I would agree with nebrjewel, steers are not reliable as a pet. If you want cattle around, a steer is USUALLY much safer than a bull. However if a steer takes a notion, gets upset or stubborn, it is like arguing with a car left in gear with lots of gas! It WILL endeavor to go or do whatever it pleases!! Too bad if a person gets in the way or irritates him!. There have been and will be, lots of nice steers around. The problem is that they are large animals, can be unreliable in an instant! They cannot be depended on to always be calm, work well in all situations. I will add that the same stuff above, also holds true for cows, the female of the species. There is not much nastier than an angry cow!! The bad ones I have seen are also fairly calculating, work at trying to do harm. Includes both beef and dairy cows. One beef heifer was just bad from the beginning. Went for beef pretty quick after she started chasing folks in the field, not playing at ALL! She got loaded by trying to attack the man standing INSIDE the stock trailer. We were prepared for this and he used the open escape door in front while we slammed the gates closed behind her. She TRIED to come out the escape door too but was unsuccessful. The heifer she was in with grew into a nice cow, came when called, loved the horses. Never a minutes trouble with her. Another thing with cows is instinct, they react to conditions around them. A farmer we know was checking his cow with the brand new calf out in the field. The OTHER cow came from behind and horned him in the back!! He was lucky she missed the important body parts, but was still a terrible wound and infection mess. Seems that when cows calve, it gets ALL the cows on alert for predators, VERY excitable. He thinks that is why cow went for him, protective instinct, usually a nice calm cow. These are meant to educate the readers here. Folks need to pay attention, discuss behaviour, learn to READ THE CATTLE when you have them around. Livestock does the unexpected fairly often. How often to you want to hear hear the famous redneck remark? "Gosh, they never did that before!"

Thank you all for your comments! The weather is getting cold and I hope everyone stay warm and safe. Littlebug- For UPS person or guests, I expect them park on the N St and walk up to the front door. The bottom right corner of the house is close to the community gate. There are about 30 houses on N street and only 10 on W street. So people entering the subdivision will see the front first. In case we do not have enough parking spaces there, they would find a spot close to the front door on the W St. Since the sidewalk is adjacent to the curb (without any grass between the curb and the sidewalk), the walk does not seem too bad. I understand the current layout with garage in the back is not ideal for guest parking. The lot is too narrow (70ft x 130ft) for front-or side-loading garage. Annkh- Yes. Very good suggestions on the window sizes. On the east side, the wall to wall distance is less than 20ft. The current neighbor does not have a single window. We currently have three windows in the bedrooms and one in the 2nd floor kids bath. They are for lighting and ventilation. On the wall facing the west street, we had small windows to limit heat exposure in the summer as we are building in the hot climate of deep south. I went ahead and did some changes. On the east side, the bedroom window sizes are increased from 2050 to the standard 3050. On the west side, I added two 3050 windows (one in dining and one in garage). I feel good about the window addition in garage. Just not so sure about the one in dining. Other than heat, it may cause problem for furniture placement. In addition, the small game room windows on front and west have been increased from 2010 to 2020. The two windows in the kitchen have been enlarged too. I made some small changes to the window header height. Some of the windows on the elevations look too close to the eaves so I moved them down about 6”. Not sure if that is that is right. I will verify with the designer and talk to builders. The current design has two small kitchen windows below high cabinets. I proposed to move them up to allow better lighting. Kirkhall-That is an important point and very good question. I always think that the front is on the N street as that is the front setback at on the plat. It is an empty lot in an established subdivision so we have our address already. I need to check with the city to find out where the house address would exactly be located. Or shall I also check with the post office? Lavender Lass- Thank you for your continued support and wish you a very happy new year! We are moving slowly. Just started to get cost estimate on the build. The W street is not busy. There are only about 10 homes up on that street. Our house is close to the sole entrance gate. No through traffic. Windows on the west side wall are limited and relatively small as we are concerned about the very hot summer climate here. Yes. Guests are going to park on the street in front our house. The house has a front setback of 20ft along that side so I think that is supposed to be the front unless we apply for a variance. AnnieDeighnaugh- I appreciate your comments. We have struggled