Yep, KAW = Kitchen At Work...Thanks to Trailrunner, I believe. We just put in a few garden boxes/raised beds last year and this year I'm pushing for more. DH is even seriously talking about building me a greenhouse...YAY! I am no garden expert, but hope to learn more and get better. Yesterday I planted 6 kinds of tomatoes, 5 kinds of peppers, and then in the remaining space, which wasn't much, I planted leeks, broccoli, lettuce, spinach, basil, and kale. I always overplant 'to make sure' then hate to pull out the extra baby plants...But I will have to with as many seeds as I put in this time. Or I'll have to start selling seedlings! I will direct plant green beans, carrots, beets, cukes, and different kinds of squash. I want to find some Walla Walla onion sets also. Timber.j, thank you for reminding me about Marigolds. I keep forgetting to plant them, and they're supposed to be great about keeping away certain bugs. We stopped planting peas, which I love, because we would find the little white worms inside and that was gross. Any way to avoid them that anyone knows of? Elyse, I'm hoping to break in my new oven for our Friday Pizza Night! (Maybe I shouldn't use the word "break") My family is hesitant to count on having the new oven, since we've had so many false starts already. It also depends on what time they come to install, since it'll need a couple hours to burn off the newness.

Taking care of your own lawn will result in a nicer lawn that you have confidence in. You'll know what's going on and why. Also you won't waste resources or damage your environment. Sod is a good idea in the spring. When you seed in the spring you get a lot of weeds coming in with the new grass. Further, new spring grass does not develop good roots before the hot weather hits. The end result is you have crabgrass in those spots by July. If you want to begin mixing Kentucky bluegrass into your lawn, that will help keep the bare spots to a minimum. KBG spreads to fill thin areas whereas fescue and rye grasses do not. Apply preemergent when the forsythia begins to bloom in your neighborhood. Spot spray weeds in April. Fertilize in late May (Memorial Day) Fertilize in early fall (Labor Day) Fertilize again with a high N (low to 0 P and K) fast release fertilizer after your grass stops growing in late fall but before the frost takes it to complete dormancy. The idea is to get nutrients into the roots without stimulating new growth that late in the season. This is "winterizer." It will help the grass come out of dormancy in the spring. In addition to, or in place of, one of the fertilizer drops, I would use an organic fertilizer. Organic fertilizer works differently from chemical fertilizers. The organic will improve the health of your soil as much as helping your grass green up and grow. Mulch mow at your mower's highest setting for your lawn. Watering: Deep and infrequent is the mantra for watering. This is for all turf grass all over the place. Deep means 1 inch all at one time. Put some cat food or tuna cans around the yard, and time how long it takes your sprinkler(s) to fill all the cans. Memorize that time. That will be the time you water from now on. My hose, sprinkler and water pressure takes 8 full hours to fill the cans. Your time will likely be less. I like gentle watering. As for watering frequency, that depends on the daytime air temperature. With temps in the 90s, deep water once per week. With temps in the 80s, deep water once every 2 weeks. With temps in the 70s, deep water once every 3 weeks. With temps below 70, deep water once a month. Note that you have to keep up with quickly changing temps in the spring and fall. This deep and infrequent schedule works in Phoenix and in Vermont, so it should work for you. The reason for deep and infrequent is to grow deeper, more drought resistant roots and to allow the soil to dry completely at the surface for several days before watering again. If it rains, reset your calendar to account for the rainfall. You should not get a disease following this plan. Most bugs you see in the lawn are beneficial. There is always a chance of getting bugs that are not good. Usually you would see the damage in August, so the time to inspect the lawn for them is in late June. If you don't see a lot of Japanese beetles swarming your porch lights in May or June then you probably won't have a grub problem. Good luck taking this on. As you can see it is fairly straight forward and not hard.

