Yes, the countertops are white Corian and they are in excellent shape. We have about 95 square feet of counters. Our realtor has strongly discouraged us from changing them based on comparisons to others in our neighborhood. He also said that in his experience whatever sellers have whether it is a solid surface material, stone or other, that 9 times out of 10 clients comment that it's not to their taste and they deduct the cost of changing it in their offers anyway. All of the houses in our neighborhood were built with laminate except for the 10% or so houses which were custom built and they all had Corian. Some of the homes have replaced their laminate with stone or other material. I forgot to answer another question earlier. The floors are site finished hardwood throughout all of the downstairs. We constantly get positive feedback on the floors. The only thing I can think of is that our kitchen is significantly larger than most in our neighborhood and it would be quite an undertaking to change it out any more than we already have. Maybe most buyers want to renovate to their taste and see ours as too big of a project. Unfortunately if I were to do the renovation for them, it still wouldn't be to their taste.

Dottie, I can't imagine the past year that you and your family has endured, and again hope that this year is brighter. But I CAN understand the frustration you're feeling. I too think she may well have begun a relationship and is either embarrassed to tell you or not sure how to. I see this type of thing so often and I just don't understand it! To completely cut off communication is a terrible thing to do to someone without at least saying a reason. If you're angry with a person, tell them. If you don't feel comfortable with them, tell them. If you don't trust them anymore or whatever the reason, at least don't leave them hanging. It's a very cruel thing to do. It's natural for you to be concerned. If you're close to her mother, I think I WOULD call just to see if she's all right. If you're close to her mother she may share some info with you or at least give you a reason if there is one other than our suspicion. I can imagine your fear for her well-being. I have a cousin out state who cut off all communication suddenly for a couple years or more. I never understood it and it bugged me. I knew there were some marital issues and with such an abrupt cut off altogether, I was to the point I had a PI friend do a little checking to see if she was alive. I had a real bad feeling that something bad happened. Finally she got a hold of me and apologized and explained that she and her husband had been having rough times both marital and financial (which so often goes together) and she was too ashamed to tell me about it. There's been other times too and like I said, why can't people just open up a bit and say something? If you do contact either, I would suggest you not raise the grave issue. If there is a new person, there could be an issue with even going to the grave. Some people are strange. I imagine your first concern is her health and safety. I'm guessing she's just confused. Good luck and hope you find out something soon. And here's to a much brighter year for all!

What you have is a whip - a very young tree with not yet any lateral branches developed. The suggestion you received is pretty standard for newly planted whips and is worth following as it encourages the development of a strong branch system. And that's were the fruit will grow. What you want to do is make a heading cut where you want the branching to begin and just above one of the buds. You do not need to take it down as far as they said - that is normally the practice for semi-dwarf or larger growing trees. And you don't want this tree to start to set any fruit until it develops a proper habit with some branches and a basic structure. So remove any flowers for at the least the first few years. And you should continue pruning in subsequent years but not in this same manner. This is pretty much a one time shot. You might want to research apple pruning or maybe a local nursery or your extension service has classes you can attend. Apples need routine, preferably annual, pruning to stimulate and encourage the development of fruiting spurs or those little nubby protuberances that the fruit grows on. 6-8' is really short for a dwarf apple. I'm thinking this is a mini dwarf, which only get around 6' tall - dwarfs typically get about 8-10'. Do you have another apple for cross pollination?

It seems to me that Hollywood only makes three movies these days: The movie about running real fast and engaging in physically impossible acrobatics while things blow up all around. The fart joke movie. The dysfunctional relationships movie, which has two variants: pseudo-inspirational and frankly depressing. Of course, these can be combined, as for instance, in the upcoming remake of Murder on the Orient Express which seems to combine Hercule Poirot, superhero, with the most dreary-looking trainload of miserable people you ever saw. So I just don't go. The suggestion to go to an art house is clearly made by people who live in very major metro areas. I live just north of a major metro area, but still about 90% of the movies I might possibly wish to see do not play within 150 miles of where I live. I see about one movie a year in the theater. Unfortunately, I do keep up with what's current when visiting my brother who has every known streaming service. I'm astounded at how fatiguing it is to try to be entertained.