Hello everyone -- Thanks for taking the time to respond to my question. I appreciate all of your perspectives and suggestions. Let me clarify a couple of points. FYI (and perhaps your comic enjoyment), our subdivision is in high desert country, where we enjoy an average of 300 sun-days but only about 13 inches of rain per year. The lower level building lots have few trees and only minimal ground cover (desert grasses, cats claw, weeds and the like) -- the lots higher in the subdivision have considerable growth of good sized juniper trees, scrub oak and pine. The two lots in question (about 2 acres each) are half way up the mountain -- the higher lot has 8 or 9 trees, the lower lot just one big one. The point being, the owners of the lower lot could have purchase a building site (assuming they were willing and able to pay more money for it) that affords a good amount of natural screening. Instead, they bought a lot that has virtually none. With the Committee's approval, the owners of the lower lot have now installed grass sod on a large portion of their lot, which they are watering with large golf course-like Rainbird sprinklers(and are evidently willing to pay the water bill) to keep the grass alive for their kids and dogs to enjoy. (See, our Committee is not totally adverse to family living.) In contrast, all neighboring lot owners who have built or are in the process are landscaping with crushed rock and low-water consumption plants fed by drip sprinklers. The BB equipment issue is a precursor of things to come, since the owners of the lower lot have informed our Committee that they also intend to apply for permission to install an outdoor jungle gym for their kids (the one they brought with them from their prior home, which they now have disposed of but intend to replace with new equipment, was around 10 feet tall and quite massive -- something you'll not easily miss sitting on the highest part of their grass lawn in front of their house (where they want to install it) as you drive up and down the main road of the subdivision. The large hedge that they plan to plant as depicted in their proposed landscape plan may some day screen the jungle gym (I figure just about the time the kids are ready for junior high school). As to rolling the BB equipment into position when the kids or dad want to shoot some hoops, the equipment does have wheels and is intended to be mobile -- however, setting it up involves adding about 500 pounds of water to the base, which renders the BB hoop tough to move around -- and, of course, you wouldn't want to be wasting a lot of water by filling and emptying the stand every time you want to use it (my editorial comment). The owners of the lower lot also resisted a suggestion to mount the BB hoop on the roof above one of their three garage doors, which would make it much less conspicuous. The expressed concern is that the garage door and stucco siding of the home would take a beating as the kids learn how to play BB and sharpen their skills. Finally, in defense of my "garbage can" comment, actually, our trash containers are not all that bad looking, particularly when stacked neatly against the side of a home or garage. Depending on which service you use, they are either blue or green in color. And, they're also mobile, nicely equipped with large rubber wheels to accommodate the trek down our long driveways on Wednesday morning and back in the evening. For me, it's a toss up -- garbage containers -- BB hoops sitting 10' in the air -- jungle gym's that tower skyward on treeless lots -- mechanical equipment (air conditioners, and the like), RV equipment (tents, trailers and the like), etc. Our CC&Rs provide that our Committee can require they be screened from view. My question is simply, does that mean now or sometime in the future? Thanks again. You've all been great. Peter

