We moved to a house in the country on 7.5 acres in December. We immediately saw (& heard) 4 wheeler tracks through the woods & suspected our neighbor's kids. We put up several no tresspassing signs & piled some brush on the heavily travelled routes & thought that would take care of it. Yesterday I was home & heard them in the woods very close to the house. I went outside & as soon as they saw me, they'd zoomed off. They'd also moved some of the barricades & signs. I called over there - kid answers & demands to know who it is - I say "Your neighbor" & he puts on his older brother who does a very poor impression of his father. Laughable, really - but annoying still. I go through my spiel to let him know he was busted & he says "I'll talk to the boys" --- haha --- and I mention that my husband & I will drop by later to talk to him & his wife about it. About 15 minutes later we go over there. Mom answers door (we've not met her yet) - he's fessed up to her but very argumentative to us, she's not too friendly even though we explain it's a liability issue - our land is rough & we have a pond that we don't want anyone near, etc. Her comments "it's spring break, they're bored", "we're gonna have this problem with lots of kids" (not true), "they were here first, before there were any other houses" etc. She did shoot him a dirty look when I asked who I just spoke with on the phone since his daddy was not home. Busted again. I'm hoping this does not become a big issue with them. I like having good relationships with neighbors - we're pretty good ones ourselves. It just seems like a common courtesy to me - not to mention that we posted legal signs. We're planning on fencing the property eventually - but were getting settled in first & it wasn't top priority. I guess now it will be sooner than later.

I wish we could do seed. It just isn't possible with the grass we selected. Also, the grass has to be complete when we move in. From the UF Extension: With one exception (not Empire Zoysia), zoysiagrasses must be planted vegetatively by sod, plugs, or sprigs. I may request smaller plants on the inner courtyard, as that will be hidden mostly by the front gate & wall of podocarpus. That is a good idea. The landscape budget was set by one of the landscape subs, so i don't think it is out of line to want to stay in budget. I also just think the 2nd sub was trying to rip us a new one with the sod, so I am hesitant to trust them. Our GC really doesn't want us to DIY anything. He offers basically a lifetime warranty on the home (his quality of workmanship, not the obvious like normal wear & tear), & he wants all work done by his subs so he can guarantee his work. I definitely am capable of doing the shrub plantings, if I could get him to agree to it. My brother is a small builder in another part of the state. He said in our price-range, most people get ripped off because the subs get away with overcharging, the GCs tolerate it, & the homeowners don't always do their homework. I have reached out to a third landscaper for a quote. If she comes back high, then we will cross that bridge. This post was edited by wishiwasinoz on Wed, Oct 23, 13 at 10:42

Thanks for the plug Scott.... Eric there are many of my happy customers on this forum and I build a good number of pools in your area... names you would know. I'd rather not get into an A&S discussion... lion1143 if you had a good experience and you think you have a good product in your yard I applaud you... you are truly luckier than most...For the most part their subs are running for cover or attorney's ( read between the lines) Fronhieser because of the down economy decided to get into the concrete market this year... last I knew they have built under 10 concrete pools... I wouldn't feel comfortable having them practice in my yard.... when the vinyl market comes back will they stay with concrete....??? your guess is as good as mine... your welcome to contact me directly at spayne@bluehavenpoolsne.com Thanks

Tornado, you might find this interesting: http://ecowatch.com/2015/04/21/california-drought-colorado-river/ I've actually been thinking about this and googling for the past 15 minutes...I really ought not to spend time of this, given I have other things to do. It will never fly in California, but I had a crazy moment of thinking "WWCD". NO, not what would California do, we already know too little too late - what would China do! We just don't think big enough in this country! What about damming the ENTIRE Central Valley! Sure you might have to relocate some rare California Delta Snail to another area...as well as the entire city of Sacramento, but think of the benefits. All that rain that is lost in the wet years by flowing out to the ocean could be saved! You'd have the biggest artificial lake in the world, and agriculture could continue along its shores. Which generally happens now anyhow with certain crops, they typically grow things like oranges on the ridges anyhow, because they avoid inversion freezes that way. It would take a few years to fill of course, during which time we'd all have to buy our broccoli grown elsewhere. Lake Volta in Africa is 3200 sq. miles and is the largest reservoir in the world; the Central Valley's land area is listed as 22,000 sq. miles but of course you probably wouldn't make the lake nearly that big. Surely if they could dam 3200 sq. miles in Africa decades ago, we could manage 16,000?