Christie, I had my fence rows cleaned last fall and need to spray to keep the hedges and underbrush from growing back. Local co-op recommended a product by the name of PastureGard (Dow Chemical product). I do not need an applicator license to use it and was told that it should do the job that I want. I have not applied it as of this day because I am waiting on some of the stumps to sprout additional leaves. Should be ready in 2 or 3 weeks. Can't tell you how effective it will be but the information I found on-line on PastureGard appears favorable. It is in no way cheap as 1 gallon cost me $52.00. The mixing ratio is shown on the container. Down here all chemicals recently took a huge jump. Gas keeps on getting closer to the $4.00 mark. It just went up today to 3.67 gallon most name brands. Been reading about all the severe weather in your parts. Hope things settle down soon.

Total hijack here, but I lost my electronic car key with house key on it before Christmas. I knew it had fallen out of my pocket at work somewhere between the parking lot and the main doors. We had sooooo much snow this winter, I didn't have a hope of finding it. The school where I teach is in a very bad area of town and I've been worrying all this time that someone would find it and steal the car (and then find our address in the glove box and let themselves in our house). Not to mention the $350 replacement cost of the key. Well, it has finally started to melt here and as we were walking to the car yesterday, my daughter gave a yell, leaned down and picked the keys out of a half melted snow bank - and they still work!!!

Orchid, we've owned many mazdas (we being he and I when was married). Daddy loves them too. Great cars. The current car is a Miata. I have loved that gal to death! It's one of the reasons I haven't let go. I say she's better than therapy. Toss the top down and off we go. Ah. My friend and I fight over whether your hair is supposed to whip wildly in the wind (me!) or you should wear a ball cap (him, in his saab), but whichever you pick, a convertible is just fun. Even being a girly girl, I have no qualms about pulling out the brush at the end of the ride. Lucky I have straight hair, that may help keep it reasonable. chi, I totally agree with you. I think most of us buy a car outside of our financial grasp. My car payment (not gas, insurance, upkeep) was something like $300 a month and that was 23 years ago. Why? I hadn't paid off the Eclipse before trading. I learned the very hard way, car payments are killer. I've told my son, instead, save what you'd pay in payments until you have enough for the car. Why didn't anyone tell me that at 14 years old (or to begin saving at 8 years old)? Maybe I'd never have had car payments, but then again, maybe I would've. He won't. He likes riding the bus. He can read, play games on his tablet, and save his bucks. I'd ride the bus except it's really hard to get errands run without a car. Grocery shopping especially!

Everyone has such a different take on this subject. I'm one of 8 children. When Dad was alive, we'd make an effort to get as many of us as possible together at his house a couple of times a year--he loved this. This would result in multiple cars at his house for a few days--two in the garage, three in the driveway, 2-4 more out on the street in front of his property (he had a double lot, so there was room enough). Some neighbors would comment to us that Dad must be happy we were all visiting. Some neighbors would nervously inquire if Dad was okay--all the cars made them think he must be dying or something. And the guy who parked all his cars in front of Dad's empty lot most days would complain that we were taking up all the street parking. Cars are part of day to day life. It strikes me as odd that seeing a car on a residental street could be seen as wrecking a "view." People have cars; they need a place to park them. If seeing a neighbor's cars really bothers you that much, then probably best you move someplace where that is regulated.