I feel just like you Cybersunday, the interior of my house has been neglected and really needs a good cleaning. Spiders have been active this summer and I can't count the cobwebs I've swept up on walls and ceilings. For me, cleaning the garden in fall depends on the weather and the amount of time I have. I prefer to clean it up now because otherwise it's a massive job in spring and since I plant spring blooming bulbs, I find that it is more attractive when the garden is cleaned. For whatever reason, the leaves on the trees haven't fallen much yet and this will be another mammoth task as we have many trees on our property. I am like Glen and Bonnie as I have loads of potted tropicals and tender perennials throughout the garden. I started to bring the orchids and begonias inside for the winter and we've been kind of lucky because we haven't had frost yet so I have a few more days to cut back all those plants. Unfortunately, I can't save them all so I take cuttings of many tenders too. Although I too use to protect my plants, I haven't in the last 8 years. It is just alot of additional work and sometimes the end result wasn't worth the trouble. My philosophy is that if I have to protect plants with burlap or leaves, then they aren't intended for this climate. There are so many beautiful hardy plants that I can grow that I no longer bother with those that I know won't survive the winter.

We have had two moves with our cats (15,14,14,12) and one of those has a "very low stress tolerance" in other words is a bit neurotic. With both moves I've given the cats a mild sedative/antianxiety medication for the first 12-36 hours (depending on the cat) and kept them confined to smaller areas of the house until they seem adjusted then let them gradually explore more areas. This process took different amounts of time per cat. The oldest "kid" only took a couple days to get used to the new place each time, the middle two about a week, and my nervous nellie about 3 weeks. Our move is anticipated to be next summer (start construction this fall) and I just hope all the furry kids are still with us since they are all getting up there in age. My real kids (10 and 6) are a little stressed about changing schools and losing any of the pets will be very hard on them. The dogs have only been in the current house but they both adapt pretty easily to new situations--going with us camping, visiting friends and families houses without stress so I'm not too worried about them. Cats are much more territorial creatures than dogs are and have a harder time adjusting to moves in general--but it really depends on the temperament of the individual pet. Cork--anti-anxiety meds (Xanax works well in cats-talk to your vet to see if it's appropriate for yours) might be a good idea for your kids if they have some aggression issues between them. If they don't get along very well it might be a good idea to keep them in separate areas for a while (1-2 weeks) until they are both relaxed in the new environment. More space will probably help also. Another idea is to have at least two or three litterboxes (general rule is 1 more box than cats) and maybe put them in different areas of the house. Potty areas are important territorial areas and it sometimes helps to have separate areas for this too--they may both use both boxes but the spacial separation sometimes helps. Kitties are complicated--that's what I love about them. Dogs are much more interactive and will follow directions--that's what I love about them. I'm a veterinarian--working emergency medicine now, but did a lot of behavioral consulting when I was in general practice. I wanted to add that so you would know I wasn't just randomly giving advice and drug suggestions :)

Ok roof guy coming on Friday morning (finally). We don't do a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g fast around here. We mull it, consider it, linger over, wait and wait and wait. But usually we like the end product. Anyway, I'm looking at two colors on the Owens Corning site called Estate Gray and Williamsburg gray. The roof guy said we can choose from Certainteed or Owens Corning colors. All you guys who used Certainteed's Colonial Slate, does it have a lot of pattern to it? Any help or thoughts are much appreciated!

I have 27. It cost around 17,000 to replace them. I thought I had a lot of windows until my neighbor told me she had 72 windows in her renovation project!