I've never planted a silver maple but sure regretted a previous owner planting several - horrible surface roots. I planted myosotis/forget me not seeds my first year here and I really regret that - the seed germinates everywhere and then they all mildew. the seeds are really sticky. triple yuck. I've always read daylilies are the easiest of perennials - they do not do well for me; it is not sunny enough. I have only planted white ones and when they do bloom, they're a pale yellow, not a white. but mostly they don't really look healthy. I'm giving them another year, but I think it's hopeless. some innocuous 2" pot of a sweet looking small groundcover that is trying to take over the world. After the first summer when I could not dig up all its roots, I smothered it with cardboard and put mulch on top. It has survived to torment me. I like purple oxalis, though; it spreads but is very easy to rip up in areas where I don't want it.

Are the SDL's in your contract? If so, there shouldn't be a problem, he'll have to do them. If it's not specified, lesson learned and I'd go back and make sure everything is specified and add any change orders that you need to...and I'd also talk to him about seeing what he can do to get you the SDL's that you both discussed. We had an issue with our main floor bathroom vanity where we asked the cabinet maker what "standard" was in there and he showed us the fancier one and said that was standard. A few weeks ago there must have been a question as our general manager from our builder emailed and told us the vanity would be the normal standard one and was that what we were expecting. I emailed back saying that is not at all what we were expecting and explaining the conversation between us and the cabinet maker and he emailed back sorry for the confusion, he'd take care of it. Within minutes I had a change order come across for the upgraded $400 vanity with a $400 credit against it as "customer appreciation", therefore no cost to us. Your builder should be willing to do something of the same since that is what you specified.

Judith, You have 13 months of sickness credits built up - but only get paid for 30 days? What kind of hurdles do you have to jump over to be "sick" - for a day or two? Or for a longer period? Often for a longer period you must have a doctor's message. Do you have a co-operative doctor? After all - you have some medical issues, don't you? If you have sick days' credit, that means that you get full pay for a day that you take off sick, doesn't it? By the way - try to get those credit card bills paid off FAST. Store cards usually charge 25 - 28%, and major cards 15 - 18%. If I loaned you $100.00 and required you to pay me $28. per year rent on the money, before one cent of the outstanding balance was retired, you'd call me a real stinker, wouldn't you? And - since most of the stuff we buy on card isn't deductible - you'd have to earn over $40.00 pre-tax in order to have the $28.00 after-tax to pay me the rent on the money. NOT A GOOD DEAL!!! Good wishes for the remaining time - don't get your shirt-tail tied into a knot over it. Shrug your shoulders - give yourself a big smile when you look yourself in the mirror in the morning, wink, stick out your fist, thumb up, and tell yourself that this is to be a lovely day. Good wishes for the next few days. joyful guy/Ed (financial planner - more or less retired, at 74)

He had the collar off during the day before I went to work (mid-afternoon), but the vet said it would be better to keep it on full time because the wound was feeling hot and she suspected he was licking it. She said he could easily undo all the progress we'd made. So now it's on him all the time except for the times (usually twice a day) when I sit with him in the bathroom and give him "intensive petting." :-) The soaks are down to one a day. This was done at my discretion; I'll have to see what the vet says about it. I notified the vet office that I ran out of DMSO several days ago, and they didn't seem excited about this, so I guess Mickey's past the point of needing it. He's still on an antibiotic, but that, too, is almost finished.