I was not arrested for felonious behavior! and it's all behind me for the time being. I am enjoying a glass of Pinot Grigio. My brother was effectively "beside himself" when I arrived at his home; I knew because he was puttering around making up flashing for his garage... . I asked him what he thought was going to "go down" and we decided our strategy would be to let them direct things and interject when the opportunities arose. They were pretty much stunned when I walked into the room, a lot of sideways glances at each other. :) (wimpy handshakes, too... didn't look me in the eyes). Meeting started with a discussion of how disruptive Mum has been in the past two weeks; I asked for details of the "events" and asked who had witnessed them. Details were scarce. I asked about the time of day they occured; typically late afternoon... "sun downers"? yes, suspected. They asked US what they were going to do? I suggested using the "scientific method" and begin by checking the basics... "how much water is Mum drinking daily?" didn't know. "She must have 48 oz./day to maintain adequate hydration and keep her neo-bladder and the requisite urinary pouch from becoming a breeding ground for UTIs"; we measure fluids in cc s. "Don't you have a conversion chart? I'm sure you could download one in a few seconds... "; silence. "What has the stoma nurse at the medical facility next door had to offer?"; we didn't call her, we didn't think it was necessary. "You didn't think it might be a good idea to establish a rapport with a stoma nurse NEXT DOOR when you clearly had no practical experience with urostomies and were unable to adequately change the appliance for the better part a month? If I may be so blunt, that seems like common sense to me. Moreover, my mother has had 2 UTIs in 4 months, she has 1 in 39 mos. with me, and brought that one home from a rehab. center.". Embarrassed silence, during which time I presented the nurse with a ton of literature on urostomies from Conva Tec, as well as their hotline number, a contact name, AND the name of the area Conva Tec representative (all are very well trained). We asked about exercise, fresh air, outings... minimal. Not surprising. The the head administrator and director of nursing arrived shortly thereafter. The admin. guy "strongly" objected to our blunt assessment of their ability to manage an urostomy patient. "Well, the proof of the pudding is in the eating... the reality IS that your facility utterly failed to provide the most basic adherence to the fundamentals. I don't want to hear any more about your credentials... I want to see you start using them.". I suspect they don't often get legal guardians like my brother and me. Upshot? the replacement hearing aids, increased hydration, and greater attention to the fundamentals of urostomy care, as well as increased exercise OUTDOORS are to be the focus of the new "program" for the short term. It was made very clear to them that medicating a elderly woman "livn' in her own private Idaho" WASN'T going to be the first option. Not when they'd failed so utterly and miserably on the very points of concern my brother raised repeatedly before admitting Mum. Then we talked about the hearing aids and the "loss" of Mum's personal property. And it was made perfectly clear that the missing items are to be replaced in a timely manner and that the inconvenience it has caused is not to be repeated. I will be following this up with strongly worded letter. My big brother has, I think, a new appreciation for his little sister (he calls me his "little pit bull"; I hate dogs!). He remarked that watching me write down names and take notes blew him away! and he quietly thanked me 2 times for coming down for the meeting. It's been a tough month for him; he's lost 2 friends, and one of his cats, and has been beating himself up over selecting the wrong place for Mum. I told him not to waste time on the latter... there are no guarantees and trusting people are often the ones prone to "guilt". I teased him, telling him I really did understand just how it felt to be absolutely overwhelmed... "yeah, now I get it". I'm whipped. Traffic was dreadful coming home. Sue, the sickest I've been in my life was with Lyme Disease. I don't doubt you must feel some crummy! did the do a Lyme titer on you? Check out the New England FAQ for my story and my insights on that. Take good care, we need more people like you in our world! Hi to everyone else; I promise to reread with a less distracted mind, but know I think of you guys every single day in one way or another.

This is a fantastic thread and thank you to all of the contributors! I find mason bees fascinating. I would like to expand my mason bee housing, I only started last year. I have a couple of questions for DIY houses. I think I would like to go the paper tube route. It seems parchment paper seems to work perhaps better than brown paper bag? I have bags but easily can buy a roll of parchment if it fairs better with moisture (pacific north west). Drilling hole size if I used a solid wood block: If I use parchment, do I drill 5/16" still. With paper bag, do I drill 3/8" as the paper takes up space or still go 5/16". I am going to buy a long drill bit (about 16") and use my drill press to get deep holes. Don't really want to buy 2 bits :) . My other option is to rip 5/16" square grooves in 1" think boards and then line with tubes. The tubes will prevent the spread of mites etc between wood layers correct? This is far faster for me (rip the grooves vs. drilling a solid block) and I already have the dado blade and table saw, as well as the wood. Comments and suggestions greatly appreciated!

I'm not really counting the hot tub or mud room porches. The hot tub is for my husband (and he loves it) and the mudroom porch is functional, not really decorative. This means all I'm being held accountable for (so to speak) is the greenhouse/sun porch and the screened porch. Since the screened porch is for eating outside and close to the BBQ (which will be just beyond it) my husband really likes that, too. So, I guess I just had to convince him about the greenhouse/sun porch...and he knows how much I really want that for gardening/winter sunshine :) We really like the changes to the kitchen and no one seems to mind the slightly longer walk to the living room, in exchange for more separation/noise control. Of course, we're not used to the living room and kitchen open to each other, so that might be one reason it won't be missed. We have a 7' wall now, which blocks the view, but not the noise. Just in case Summerfield stops by and decides to update my new kitchen layout, I have a few more changes (small ones) to the rest of the plan. The cool farm sink with drainboards, would be great out in the sun porch, against the wall to the ovens. With the screened porch for entertaining, this can be more of a greenhouse/small seating area...and we're moving the door to be opposite the sink. The lilacs don't go quite that far back and it will be easier access to the vegetable garden. This would also give us space for a small table with two chairs (bistro style) on the sink side and maybe a couple of wicker chairs on the other end. Since we're moving the sink, I'd still like a sink in the utility room, but something a bit smaller with more storage space around it. And, the front door/vestibule, I'd like to change that to a single glass door instead of double doors, since it will usually be kept closed. As for the basement door...anyway to make that a pocket door, but with glass? Thank you all for your suggestions, insight and help! Especially Summerfield, not only for the beautiful plans, but the constant support, great ideas and amazing changes that came up with this final plan! :)

I saw on a cottage show on tv that a gazebo owner installed double screens (back to back) which prevented the rain from penetrating the gazebo. I researched this on line and could not find any reference to this. I am going to buy some screen and try it out on one of my gazebo walls. I hope it works and I hope you can still see clearly out. I thought of another idea if the double screen does not work. You can buy clear heavy weight plastic at your local Fabric stores. It is sold in rolls just like a bolt of material. I believe it is sold in different widths, up to 60 inches wide or so. I thought of stapling the sheet of plastic on a 1 inch by 2 inch piece of wood to create a header or top. At the bottom staple a 2 inch X 2 inch piece of wood (the thicker piece of wood would be heavier creating a bit of weight to hold the blind down). Drill a hole on each end of the top header. Fasten a nail or screw in the interior of the gazebo (matching the holes you drilled in the header. Hook the blinds on the nails or screws. When you do not want to use the plastic blinds, you can simply remove them and roll them up by hand and store them. It would take seconds to install these blinds and it should stop the rain from coming in. If you have strong winds in your area, you can fasten the bottom of the blinds using wing nuts. Just a thought..... Cheaper than installing window screens. Also once you install window screens on a screen porch or gazebo it does not feel the same anymore...