Yep David and dlynn, I'm looking forward to the cooler weather!! Since it's in the valley, the winters are generally pretty mild though this year was a record breaker for snow. The good thing about being retired and not having kids at home.... we can just watch the snow fall and not be worried about work, school etc!! In Louisiana today it will be 101... 102 tomorrow... and the humidity!!! We just got back from VA and while they thought it was hot it felt like spring to us!! Here's a picture of our new land and the homesite with DH Joe pretending to be a house. our back porch and deck will facing this view. Seems like we're out in the middle of nowhere, but we're a 5 minute drive from the center of town. We just got home from 5 days in VA where we brought up a load of "stuff" and put it in a storage pod. The estimate of 25K (!!!!) o move us to VA (not including our barn and outdoor things) got us so shocked that we decided to start combining our visits with bringing up a load of things in the horse trailer. We had the 3 horse section of the living quarters trailer full with things that we won't need even in a rental... extra garden tools, workshop things, outdoor decorations (birdfeeders/houses etc). It isn't a drop in the bucket, but it's a start! Grace

Oh yes it is stained. We've been in our house for 10 years. The floors are still (or were until I ruined them) beautiful oak, finished on site, stained and polyed with a non gloss finish. Sorry but I hate the shiney floor look. We have lots of pet, furniture and people marks all over but they hardly show. However this giant ugly orange stain from the plant basket...YUK!

Yes, Lucille, I guess it was the culmination of a lot of 'scares" over a relatively short time and longer term over my life! Recently I even had a mason replace the ancient basement windows of my new house with good double pane windows and a week later they all looked like a scene from Arachnophobia - that really freaked me out! Anyway, the box is still in the driveway! I intend to empty it into the trash when the barrel is out on the curb. I have rethought my plan for all the many plants I was planning to dig up and have decided to take only a special few. (in the back of a truck; not in my car!) That'll be enough. It's so hard to explain the indifference I feel, but yes, it's a line crossed that feels permanent......Annie - that sounded major, not minor! Trail, that's exactly what I mean, a major shift in one's life trajectory over a seemingly minor event. You had enjoyed and identified yourself with that career and suddenly, done! Mine being much less significant but still I've always felt myself a gardener. I suddenly don't any longer. Patty - I've seen nursery spiders with babies which is fascinating, but horrifying to me. Arcy-I would like to read about that family! and, yeah, gardening has always been a bit of a challenge for me, but I've managed. Until now. Rhizo, right now I feel too old to want to change or maybe it's about not wanting to put myself through the stress. There has always been tension there; I just don't want to inrease the odds that I'll have to deal with it. I'd be better off living in a condo, but I love land and space around me and my privacy. So given that, I'll have to find a way to limit my exposure. Anyway, thank you all!

As a mom, I understand your wife's feelings. I have two sons ~ 20 & 23. The 23 left at 18 because he didn't like my rules, he came back several times because he couldn't loaf in any one place very long... but when I allowed him to come back, he ALWAYS had conditions! Had to find a job... spend his day looking, not sleeping all day. He had to do chores... more chores if he wasn't working because he had more time. He had to pay $50 a week. and he had to follow our house rules.. no staying up all night watching movies or playing video games, clean up after yourself, and he could only fix himself meals when we were preparing our meals. (He was welcome to eat what we were having but if he didn't like it, he could fix himself something else... but he could only do so when I was making dinner~ not after all the dinner dishes were done & kitchen was clean, because even though he had to clean up after himself, he is not very good at it so we'd end up having to do it over.) Consequently, my son CHOSE to not stay with me very long.. usually a few weeks & he'd find someone's couch. That's why he came back several times. We stuck to our conditions and he kept coming back, hoping we'd let him slide. He eventually joined the military and has matured a lot in the last two years. But, I am also going through it with my 20 year old son... having to stay firm & consistent with the rules. If they don't like it, they are "adult" age and can go do something else. You should not feel like a prisoner in your own home & suspect your wife agrees but it's her son & she doesn't want to turn him away, but maybe is conflicted because she remembers how bad it was when he was there before... I feel for her. Oh yeah, if he is leaving Dad's because he doesn't like the rules or being told what to do, does he think it will be different in your home? I think this is one time you & your wife should get together with Dad & stepmom to have the same rules/expectations in both houses.