Disclaimer - We are the contractors in this story who saved the day, testified in court, and established a great relationship with the homeowner. An educated consumer is our best customer. On GC's and subs- 1- Give me a good price on this job and I'll shovel you tons of work. This is an old tactic used by GC's to drive the cost down / raise profits. After the first job the sub is fired and quickly replaced. Subs who haven't been burned by this before, or are hungry, are young, or didn't know this happened to them are easy prey to this scam. If the sub stays on and wants to get paid his full amount, he is quickly replaced. 2- My subs have been with me a long time. What is a long time? Months or years? Did you speak to the sub himself? 3- Most GC's have bare general knowledge about what their subs do. They don't have the specific knowledge of the trades. If you have specific concerns about waterproofing, it's best to ask the sub directly before the job starts. Having done your homework on John Bridge, or Fine Homebuilding will help you immensely. 4- GC's are salesmen who add 25% to 35% to what the sub is charging to make their living. IMHO most GC's view subs as commodities not skilled craftsmen and are not willing to pay a skilled craftsman the rates they deserve. The best craftspeople I know around the world are all self employed and don't work for GC's. Most work aside the GC, directly for the HO. On the rare chance I do work under a GC, the HO is actively involved in the process and has usually brought us in specifically. 5- GC's prefer to price items by the square foot or some easy (brainless) method. I find this a great disservice to the HO. If I am tiling the floor of a car dealership (wide open space) the price per sf will be lower than a dentist's office (tiny rooms and hallways) IN these instances a per sf price would be useless. Then we get into prep work, access to the jobsite, working conditions, and a myriad of variables unique to each jobsite. Is there a gate that needs to be kept closed all the time? Limited hours we can be on the site? Is the building heated and cooled? There is no way a flat rate of $/sf is useful when it comes to certain trades. 6- GC's are not inclined to pay for prepwork. They pay for finished product. While we all want the finished product to be gorgeous, prep work is critical. Certainly in a shower, waterproofing is what you are really buying. Tile is just the pretty surface. This is why so many showers fail. I've actually had a GC say to me - "I don't pay you for prep work, I pay you to install tile" Prep work usually drives up the cost of a job considerably. Customers sometimes don't want to hear this or think we are adding to the scope of work unnecessarily. We don't work for such folks. 7- Why don't contractors just tell HO's they are busy and will have to wait? When a potential customer calls, asking when they want the work completed is my first or second question. This comes with a lot of risk, mainly losing the job all together. My 40 years experience has taught me that most HO's call contractors when the HO is ready to start the project and is eager to get things rolling. Telling a HO they will have to wait a few months in the first phone call is usually the kiss of death. My thought is - Would you want to hire a contractor who isn't busy? Granted there are job delays and cancellations, but a good businessman knows how to keep his schedule full and workers busy. It takes some sales skill (and empathy) to save that first phone call from going down in flames and losing the opportunity to educate a customer on the process of hiring a qualified contractor. 8- Not so news flash - Not all great contractors are great businessmen. Makes sense once you think about it though. The manufacturers have reps to show us their products, there are trade schools and unions, but teaching a contractor how to run his business is woefully lacking. Being a craftsman in any trade doesn't make you a good businessperson or a good salesperson. Some good contractors become subs as to have the business side of their job taken care of by the GC who feeds them a steady stream of work and a reliable paycheck. Pounding the pavement, making sales, maintaining a website, and giving estimates all take effort, skill, and time not everyone has. 9- Not so news flash #2 - Not all great salesmen are great contractors. This is the hard part for the average HO to sort out. A slick talking young man in a pressed shirt can have all the right sounding answers. So what's a HO to do? Start by asking; Who will be coming into my home? Will they have seen the jobsite in person or pictures before they knock on my door? Or are they just given my address that morning? Ask what products will be used and why. Talk to the manufacturer's reps for those products. It's a good sign when the rep knows your contractor. It's a good sign when the rep backs up what your contractor claims. Ask the Rep about any installation tricks/hazards to watch for. Every manufacturer has YouTube videos giving detailed instructions which MUST be followed. An educated consumer is our best customer. 10- Not so news flash #3 - There are good people on YouTube and then..... there is the rest of the crowd. As mentioned above, the John Bridge Forum and Sal Diblasi's videos are spot on. So are the videos made by the product manufacturer or a trade association. A HO will have a hard time discerning the good from the bad YouTube videos without trade knowledge or a trained ear which is why I recommend the manufacturer's videos and talking with their reps. The reps get paid for this, its their job. When you find a good contractor who provides excellent service the best compliment is to recommend them, give a good Google / Angie's List / Yelp review. This will also help other HO's in their search. I could go on for pages, but y'all are probably bored by now. If you have specific questions, I'd be happy to answer.

I have a roll of paper towels - should I need t use a hand rail or a door handle. Stored in my car. There's a rapidly dwindling supply of alcohol based sanitary wipes. Stored in my car. The small local grocery is now having people call orders in and they drop them out - this keeps us folk from handling the items IN the store. I was just there today - needed Liquid Plumbr for a stopped up sink, so figured I should order some other stuff at the same time. (Asparagus, chicken, ziplock bags, cheese). I wipe down the touchables in my car after I return to it, and when I get home I quarantine all non-perishables (or wipe the outsides down as in the case of the Liquid Plumr). Until just about a week ago, I could keep perishables in my car for a night or two but we are now getting warmer. The asparagus would be fine even now. Oh, yes, I scrub down upon house re-entry, and hit the house door handle too. For what I'm doing, since I'm raising chickens for egg production, is bringing a dozen eggs (last Friday, two dozen) over to the local community center. Donation basis. (I used to sell them, but even with selling them for the price that is usual up here, I never made a profit anyways...) Donate... I can't eat them all, and others can.