Anyone recommending large soft leaved woodland habitat plants such as Hostas or Beschornerias for high desert conditions obviously doesn't have a clue about desert landscaping. Similarly thinking that a pond/waterfall feature so exposed to the elements seems futile, or at the least expensive in time and money to keep functioning. Water features would make much more sense in a protected from wind and brutal sun within a courtyard garden. Erosion control in high desert conditions is as much about wind erosion and the sporadic torrential cloudburst which dumps intense rain over a short period of time. As such, local professional expertise and knowledge of your soil type is critical for efficiently addressing the best approach for ersion control. I'd recommend using adapted native and hardy exotic plants of lowest water use to stabilize those slopes with some grading to bank rainfall to percolate into the soil where possible. Again, visiting local water agency water conservation demonstration gardens would be most useful in helping be more pragmatic about landscaping your high desert back yard.

I was going to suggest wax myrtles, not crape myrtles. Depending on how much sun the CMs need and how much shade you have, the blooming might be less than you would like, and the CM wood might become weak with droopy branches. Powdery mildew might become a chronic problem too. For fun, you might want to mix in a couple of Elephant Ears. They can take shade and abundant water, even boggy soil if it gets that way. Their growth habit might fill in between CMs nicely. If you get the right kind, the EE leaves get real big, plants will get at least 4 feet tall, they'll expand into clumps that you can control easily with a little cutting and chopping (with a shovel), and you'll get a nice-looking contrast in foliage between the large EE leaves and the small CM leaves.

Hi, If you are working with an architect and the architect has built homes in the area, then he would know the building costs. If he has not done many houses in your area, then he could be way off on the building costs. I built in New York, and hired one of the worlds best architects, my brother. If you go to Hong Kong, and look at the Shopping Area there, he designed it all and surpervised its constrution. At the time he worked for Foster Associates, headed by Sir Norman Foster. He has also worked for James Stirling in the U.K. He designed for me a house, but in the end I could not afford to build it. It was 2 x over budget. Why because the techniques used were "non-standard" it was a modern home and most builders were frankly scared of the project. So a few came in cost-plus, or at very high numbers. I still think by brother did a great job, and we are none the worse for it. It was fun also and if you are in need of a good engineer, I worked with one in Connecticut and recommend him too. We had a good team, just had no idea of local costs. So after three years, and $US 50,000 I was back to square one. We hired a local architect with experience in home building in the area. We build a "standard" home with standard techniques. The house came in over budget, it always does. However the bids were much closer. To give you some idea one builder was 20% below, and another 100% above. The other six were about the middle. Our architect knew all the builders and their histories. e.g. one GC had been through a divorce, needed work, and he bid real low. Our architect said avoid him. Others build for Martha Stewart, they were expensive, but were at the highest quality. In the end we stuck to the middle of the pack. Note if a GC or builder really wants to rip you off, there are always ways he can hide it. You need to trust your builder, and he needs to trust you. We moved in about three years ago now and our GC and builder was very good. Sure we had problems, but in the end it worked out. My recomendation is to do the following: 1) Figure out which bits cost what. Rough is O.K. Doing this will probablly get you a better idea of where possible cost savings are. If one part is a major cost component, that is where you can get the most gains. 2) Simplify the design. A square house of two levels upstairs and downstairs gives you the most bang for the buck. Yech that looks bad. Not to worry this is just the ideal goal. Maybe you can change some of your design a bit to bring it more in line. Get rid of all the doormers, the indents here gables there. 3) Do you have site specific costs which are blowing your budget. E.g. rock. I needed to blast and move rock. That was expensive. Are you siteing your house in the correct place. Maybe moving where you place your house will save on your foundation. 4) If you have an architect ask what he thinks. You have to be brutal sometimes. See this wing here, cut it out removing 1,000 sq feet. Dump the basement have a crawl space. I think if you budget for about $US 250 per square foot, then you will be O.K. Obviously this will vary across the US. But if you are way off this quick check then I think you will have issues later. Way off means at a minimum $US 170 per sq foot. Much below that for a custom one off house, I think is not a good start. 5) In your plans make them detailed as possible. However ask your architect for a pricing schedule for tile, and finishes. E.G. Hard Wood floors, schedule for $US 10 installed per sq foot. Lighting fixtures schedule for $US 6,000. These are no more than guesses at what you will spend, but at least they are accounted for in your budget and will lower the surprises later. There are always budget surprises, that is the nature of the beast. Just fewer surprises. Again be brutally realistic on these numbers. The advantage of schedules is that it removes these unknowns from the builders estimates, hence the estimate is easier for the GC and more accurate, and hence more competative. 5b) Get prices for house options. E.G. unfinished bonus room, you can finish later. West wing section [$US 80,000]. Porch [$US 20,000]. That way if the bids come in high, you can lop off chunks of house, brutal I know. Or have unfinished sections that you can finish later when funds allow. But at least your patient is still alive. 6) Bid out your design to a few builders. In the end I had eight builders bidding. If you are still off on your budget then it is redesign and regroup time. Good luck. All the best, Mike.

gina_w, I made your poached salmon with chimichurri for supper tonight -- right down to the garnish. My husband and I both LOVED it! It is a definite contender for the party. Do you think that it would be good at room temperature? I don't want to be cooking during the appetizers or the soup course, but I am afraid if I keep it warm in the oven it will dry out, and even a reheat in the microwave might overcook it. Here is how I did the chimichurri and poached the fish (I'm sure you know how to do both, but just in case some other reader wants to know): I took a big handful of flat leaf parsley, 4 cloves garlic, and a bit of onion and minced them in the food processor. Then I added about 1/3 c of arbequetta olive oil, a little red wine vinegar, a little lemon juice, about 1/2 t of dried oregano, and S&P. That's it -- and it was really terrific. I poached the salmon by putting it in a deepish pan with water to cover, added some mirin, some peppercorns, and a bay leaf, as you suggested. I brought it to a boil, and then immediately took it off the heat, covered the pan, and let it sit about 10 minutes. eandhl, here is my recipe for stir-fried tofu. It was my first stir-fry. Many years ago, when I was about 22, my aunt gave me a wok. It just sat there until one day in the newspaper's food section, in the "kids in the kitchen" column, I found this recipe for stir-fried tofu and vegetables (I've rewritten it to leave out all the super-basic instructions like "peel the onion and put it on a plate"). I figured if kids could do it, I could, too! Now I love to cook all kinds of Chinese dishes, but this is the one that got me started. My kids always loved it. I make all kinds of modifications now, depending on what vegetables I have on hand, and I use sherry, dark soy, hot oil, etc. This is the basic; you modify it the way you want (use more or different vegetables; include water chestnuts and bamboo shoots; add or substitute chicken or beef for the tofu; etc.). Enjoy! Stir-fried Tofu and vegetables ¼ pound mushrooms 1 large carrot 1 small onion 1 small green pepper 1 - 2 pkg tofu (firm works best) 1 clove garlic 2 T water (I like sherry or mirin instead) 1 t cornstarch 2 T oil (I like to use peanut) 3 T soy sauce 2 t honey Prepare vegetables. Mix water and cornstarch in one bowl, soy and honey in the other. Stir fry vegetables 1 minute, add soy/honey mixture, cover and cook one minute. Stir in water and cornstarch and tofu, stir gently until heated, about 1 minute.