Darla, I have no idea where he came from. We have had a lot of rain so maybe he washed in or maybe he was someones pet. I really don't know. He is a lot of fun to watch. Moonie, no dead fish yet. I am keeping my fingers crossed. As I said earlier, he really doesn't seem that interested in the fish. Kalypsogirl, your above ground pond is very pretty. I don't know if this turtle will stay or not. He may decide to move on. Computerklutz, I can just see you chasing that turtle around your pool. The one in my pond ducks out of sight as soon as I get too close! flgargoyle, I am sorry about your waterlilies. My next door neighbor tried to get some lilies started in her pond, and her turtle continually ate them. growingup, I am hoping my turtle will make friends with the little fishies, too. I saw him sunning on a rock by my pool today. I have several flat rocks around the perimeter of my pond. Thank you all for your turtle experiences that you shared with me. I will just wait and see. Vicki

CE - just found your note and wanted to follow up. At the GC's suggestion, we waited until they were ready for the final coat. They came and did the one room that was separate from the rest of the house. After 3 days of curing, I went in to wipe it down (with a wet cloth), to verify it looked ok. It was a nightmare - not only had pieces of lint and dust gotten into the finish, but they also managed to seal over areas where the painters had managed to drip paint on the 2nd coat - it wasn't a lot of paint, but small drips and smudges permanently sealed under the poly. And they were scheduled to come the next day to do the rest of the 1st floor. I sent pictures to the GC and told him that either the painters or the floor guy needed to verify that all the paint was gone from the rest of the floors before putting down the 3rd coat in the rest of the house and that we needed to meet to discuss what to do about all of the paint, hair, lint, etc. that was already sealed in the poly. I then spent the rest of the night, washing the entire 1st floor on my hands and knees, marking all of the paint, dust, hair, etc. in both parts of the house. The next day the painters came and cleaned all of the paint that was on floors that didn't have the 3rd coat applied. The floor guys came and scrapped by hand all of the places where they had sealed in the paint and where lint and dust landed on the floors. the day after that they came and redid the separate room and the rest of the house. After all of that, there were still a few places with paint in the original room that they had missed. They used a special lacquer pen of some sort to mark over the few spots and you can't tell there's paint under the poly. The floors finally look great, but, I firmly believe only because I spent the time on my hands and knees marking every spot. The floor guys blamed the painters for being so sloppy and the GC for removing the paper covering too soon (before the painters were completely finished, as they had to return about 16 times before we would sign off on their work - lint in the paint (I think they quit cleaning their brushes at some point), areas where they didn't prime the wood before it was installed, so they just painted it, and it raised the grain, so they had to go back and sand then repaint), areas where the switch/outlet covers weren't flush with walls (painters were responsible for finishing the drywall) - and when they did things like just try to fill in around plate covers without removing the covers, we removed the covers and had them do it again. A lot of work on our part, but it seemed to be the only way to get them to do the work correctly. And the GC just left it up to us to identify anything we didn't like. I did get tired have having them come back again and again, but I also knew that if they didn't fix it, I was going to be the one who was going to fix it, because I certainly wasn't going to live with having to look at all of the flaws in their work. After a very long 9 months, we're very nearly finished with the project. Whew...

No problem. As for the staining, there is a product called Kilz, it's a primer and stain-stopper. If you just paint over the stain it'll come through again so treat it with Kilz first, a couple of coats, then paint over it. If it's a non-painted coating on the ceiling you will probably have to paint the whole hallway so it doesn't look odd but the other rooms should be ok if the colour difference isn't too noticeable. An airless sprayer is your best bet for painting the ceiling if the coating is too delicate for a roller. Over the crack itself I'd use fibreglass tape then mud it. If there is mould up there, you'll want to remove all affected insulation and spray the affected areas with a mould treatment. At least we know what it is now, and it's not structural. When I bought my house we had a mystery ceiling stain but the valley on the roof was quite obviously done for, as the previous owner had attempted a repair. We replaced the roof a year or so ago. You should be ok just replacing the boot, or caulking it. In the meantime tape over the joint might even suffice if you can get up there.

Okay, off topic, Sally, please, please do a new post, for your reveal. I do enjoy all the white kitchens but for many reasons did not do one myself; we non-Somethin's Gotta Give remodelers need more inspiration photos! Was that Costa by the way? It's gorgeous! On topic: When one measurement changed, I did not think through how that impacted the rest of the plan. Despite research on the web and the store, when I received my microwave trim kit, the cabinet needed to get deeper than planned. I figured out pretty last minute that we now had a tiny unacceptable walkway and we moved the fridge over. We were so busy congratulating ourselves on our narrow escape, but the ride wasn't over. I didn't think about the 3 upper spacious cupboards that would now be microscopic when installed. The cabinet maker cut me a pretty good deal to redo that set with fewer but bigger doors. He definitely went above and beyond, and given what everyone else has posted about contractors, I am so very grateful that it got corrected as it did. Another one I did not think about soon enough was making a Ceiling and Texturing Plan. This is not the same as a Lighting plan, although lighting obviously figures into the equation. We did parts (not all) of this project DIY. We hadn't realized some areas that we needed to mud better because they would not be covered by tile or cabinet (ie above the window) and he had to add some hot mud last minute. Given the contractor we got (a personal rec), that was only a small upcharge. Also, be aware that once your texturing is underway, the room is sealed off. You can't supervise unless you are sealed in too. I would send in a big map or go over it with blue tape that you remind him to pull off before he starts that area. Like another poster, I also did not figure out that I wanted my ceiling light hung from a different position. I will not retexture, my husband is adamant that I find a table fixture that can be hung to correct position by a chain and a hook. It is what it is. The height and exact placement of the hood was not ideal. I was adamant that it be within the manufacturer's specs so that it worked properly. However, there were several inches of leeway within those guidelines. Have everyone pretend to be cooking and see what they think. It should have been higher to avoid my husband bumping his head. He is learning. But that was definitely a mistake.