Wow! Big difference with the photos! I agree, this forum lacks some features. Your lawn actually looks really nice, and it looks like it took the summer pretty decent other then the couple of dead spots. Those really shouldn't be a big deal to fix. Fertilizer from the seed super store is expensive. For your situation, almost anything will do. You could have the soil tested but it doesn't look worth it. To clarify on the aeration, I would recommend renting an aerator, and running it over the yard 3-4 times before overseeding, especially focusing on the dead areas. Before you do that cut the grass super short at roughly 1"-1.5" and bag it as well (this is part of the overseeding). Let me caution you that those aerators are extremely heavy and awkward. After seeing the larger pictures, don't till the dead patches up, there's enough good grass to save. If you really don't want to do the short mowing and aeration, I think you can probably skip it, and try it without. However, I think you will have best results if you do. You're right about the small lawn! That's smaller then I thought. 10lbs. would be an ample supply to you and your neighbor. :) Honestly, after seeing the larger pictures, every picture I see looks like you have fescue. It's too thick bladed for bluegrass. It is a short cut for fescue. Having it cut taller may help the water problems next year. Your yard looks like it's in pretty good condition. You can make seeding just as complicated or as simple as you please. It doesn't look to me like it needs tons of help to catch back up. If it were me, I would cut it short, aerate (I have an aerator, which makes it easier for me), seed (fescue), fertilize, then water, of course. Should take a morning, or less. Stick with it!

This is interesting and very relevant for me right now. I just did a ton on research on heucheras, etc. in full sun and in NC we don't play around, when we say full sun, we really mean it! :) What I found is that the darker heucheras/ellas do better than the lighter and if they are from the villosa (hoping I am remembering that name correctly) lineage, then all the better for heat tolerance. I put in two Obsidians and two Amethyst falls. They are getting full sun from 10 until 4 pm. I read several people saying that they had great success in and around this area or even farther south with these two in full sun. I think Solar Eclipse would do fine in your full sun, definately. I know this thread was from last year, but you still haven't gone through a summer yet, I'm thinking. I love the online pics of solar eclipse, but haven't purchased it b/c every time I see one locally, they are so faded/washed out and ugly, I just leave them there. I am afraid they would look like that for me all the time, just my luck! I did pick up a Redstone Falls this year, though. It is lovely.

In Sparta, we drove to a convenience store parking lot to use the restroom. It was a little bit after noon, well over an hour before peak eclipse time when we got ready to drive around to find our viewing location. Robert just happened to look up with his eclipse glasses before we got into the vehicle and said, "It's already started!" Sure enough, a little bite was missing from the sun! Even that was exciting. The difference between any smaller percentage and a full eclipse is very significant. You wouldn't think so, but it is. Even at the last minute.....99%.....there is still sunlight providing light, if even a little bit. as the moon moved into that perfect position everything changed. It was shocking, startling, gasp provoking. Can't explain it, really. I shouted to everyone to remove their eclipse glasses; it was an amazing thing to see. The corona around black hole was like a dim night light, providing some illumination to the night sky but not to the ground. Can't really explain it. Everyone was quiet, speaking only in whispers to those closest. It was an intimate moment for this small group we were with, thankfully not a mob nor with an idiot who felt compelled to shoot off fireworks. ;-( But that second when the moon moved into that perfect spot, lots of noisy spontaneous reactions. Funny about the bug spray. The guy who came with his little Yorkie (Rocky, a rescue) went around offering spritzes of his organic repellent after the little nuisances came out in hoards; they were ravenous! It duskish at that time and we needed protection! By the way, Huntsville was in the 97% range, enough to enjoy an interesting experience. We chose to "go big" and drive that picturesque two hours to Sparta. Robert took a couple of quick videos and they are both filled with the sounds of the crickets and cicadas. The difference between a couple of minutes before the total eclipse and the big moment was striking. Day and night. I can't quite explain it.

I have never understood why astrologers would go to the effort to learn the constellations and when they will appear in the sky, and where relative to the constellations the planets can be found, without then also learning that the locations of the planets are predictable because of the physics of mass and gravity. And the same math that will determine where the planets will be, also clearly shows that the gravitational influence exerted on you by any of the non-earth planets is significantly less than that exerted on you by a large truck driving past your house.