a lot regarding the kitchen layout and tried different designs with help from people in the kitchen forum. I understand that the up-down island orientation would make a lot of sense in normal situations. In our case, the area is about 15ft by 16ft which is limited by the walls supporting the second floor game room. We need another 1-2ft to rotate the island 90 degree. The sink is placed on the corner so that we have more prep area to the left of the sink and in front of the fridge. Based on the prep sink size, we would probably about 2’6” landing to the other side of the sink behind the cook area. I was first worried about the island as a barrier between the cooktop and the fridge too. Just hope the problem won’t be that severe as it does not cut into the traffic much and we do have about 4ft island clearance both ways. Yes. There is a potential problem with the oven door and the pantry door being open at the same time. We may change the swing door to a pocket door to the pantry. The game room has windows along three walls. The ones on the back provide some views to the back yard and the rest are just for lighting/ventilation/exteriors. I did increase the small windows of 2010 to 2020. The front elevation needs a lot of work to make it look right. I have no idea about the front door-pediment-roof pitch proportions. I would bring the issue to the designer and certainly appreciate any comments here. Many Thanks! JF Attached are elevations with some changes to the windows. I did it on the CAD file from the designer just to illustrate some of the ideas (more windows, larger windows, lower window header, front door with vertical panels). Front Back Left Right

Kordes roses are very healthy ... I see Kordes Flower-Carpet series perform best in both dry and wet weather. Here's an excerpt from below link how how hardy & no-spray Kordes roses are for cold-zones: http://www.denverrosesociety.org/education/Kordes_Roses.pdf The ADR is both one of the highest awards a rose variety can attain, and one of the most severe trials for roses worldwide. It is a three year evaluation of new varieties in 11 locations throughout Germany. The plants are given no protection in this challenging Northern European climate. No plant protection sprays are used. Of the 102 varieties which have received this designation since 2000, 42 were bred by Kordes. Fairy Tale™ Roses are Kordes’ answer to David Austin. Among them are: Cinderella Fairy Tale™ 2003 Healthy foliage; light-pink, abundant, very full flowers; excellent for hedges/ Grimm Brothers Fairy Tale™ 2002 ADR; healthy foliage; brilliant, very double, orange/apricot flowers with a yellow reverse; blooms in clusters; slight fragrance; Lions Fairy Tale™ 2002 ADR; vigorous, glossy, extremely healthy foliage; upright and elegant plant; cream white flowers age to apricot/pink; slight fragrance; Pomponella Fairy tale™ 2006 ADR; vigorous, healthy foliage; proliferate bloomer; dark pink, round buds open to cupped blooms borne in clusters; species rose scent; Vigorosa Roses are a group of vigorous, continuous-blooming, healthy, landscape and ground cover roses in a range of vibrant colors. Fragrances are slight. The catalog lists Apricot, Fortuna (pink), Toscana (raspberry red), Salmon, Ruby, Innocencia (white), and Sweet (crimson pink). Frilly Toscana looks especially interesting. Climbing Max is a collection of the most beautiful and disease resistant climbers recently created by Kordes. They are: Kordes Aloha/Aloha Hawaii™ 2003 Very double blooms of apricot, orange, pink and red come in trusses of up to ten blooms with a delicate, fruity fragrance. Amadeus™ 2003 Classic, brilliant, blood red blooms come continually in trusses of 5 to 7 with a slight fragrance. Gold Medals from The Hague, Lyon and Geneva. Kordes Golden Gate™ 2006 ADR; Double, golden yellow blooms come in trusses of 5 to 10 with intense fresh citrus scent. Prix de Parfum winner, Paris. Jasmina™ 2005 ADR; has an abundance of violet-pink flowers with a rich, sweet fragrance. Laguna™ 2004 ADR; has deep pink, very double old-fashioned blooms with intense fruity fragrance. Kordes Moonlight™ 2004 Semi-double, copper-yellow blooms in clusters of 4 to 6 have rich fragrance. Rosanna™ 2002 Brilliant, double, salmon-pink climber with deeply cupped blooms that come in large trusses. Slight fragrance. Gold Medals from The Hague, Lyon and Geneva. Veranda™ Roses, also known as the Flower Circus series, are a group of compact floribundas for gardeners with limited space. The plants of this series range between 2 and 3 feet when mature, making them perfect for small spaces and patio containers. All have slight fragrance. Flower sizes appear to be those of large mini-floras. Balconia™ Roses are low-growing, trailing plants, ideal for hanging baskets and planters placed on walls. All of them have a uniform spreading habit, appealing blooms in interesting colors, abundant one-inch flowers borne in clusters with good repeat, and abundant semi-glossy to glossy foliage. Besides Raspberry, the plants come in white (Innocencia), salmon/pink (Electric), Hot Pink, Apricot and red (Toscana). Fruitilia™ Roses do double duty. In addition to lovely garden blooms in the summer, these varieties will produce sprays of rose