chefjbs, tiemco probably referred to that because warm season grasses typically are cut lower and more frequent then cool season grasses, and as such the type of mower (reel) for warm season is usually recommended (but also more expensive). If you were to not have the tree debris and didn't mind exercise the Fiskars 6201 push reel mower (ie non-powered) is a great mower at around $200 (can be occasionally found on sale for ~$150). For your price-range maximum and the tiny lawn (about the same size as mine) there is no need to go crazy on the price/features. I have a Murray mower powered by a 6.5hp Briggs and Straton engine I got 10 years ago for $150 and it is still running great. Yeah it's heavy, and it's not self-propelled, but it gets the job done reliably. For mulching you don't want to skimp on engine size (or risk stalling the engine/getting unclean cuts), but unless you can't deal with the weight of the mower there really are no other reasons to spend up (IMO of course). Save money on the mower, and spend a couple bucks on some good replacement mulching mower BLADES (I personally use Gator mulching blades but there are many different types), and you will be quite happy. Just keep up on proper maintenance, as no matter how much you spend, leaving gas in over the winter, never changing the oil/air filter, using dull blades,etc. will make any mower choke prematurely. HTH

Thank you for all the warm welcomes, I'm excited to be a part of the Hoya community now! :) I remember seeing a varigated Hoya Compacta which was looking a bit sickly. I think I want to go back and get it, try to nurse it back to good health and plant the two together. Denise, I think I'll still trim them and see if I can make it a little bushy. Thanks for the heads up on the mealybugs Brad! I'll let you guys know if I go and get the other Hoya...most likely will now that I will be getting out of work early :) Ashley

Two posts to the same guy in minutes has got to be a record. Answered your 3 or 4 burner post and thought you were set on a Ducane. Anyway I just bought a Weber Spirit 310 and am learning to cook on it. Its different than my last one as its elements are front to back horizontal tubes whereas my old one (Charbroil lasted about 4 years) had 3 individual ones from right to left. A great thing they don't mention about this unit is the ease of cleaning. Of course they talk about the grease pan that you can use aluminum pans in but they don't talk about the fact that the WHOLE BOTTOM of the grill slides out for cleaning. No wonder there's no flare ups. No more removing grates and working around burners to clean the drippings that got stuck. Check my post to your 3or4 burner question for other answers.

Hi Lucy - Well the signing was over a year ago before much if any construction was underway, so no particular issues at that point. So I think more the "new condo" thing - I don't really know to what extent we must catch "all", though they do say that things will continue to be dealt with after... we feel that they would honor dealing with overt malfunctions. The "policy" is not stated per se; the document says something like the buyer & rep of builder will arrange & do inspection together. Certain things were up for choice (eg colors, styles of this & that); some mistakes were identified recently as finishing items became on site and/or "done/in progress", and have already been dealt with. We try to consider labor, waste and etc to balance against original thoughts, but don't understand all the variables. Other things were listed in feature promo sheet, that we expected, but didn't get included after all... reason not clear. They have a rider about being able to change things that won't affect marketability or price... a little hard to interpret that but we assumed the spirit of that to include that something planned may become unavailable. Such as built-in medicine cabinet, built-in toiletry niche in bath & towel warmer rack in the very small guest/hall bathroom (where they installed a large mirror... maybe to make it look larger, but the only place to hang a towel is a wee towel ring beside the sink or on the side of the tub (or the shower head... which would not be desirable), and there's barely any counterspace. The med cabinet just seemed so sensible, and since it was just listed as a feature, we didn't "ask" for it as we did in the ensuite (a lot of communications and confusions re lighting, etc related to that, but hopefully now working out), but when we recently couldn't figure where it would go... "no one has asked for it". Want to find out if things like train rack (for towels) or double towel rack/shelves can be mounted on the mirror (not ideal I imagine, if even feasible)... stymied by our lack of experience/knowledge at this late date. And toiletry niche and seat in the ensuite shower... nowhere to put anything while showering except on the floor or on the shower head; seemingly lovely quality otherwise but not practical in funny ways - we just thought those would be included as featured. So hasty research so far finds things like fold-down seats that can double as shelves, mountable (unless the nice tiling & etc is wrecked to make an insert.... ?seems difficult and ?risky now??).... but how do we ensure that's "OK" later; some uncertain mention was otherwise of gluing something on. The things that we don't know much about, are what's feasible/advisable in the long run for aesthetics and function and construction, to make up for these... we don't want something "cheap" or inappropriate found quickly just to "meet" a condition, that could be better planned.... if they had to or chose to (or just plumb forgot), we'd appreciate knowing the whys... They are not earth-shatteringly important in the scheme of all world issues, but they were part of the package that made this such an appealing decision... and detract from how we pictured functioning with guests, etc. Of course now things are getting to crunch time and presumably it's busy for them, so communication time may be limited. We're (maybe overly?) concerned that if things are left for after "the inspection" (?by the City inspectors), whether they'll be fully ok (we being NOT handy and especially in a condo, don't want to inadvertently - even if or perhaps especially if not immediately - have something done later that causes a problem (eg electrical, plumbing, moisture). We don't know what we don't know, though we've been crash coursing it a bit lately and have picked up a few things... like learning a whole new language. Oh, I'm so tired I can't pull all thoughts together properly & am rambly, sorry. It would just feel so much better to understand more... on the technical side, and also where/why that policy originates.... they ask if we don't trust, but that's making us feel more nervous, since we've explained our lack of expertize and some things seem puzzling. We just ran into some people yesterday in a store who told us stories of oh-my-goodness problems, and of course reading these forums brings to light all manner of realms of possibilities... bad or good. We don't believe the builders are anything close to shiesters or totally inept, but it just seems silly to not avail ourselves of the extra help at this time, when we can't figure it all out. These friends we wish to bring did come to help once at a much earlier stage, when we had to go make decisions about electrical and cable and such (mostly Greek to me)... so they have some idea of the place. I also can easily forget a thought (or more!) on the spot, so boy would I hate to be a single person with this "policy"; at least there's two of us for this biggest life purchase. I thought this must come up (or not) for others, hence I'm posting on something I normally wouldn't. Thanks for your thoughts Lucy, and anyone else?