Hi kjb120 When it comes to patios erosion is a four letter word. First without seeing it, what is the retaining wall consist of, rock, blocks, or pour concrete? What is more than likely happening is the soil is either compacting and/or eroding under the patio. If it is eroding where is it going, through the wall or into a sink hole that is not visable. Lets say you get the erosion under control, there are companies that do mudjacking that may be able to help you get your patio level again. If it means taking out the patio an doing it again, then you may want to think of doing a sandset patio next time. At least you won't lose the stone if it happened a third time. Good luck Matteow

Well let's try to get useful here. I haven't looked at that section of the Sunset book, but here is a bit from my experience with trees dropping stuff. Ideally you want a deciduous tree, because it will drop its leaves ONCE and then you clean up and it's done. If you get an evergreen, it will drop leaves over a longer period (broadleaf or conifer). Ideally you want a tree with big leaves. If it has small parts (leaves, leaflets, flowers) then it will be dropping them and they will mulch down quickly, leaving much rather than easily sweepable leaves. Also watch the flower parts. The smaller and more profuse, the messier. And if the wood is brittle, you'll have branchlets too. Some trees I have lived with, random comments to give you a feel for how to make the decision for your site: Albizia, drops leaflets all summer if it is a dry one, as well as flowers. Makes my back stairs dangerous as leaflets rot down. But on dirt (small gravel actually), they rot down fast and almost disappear. Heptacodium: flowers are the problem since it drops small florets all late summer and as the fall rains start, they make my front stairs and patio slippery (unless I sweep, which I do). Again, on dirt, no problem. Large conifer: drops needles constantly. Unbelievable volume. Always tracks into house. Pterostyrax: flower parts did not make a noticeable mess, large leaves stay on tree late and then are gone quickly. Not over hardscape in my yard, but not a problem as far as I can tell. Willow: don't get me started. Just get the chainsaw already :-) Ornamental cherry street tree: there is a mess from cherries, but the leaves are big tough things. This is good if you can sweep them up, but they NEVER seem to rot down if they are on dirt. Same with Hamamelis, leaves DO NOT rot down. Flower petals (red on my tree) are kind of fun as they fall, and don't really pose a problem even if they are plentiful. Norway Maple: maple keys that seed into every nook and cranny. Keys hard to sweep or otherwise gather up. Definitely chainsaw material, but it's the neighbour's tree :-) In short, I think it's not about how much it drops, because they all drop all their stuff, but what it drops, over what period, and what that stuff will do on the surface that you have. Karin L

Hey Bruce, I'll add something here. Your question is "How much is too much sun?", but the conversation is focused on temperatures. I submit that temperature and sun intensity are not necessarily directly related. If the question was "How hot is too hot?", I would say at that point where pollination is adversly affected - which is a function of temperature and humidity rather than sun intensity. Now, as for "..too much sun". I would say that this is more a function of your latitude than your temperature. I'll give you an example. It may be 100+ where you are, and 85 where I am, but the sun's intensity will be FAR GREATER here than there. Too much direct summer sun for me might be 2 hours, where too much direct summer sun for you might be 6 hours - even though your temps are much higher. PJ

DS2 has a large toy chest in his room filled with Little People, dinosaurs, balls, swords, etc. In the rec room there is a large rubbermaid tote of Thomas track and fabric tote of Thomas trains as well as a Thomas set up. There are 2 large rm totes of legos(most of which belonged to DH,) 1 large rm tote of transformers(half are the heavy metal collectible ones - DH again,) 2 large rm totes of Knex, plus the ball tower and raging coaster, 2 large rm totes of Rokenbok, 1 steamer trunk of hot wheels playsets, 2 rolling car carriers of hot wheels, 1 toy kitchen with 2 wicker baskets of play food, marble run sets, slot car sets, lots of games, laser tag vests, nerf guns, a 7' air hockey table, and competition sized foosball table. I know the sheer volume seems excessive and ridiculous, but we do give away toys twice a year and at Christmas we have a rule that any box that has not been opened at the end of day 3 is donated. DS1 was the only grandchild on either side of the family for the first 6 yrs of his life as well as the only great grandchild on the one side. He had many childless aunts and uncles as well as our close friends who he refers to as aunt so&so. They all doted on him. My little brother now has 5 nieces and nephews, but DS1 is still the special one.(for Christmas this year LB gave DS1 an LCD TV and wall mount, the others got plastic toys from Big Lots.) Many of the build it toys like legos, etc. foster creative play and imaginative thinking. We've containerized and labeled things as best we can. Someday when DS2 no longer plays with toys, I can clear it all out. I'll cancel my gym membership and move a bunch of equipment into the rec room.