Hi B2, LOL! Big Box Store: "A large retail store whose physical layout resembles a large square of box when seen from above. A big box store is characterized by a large amount of floor space, a wide array of items available for sale, and its location in suburban areas. Big box stores often can offer lower prices because they buy products in high volume. Also called supercenter, superstore, megacenter." Therefore: Lowe's, Home Depot, Walmart, Target, etc. I think of them as the "cheap stores," tho some of them are definitely cheaper than others! I don't have time for the long answer, but Hyponex is mostly Colorado "sedge peat," which is basically SLUDGE! Next time you're in a Walmart, go to the "garden" section and lift one of the bags of Hyponex! It's like lifting a bag of lead! (Compared to any other brand of soil mix you'd use for potted plants.) Plants don't grow very well in MUCK, so plants don't grow very well in Hyponex. (In my opinion, plants don't grow AT ALL in Hyponex.) The baled stuff is Canadian sphagnum peat, which is what you want. If you ever get peat in a bag, be sure that's what it is, but it's much cheaper in the bales (used to come in 3 sizes)---and you can keep it "forever" if you don't use it all right away! (It's already a few thousand years old!) That's why I always specify Canadian when I'm talking about peat! It's a completely different animal from Colorado Muck---I mean "peat!" Don't feel ignorant about asking things! The only way to learn something is to ask about it! My Mantra around here: The only dumb question is the one you don't ask! :-) [Now that's assuming you don't ask the SAME question over and over and over.......] You're really not that far from Timberline. If you consider buying a bulk soil, run over there some day and ask to see their soil mixes. They show a "Planter's Mix" for $29.50 a yard. If you go, ask if Kelly is there, and if he is tell him what you're using it for and see if he thinks that would be a good choice. [Tell him Dee sent you!] If he tells you to get the "EKO Planter's Mix," tell him that's too expensive, and you're gonna add your own peat---'cause I said so!!! (And tell him I said Hi!) If you decide to get it in bags, I still think you should wait till Walmart gets their stuff in, then pick up one bag of each of the 2 or 3 cheapest things they have, take them home to check them out, and then go back to get a bunch more of whichever looks the best to you. (Take it home to check it out because you want to moisten it to see what it's gonna be like when you're actually growing in it!) It's been a few years now, but the last time I checked baled peat prices, it was cheaper at HD or Lowe's, so, since they carry the same sizes, compare prices on that one. Walmart was NOT the cheapest! One other quick thing before I go! Gardening is supposed to be fun--the thing you do to Relax and Get Away From it All! (Yeah! I know it's work!) So don't take it too seriously! There is no definitive Right or Wrong! Try something, and if it works, it's RIGHT! Everybody does it differently, so figure out what's right and what works for you, and, while you're doing that, relax and enjoy it. If something doesn't turn out well, laugh, and try again! We'll all help you with the laughing part! You get to do the working part yourself!!! '-) Gotta go! Was just checking back in before x'ing out of cyberspace for the nite! Skybird Here is a link that might be useful: Timberline Gardens

We just upgraded the slide within the last 3 weeks and the drawing was done in Aug. so it is not correct. The fire pit is not on the drawing either. The drawing was done for the 15' 5" slide. We are not sure exactly how the patio will be laid out yet either but we were quoted for 1300sq ft. They told me they would lay it out well in advance so I can move it if I would like more or less in a certain area. As for the other questions I am not 100% sure. We told him we wanted the maximum amount of jets that we can have on that pump and still get max. pressure. There are pipes sticking out of the back of the spa with a separate valve, if that answers your question. I will have to get a pic of the back of the spa and post it. They have 2 valves under pressure at this time. One is out of the spa and one out of the deep end. The pad has not been laid yet and trenches have not yet been dug so I don't know about the line. They are planning to come out tomorrow to begin grading the dirt. We had 3+'" of rain here last week and it is still really wet. I have a shed that I bought that they need to place. All the eqip. will go behind the shed. My husbands biggest pet peeve is being able to see the eqip. in plain view. Before I added the fire pit and larger slide he was telling me they had about 14 days of physical labor left, not counting permit checks. I was hoping to have it done by April 15th but between rain and other factors I don't see that happening. I really need time to get out and landscape before the pool party season begins. We have a grass service so we don't want any grass inside the fenced in area. We have a lot of work to do. I was so happy with the spa stone. I was shocked when the were using individual stones. I assumed it would be stone veneer. The fire pit will have the same stone. As you can see they ran out of coping for around the spa but they will be back to do the fire pit coping so they will finish then.

I removed one from my first house. The steel pole was filled with concrete. Not having any decent tools at the time, I used a cold chisel, a hammer, and about an hour to liberate sufficient steel from the concrete inside to separate the thing into two pieces. At first I figured I'd break up and take away the concrete base - until I found out how big the ball of concrete was. I dug the hole it come out of about a foot deeper and rolled the ball in. The 10 feet of concrete filled steel pole then took it's place as a half-buried garden border in an out of the way location in the back yard.