Hi Elder, Yadda was not affected by the hurricanes, but I do not see him so much in the Fig Forum, anymore. He is in the Houston area, as am I. He is even further west of the action than I am. I think it was at a plant swap he was hosting that I heard someone commenting on how odd it is that one had to water their yard while a hurricane was passing by. The last I heard from BigEasyJock, he was rebuilding. I do not think he is the other person you were talking about, though.

Well you guys, luckily the heat has calmed down a bit for a few days. I think we're in the high 90's now. LOL I still gotta get the watering system at least halfway done tho, because our oldest son is moving down to Riverside this weekend and we have to help with the move, along with his girlfriend's parents. We'll be gone 2 1/2 days, and that's too long for the roses to go without water!! I may have to just put some oscillating sprinklers out on the timers and let 'em water all over for one day. Guess that can't hurt too much. Better than letting them dry up. The younger son may be going with us, so there won't be anybody here to water!! Yikes. Michelle and Patricia, do you really think this could be TOC? I tried to get it several times the last few yrs and it always either died or was one of those mismarked bagged bareroots that ended up being something else. Maybe one of the "other" roses ended up being TOC!! I always thought it had more pink than this tho. I guess I should check and see how much powdery mildew it gets, because I understand TOC is highly prone to it! (And I don't spray) BOBBIE DARLENE is really pretty Patricia. Sorry if I don't answer you all by name, but do know I appreciate all the warm and wonderful comments from you all! It's so nice to be missed. You guys are all great!

Thanks for all the comments, all. I did think about sliders on the back. I was actually tending that way. I'll think about it more but the feeling was that it wasn't in the period/style. I'm not a complete fanatic about style but that was were I ended for now. The laundry is structured as cabinets with a countertop. That's high (can't remember 40"-ish?) Someone posted something similar here a while ago. There is no place for a laundry basket in that space. I keep it in the closet. The cottage is being flipped to have the entrance in the back. It has a nice yard behind it and that will become the entrance. The current entrance is in the front but that is space between the house and the cottage and that's being dedicated to the house. The neighbor has the same house/cottage and that's what they've done. Works well. Yeah, the cottage doesn't have an obvious place to throw stuff. But, then, it doesn't have that now. I'd think that'd be done with furnishings ... that's what I've done in the house, up to now. For all the comments on the piano: it's there now (and got in there with the existing small entrance from the hall to the living room ... piano movers can work seeming miracles.) The cutout in the drawing might be a little out of proportion: the piano's a tad under 6'. It's roughly in that spot right now. There's really no option to replace. I know it takes room but it's a lifestyle choice. I love my piano (a 1906 Steinway ... made it through the earthquake and all.) As to U-ing the kitchen, talking to a bunch of people, some wanted a U, some didn't like it taking up that much of the living area. I'm in the later camp. I figure to make the space flexible, I leave it open and then consider non-permanent furnishings/cabinetry to shift to personal preference. I'll make note of the outlet issue. Hate cords. Thanks! It may be more expensive to remodel the cottage but a tear-down is not a possibility for zoning reasons: the cottage is non-conforming but grandfathered in. If I tear it down, I can't rebuild it. That said, not sure what qualifies as remodeling. People always talk about keeping a single wall and that qualifying as a remodel not a rebuild. I'll have to talk to the contractor about that. In any case, the external walls can't move: I've verified that with the planning department. Anything like that first requires becoming conforming to concurrent zoning, i.e., remove the cottage permanently, which is a non-starter. (For what it's worth, I like that constraint. It's hard to find cute little structures in this neighborhood. Mostly things get scraped and maximum-floor-area structures built. I like keeping my cute little spaces. I'm more of the "not so big house" kind of person anyway. And this area desperately needs places for singles/smaller families.) The thing about the bath in the cottage is I can't do a thing with it with permits w/o moving walls. We've tried. There's no way to move anything in that space and meet code. That's what triggered considering bigger changes. I did a bunch of layouts keeping the kitchen where it was and shifting things a bit. There's no way to do anything minor to the kitchen, either, and bring it up to code. It'll require moving walls though that doesn't require moving the kitchen. But the cottage is desperately short of closet and storage space. The living room is big for the size of the cottage and it shows: there's all sorts of stuff crammed in there. I really like the idea of making some out-of-sight storage area, thus the closet. It takes from living room (in the end) but it seems like a reasonable tradeoff? And the walk-in give space for a stacking W/D. (I can't imagine living w/o a W/D at this point.) It's not a huge amount of closet space but it's way more storage than the cottage has right now. Mostly the walls haven't changed in the house, just openings made larger. The exception is taking space in the guest bedroom and putting it into a bench/storage/clothes hooks in the hall. Windows did get moved which does mean reframing, etc. The windows need to be replaced anyway and moving the windows doesn't change the floor area so doesn't trigger the zoning issue. I need to get a read from the contractor on the window movement. Beyond the price of the windows themselves, the siding is painted redwood tongue and groove so not sure what it's going to take when windows move. There's not a huge amount of storage in the kitchen but far more than there is now. I haven't figured out how to make more ... Hmmm ... my current LG is washer left/dryer right (though they're stacked.) but I haven't decided if I'm keeping those or replacing them anyway. Whatever gets chosen, the doors need to swing correctly so we'll make the venting match. I'm a little concerned about maintenance on the W/D in that tight space. The house will be switched to a tankless water heater on the outside, near the W/D. Furnace goes in the attic. So nobody likes the twin closets. Definitely got that. (And it's cheaper.) Thanks! Holly, when you said "change the access doors", what did you mean? Make the doorways larger? Pocket them? Thanks all!

Maybe they realized after they had eaten and felt better that what they did was rude, so they came back to try to be polite and make amends? It sounds like they were fine after they returned and sent a thank you note, which I find to be pretty rare these days. I still think the dinner invitation was a lighthearted attempt to assure the hostess that her food quality wasn't why they left. I guess I have a higher tolerance for people making etiquette mistakes than most people here. I always assume there's something going on that I'm not privy to and give them the benefit of the doubt. I'm socially awkward myself and I'm sure I've stuck my foot in my mouth a few times without intending to offend anyone.