tom8olvr, You were the one who told me it would be OK to start a batch of seeds today (April 13) after I got back from vacation, so according to you, you are not going anywhere in a handbasket. I'm starting Batch 3 today - my cherries and my "wispy" types. And I'm potting up Batch 2 today as well, which are about 2 1/2 weeks old. Batch 1 was started over 4 weeks ago and looking very awesome, but we will see if they get a little too big for their britches by May 16. Overall, my mad science experiment is 9 weeks/7 weeks/5 weeks from plant out, and a few of varieties in the 9 week batch are also in the 7 week batch. GWCW (GardenWeb Conventional Wisdom) says that the 7 week batch will do as well if not better than the same variety in the 9 week batch - I'll start posting pictures soon.

I don't think most contracts spell out who is going to do the inspection - mine never have - so you can have a friend do it if they have expertise in that area. Where the contingency comes into play is when you present the seller with a list of real or imagined deficiencies of the house and say, "Fix this stuff or else I'm not buying this dump." If the seller agrees to everything the buyer wants, then the inspection contingency wouldn't let the buyer off the hook. But every time you go back and forth, if someone says "no," the deal is off. So if the buyer asks for $12,000 in renovations and the seller tries to compromise at $11,500, the buyer can say no and walk. I don't know if the buyer can simply say after the inspection that he/she simply no longer wants the house no matter what the seller does to fix it. Maybe if there's a health or safety issue, or something that just couldn't be fixed.

I’m dealing with the same issue? I have a climber (CanCan variety) and every year it would get bigger and bigger...grew very well..it’s on it’s 4th growing season, and not 1 leaf has sprouted yet?...it’s going along my ugly chain link fence and is now becoming more of an eyesore than the fence at this point! I asked if it looked dead to anyone..and I was told to give it time..and to try and prune some of the damaged canes down until I saw ‘green’ inside...which the entire shrub had green inside (showing it’s not dead) yet still not one leaf...it’s basically June, like ..what’s going on with the climbers?! All my other roses are fully leafed out...these are the only ones. Curious to see if yours ever shows any signs of life soon..

I had to leave for awhile, and when I returned I found another message from the school staff. The school system wants all parents to complete a survey about whether they intend to send their children to school this fall, and if so, whether they intend to have the kids ride the school buses. If their decision is not to have the children attend, the board wants to discuss the decision with them. The message also mentioned the on-line learning option. I think this was in planning stages before the positive covid19 case was identified, but it's nice to know there are options. BTW, I'd heard that the neighboring town's mayor had announced a mask mandate (churches excepted), and my trip today was the first time I've been in the city limits since my father's last cardiologist appointment mid-March. I saw many people outside without masks, some walking together. Some people had masks pulled down, and I watched as one lady pulled up her mask as she entered a convenience store. My doctor told me his opinion is that wearing a mask is much more important than worrying about contact with money, mail, etc., although hand-washing is always important. A mask is required for an appointment, and of course the staff were all wearing masks. He also said that the staff is having a difficult time finding disposable masks, and when they can find them the price is more than double what it was before covid19.