Ryan, I do believe About Face IS the name on this one! I'm glad you know your roses! The varieties have become a giant blur when it comes to names... I've looked at so many tags, planted so many roses this season... I can't remember them all. I have a huge tag making project coming up, so I'll be making a list of what we do have. I'll try to remember to share it. We bought a roll of aluminum roof flashing, a set of good tin snips, and we already have an electric engraver and a hole punch. I plan to cut my own tags, engrave them with each name, punch a hole at one end, and hang the tags so we have a permanent way to identify each rose. Plastic and wooden tags do not last more than one season here. As we are in zone 5, b to be exact, we have learned to avoid grafted roses. J&P are known for lovely, and expensive, mostly grafted roses. We've discovered that the way to go is own-root roses. These will actually survive one zone lower in temperature than their grafted counterparts, I'm told... with a little protection, of course. We've also discovered that it's better for us to buy roses that are grown/propagated in a climate similar to our own. Many rose growers and retailers seem to be located, or get their stock from, southern states... namely Texas. We've learned that there are many wonderful roses being bred specifically for growth by northern gardeners, and we're relishing this discovery! It's best if we avoid grafted, tea type, tree, and other types that prefer mild winters. Our collection includes Canadian, German, Iowa Buck, a few English, and many old fashioned hardy and species varieties. If a rose requires more than a good mulching, we don't want it. We have too much to do already, so having to take special precautions to save a rose over winter is simply not feasible. For you, I would guess roses that can take the extreme heat are ones you prefer to purchase. Hybridizers are finally beginning to meet the needs of the different climates, and our choices are growing. Sedona is a beauty, indeed... but I do believe it's rated for zone 6 or 7. It would never survive here. Be sure to post photos when it blooms for you! I would love to see that! Harry the cat, and all of our animals here, are acclimated to our changing seasons... they grow and shed appropriate coats depending on what time of year it is. The dogs are lucky to have a heated kennel... spoiled, actually! When our kennel was in full swing many years ago, we had our American Bulldogs housed outdoors. They were on chains and runs, with 50 gallon drum doghouses. When stuffed with straw, and having the dog inside, one of these doghouses was a steady 55 degrees in winter... even when the temperature and wind chill dipped below zero. Dogs shiver for various reasons... pain, fear, nervous habit, and not always just to keep warm... 50 degrees is very comfortable to a dog with a decent coat of fur. A cozy temperature for us would be considered almost too warm for a dog. The cats usually hide out in the horse barn. They have cubbyholes between the bales of straw or hay, and you can usually find a cat pile of napping kitties. Harry's harem and their offspring! As an aside, I was watering my indoor garden last night, and I noticed that a majority of bulbs are overdue for a fresh pot of soil and some grooming. I'll probably be rearranging the jungle once again... very soon! I just brought a load of plants inside... tender types, like a banana tree, Crinum, Oxalis, Alstromeria, some Brugs, etc... the question now is... where will I put them?! They're presently crowded on a basement table! Ok... I've rambled enough... tell me about the roses you have, Ryan... what varieties do you find work best in your climate?

robinson Anything that is powered from your main electrical service - outlets, switches, and lights is best done (if you can afford it) when the house is under construction. For example, I added a "Christmas package" which turned out to be a set of outdoor outlets around the house on a 20 amp dedicated circuit that I can plug xmas lights into, that are all tied to a single switch in the garage (where I can put a timer on it) - no more long extension cords for me. Something like that is very easy to add now, very hard to add after the house is done. Another great example of something to do now is recessed lighting. Much less cost to do it now, more cost and a big mess after house is done. Items like wiring for phones, whole house audio, video , computer networks can be added now or later. I took the approach of only putting in wires where I knew on move in day (or shortly there after) that I would need a phone, computer, or TV. One exception was speaker wire and (even though whole house audio is at least a year away) because adding speakers later would require cutting drywall in the walls & ceilings and that was a mess I wanted to avoid. Everywhere else where I anticipated the need for connectivity , I used conduit (plastic tubes) so that I could run the wires later. If you have an unfinished basement and will have access to the floors above, you can put these tubes into the wall (like a speaker volume control box) , install plastic gang boxes upstairs, and run the tubes from those boxes to the basement. Once the tubes are in, it is very easy to pull wires later. The conduit is relatively cheap and gives you the flexibility to pull whatever wires you need, when you need them. For example, I have no TV, phone, or data cables in my 3 second story bedrooms. But I do have wall boxes (with blank plates on them right now) with a conduit tube (some rooms got 2 boxes and 2 tubes) that run from each bedroom all the way down to the basement. I will pull cable to those rooms down the road - no need for cables right now there. To do all of this right you need a plan. You have to layout where you want things now and think about your needs for the future. Then you can decide to whether it makes sense to pull cable or conduit. We ran into budget issues during our build - so I completely understand your dilema. When I got the proposed bill from the eletcrical contractor for all the adds I wanted, plus the bill for voice/data/security pre-wire, I almost fell over. I had to choose either to live without these things or find some other way to get it done. The only way I could get around it was to do some of the electrical work and all security/voice/data/phone myself. It was a lot of work since I had no helpers. By running cables only where I needed them on move in day and conduit everywhere else, I reduced the total time and cost to install. That was the only way I could get what I wanted and keep from...

Nothing wrong with the smell of bacon IMO! I could handle bacon cologne & perfume. Far better than that jug perfume in which old women insist on marinating themselves. Guess they're trying to cover up the "old people" smell. I have avoided scented detergents for a long time and haven't used fabric softener for 10 years or more. I don't like my clothes to smell. When they smell, it tells me to wash them. And the detergent aisles make me cough. AFAIC they should have the detergent and sell the little bottles of stench you can add to it. But if you've ever been around old people, there's a lot of them who can't have a sense of smell. And IMO lilacs should be outlawed as a noxious weed. It's certainly an obnoxious weed. That is probably the worst stench there is.

I've inherited blood pressure and cholesterol problems and also had a severe reaction to Crestor, so I'm strictly on my own when it comes to managing the cholestrol. I've learned, through trial and error, that avoidance of empty, starchy carbs and sugar makes a huge difference in all of my numbers. I typically start my day with a "sludgie" made in a NutriBullet with lots of leafy greens, some fruit, yogurt, nuts, seeds, and a liquid of my choice. I do not avoid fatty foods at all; no fat-free or low-fat anything. Bacon is my friend. But there's no processed food in my pantry, no hidden sugars, no breads, or cereals. I guess I follow a modified Atkins program, with lots of vegetables added to the meat, eggs, and dairy foods. I don't count calories; I'd probably be horrified. Carbs are what I keep track of. I have to watch my weight.....in order to not lose any more. I'm never hungry, that's partly due to the fat in what I eat but also to the absence of sugars and any breads, pasta, cereal. Those foods always made me hungry for more, more, more. Once I more or less recovered from the Crestor issues, I was left with what has been diagnised as fibromyalgia. My body failed me rapidly. Fortunately, I am able to take advantage of nearby fitness center where I participate in water aerobic classes, yoga, pilates, muscle machines and training, and just plain swimming for fun. I initially used a trainer (PT) to work with me on my strength and muscles, and she was a huge help. The difference between how I felt and looked before I started going to the center and now is incredible. I was feeling weak, frail, unsteady on my feet, all of which made me feel helpless and very, very old. I'm just old....not very, very! ;-) Oh, my blood work is stellar....no more meds of any kind.