. We are 10 minutes or less from Idaho border. This area, this little strip on one side of Appleway (named for the apple orchards) is like in another dimension. It feels like the 1950's, there's lots of people working on older cars, there's horses around behind my house, the lots are huge. I mean really really huge. And they're uneven, so one house might have an entire acre behind it, and the next one further into town might have 2/3 of an acre so it's split up oddly, but the lots are more like acreage. There's no small lots unless you run into those awful communities that so many people love that I can't stand where all the houses look alike, they tell you the color to paint your house, and you have to get permission to plant stuff. Just not my style. There are locked communities just outside town on all 3 sides for people who live in mansions I suppose, just not my style. I've always loved farmhouses, we've rented lots of them, fixed them up, moved into other farm houses, fixed them up, and then I finally got this one one such a nice lot. It's double fenced because of the horses. Horse people do not like your dogs running back and forth along the fence barking when they're working their horses, so we fenced halfway back where the forest of trees are, and shut out the back pasture, which has only 1 tree and its open. That's the one that really needs development with landscaping and it has to fit into this area. So nothing modern, stuff like grapes along the fencing, it's cattle fencing with old posts back there that are likely 100 years old. I'm growing food gardens back there now, but I want a golden curls willow back there, and somehow a Queen Anne Cherry tree starting growing on the North leftside. I consider myself and our family really lucky even though the houses are small. They were mostly built 1920's or after. Ours was the first one, they're all small 2 bedroom 1 bathroom with mother in law setups out back and then pasture land. The taxes are through the roof, it's the black soil, and the schools. It's really high, and its all worth it to me. Plus the whole street is treed out front over the street, so this street itself is just gorgeous. People walk their dogs and sometimes horses down the street. We are indeed lucky. Lots of people have chickens, everyone has dogs, some have up to 5 dogs, cats are everywhere because of the barns, and horses. Also, apparently there are porcupines and skunks. My neighbor said "they really love your jungle over there". funny