hips for fall and winter cutting. The hips vary in size and color from plant to plant. All of the Fruitilias are productive and easy to maintain with a long vase life, and are available in a choice of colors including coffee, orange and red. Freelander™ Roses are cutting garden roses, bred for a long vase life. Fragrances are moderate to strong. Some of these are: Caramel Antique Freelander™ is a large-flowered, elegant, buff-yellow variety with a vase life of 12 days. Cinderella Freelander™ is a moderately fragrant. Abundant, glossy foliage, good fragrance, and a vase life of 8 to 10 days. Corrie Freelander™ is a relatively carefree plant with spectacular hot pink blooms carried on long stems. Vase life is 12 days. Fantasia Mondiale Freelander™ produces large, double, apricot/pink blooms on long stems with semi-glossy abundant foliage. Vase life is 10 days. Ice Girl Freelander™ is a vigorous, white rose that is extremely weather-resistant. Has intense fragrance, hybrid tea form and a vase life of 6 to 8 days. Magma Freelander™ is one of the leading cut roses in European markets. It is an eye-catching yellow/red bi-color with hybrid tea form and a vase life of two weeks. The Kordes Hybrid Teas listed below are both beautiful and healthy. Berolina 1986 This rose is hardy and robust enough to survive almost total neglect on our back fence. It has long-lasting, high-centered, lemon-yellow blooms with a slight red blush. Beverly 2007 This is a recent Kordes release, and is on the Macon wish list. The color is a luscious mix of several shades of pink, and the centers are high. Its intense, fruity fragrance won the Perfume Award at Baden-Baden in 2008. Grand Amore 2004 ADR. This Gold Medal winner has been in my garden for two years, and is already a favorite. It is a very vigorous, hardy plant that produces large, high-centered, bright red, non-fading flowers contrasted with dark green foliage on long stems that just beg to be cut. La Perla 2008 This rose is for you if you aren’t interested in showing all of your hybrid teas, but want a vigorous, hardy, gorgeously old-fashioned rose. Parole/Buxom Beauty 2001 Depending on where you order this rose, it will be called one name or another. It really is a buxom beauty, and a true show rose. The large, deep-pink blooms with a burgundy edge are consistently high-centered. The plant is very disease resistant and has shiny green leaves, long stems, exceptional hardiness and vigor. To complete this prize package, its rich, intense scent won Perfume Awards in Madrid and Nantes. From Steve Singer at Wisconsin Roses, budded on multiflora. Valencia 1989 This rose is a high-centered, very large-flowered, apricot show rose. It is also a true garden classic, being very showy in the front of a border, as it is not a tall plant. Mine is on its own roots and has been totally hardy and floriferous for 10 years. Winner of the Henry Edland Medal for fragrance. If you are growing roses along Colorado’s front range, chances are there is already a Kordes rose or two in your garden. Mine include floribundas Nicole, Iceberg (Schneewittchen), Sunsprite (Friesia) and Gold Marie; climbers Summerwine, Rosarium Uetersen, Ilse Krohn and Dortmund; Red Ribbons (Mainaufeuer) shrublet; grandiflora Vera Johns; and hybrid teas Bride’s Dream, Folklore, Helen Naude, Liebeszauber and Sandra. All are hardy and disease resistant. Credit for this article goes to Palatine Roses, which supplied the literature. Carol Macon, Consulting Rosarian" http://www.denverrosesociety.org/education/Kordes_Roses.pdf

I’ve been very impressed with my new roses this year, however many haven’t been truly tested yet. I have several standouts so far though. DA Buttercup. Look at the rich gold color on this bloom! Just lovely. It smells like honeysuckle which takes me right back to when I was a little girl running around all summer sipping on the sweet blooms. I purchased this one because my daughter’s nickname is Buttercup (I used to sing the ”My Little Buttercup” song from The Three Amigos to her when she was a baby 😋) but I am surprised how much I love this rose. It’s growing well in part shade and has not experienced any disease yet. This one is another surprise to me. Lover’s Blush from Heirloom. I’ve actually been reimbursed for this plant by Heirloom due to the amount of canker it arrived with but I decided to quarantine it in a container and see if I could pull it through. I still don’t know if it will survive but it managed this one stunning, huge bloom so far and I’ve made up my mind to replace it next year if it dies. This bloom is deeply cupped and packed with petals, and about 4” wide wide. It has a sweet floral/myrrh fragrance and while myrrh is not one that I like, there are enough other notes to pass the sniff test. Lady of the Mist. I purchased two of these because reviews stated how exceptionally this rose performed in part shade. That’s been true for me too. These two have put on a ton of new growth, even as own root, and nearly continually bloom. They receive about 4-5 hours of sun and pump out these gorgeous, strongly tea scented blooms. The drawback is that being in so much shade they are more susceptible to black spot and mildew but I hope that will improve with maturity.