"I was kind of surprised that so many owners let their dogs come over and sniff and interact. Cricket was happy about this but I wasn't that pleased to have several dogs come over to her after her experience. She, in turn, wanted to go over and see any other animal that was brought in. Does that mean she is ok about other dogs? Should I be watching for some behavior that would indicate a problem?" Cricket is young yet but still she was attacked and it was a pretty aggressive attack from the wounds she suffered. I would watch her very carefully. If another dog shows any aggression or even alerts, perked ears and direct eye contact, I bet Cricket will react and how she will react is unknown and this can change with maturing too. She could react with aggression or maybe lay down or maybe go between your legs or try to run away. But you will have to be aware of her behavior around other dogs. Cricket's body language will tell you what she is going to do, but you will have to recognize her signals and either comfort her fear or correct her. You must always praise for good behavior, not okay behavior but correct behavior. If she is fearful, not aggessive but just a bit fearful, just pat her head and when she looks up to you for assurance say "Good girl"! And when you have to correct her, say a collar correction and a "NO" and she obeys by stopping whatever she is doing always, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, reward with "Good Girl"! My dogs would rather have 1 "Good girl/boy" then an entire prime rib!! If you, the owner, are afraid of the situation, Cricket is going to pick up your fear and react to that. Again, this can be a touchy situation. It is hard to hide our own feelings as the dog will pick up everything in our body language. For instance, when we lived in the city I walked my dog 3 times a day. It was the weirdest thing but he would grumbled at illegally parked cars and it did not matter if they were in the alley or on the street. I always thought this was so funny that he recognized illegally parked cars until I figured out that he was picking up on my own disgust at the strange cars and the total disregard for our neighborhood! I can tell from the wounds that Cricket was submitting when she was attacked. She was on her back and had turned her hind end towards the other dogs. This is submissive behavior and usually the dominant dog will only sniff then and not attack. Something else was going on during the attack or maybe prior to it and I am just not experienced enough to see it. I have a friend that can tell by the wound what drive the biter was in, but this takes years and years of observation. Another interesting point is that the aggressor usually has head wounds only, as they are going into a fight head first and it is the submissive dog that suffers body wounds usually neck, hind area, feet and stomach. Drives are so interesting and a dog can go from 1 drive to another very fluidly. For instance if you throw a ball and the dog runs after it, this is Prey Drive. But when he returns it to you, as a fetch, this is Pack Drive. Herding is just a fetch, so usually done in Prey Drive, and again when the dog brings the sheep in to the owner, this is Pack Drive. Fight is not hard to understand and any dog no matter how submissive and loving does have Fight Drive, it might be very low, but it is always there. Flight is the one drive, I've seen only a few times, and mostly with a young dog or pup. But any animal fleeing for his life is scared and therefore the behavior is unpredictable and many bites occur during Flight Drive. For instance, I had a friend that I trained with for a time. She had her dog strapped into his seat belt next to her when she came to class. One time, a fire truck passed them and the dog was startled by the siren and lights and bit the owner right on the face. The dog could not flee and so bite out of fear. This was not the dog's fault as he was just scared and did not know what to do. The owner should have had the dog in the car more often so the dog was socialized to traffic situations. And the dog should not have been in the front seat. Each individual dog can vary in the level of pack, prey, fight or flight drive. Personally, I've never had a dog high in fight or flight drive and I don't think I would want a dog high in flight or fight. Cricket will be fine, but I do think you should be aware of her behavior when interacting with other dogs. Personally, because of what happened to my own pup and her dog aggression that I've never been able to work out of her, I am very careful with strange dogs approaching my puppies. Other puppies or young dogs are generally no problem, but mature dogs could cause another negative situation. Don't avoid other dogs, keep your dog on lead and watch carefully the dogs, all the dogs, body language. If you see anything you are hesitant about don't let Cricket make any decisions, put Cricket in a heel and walk away from the situation. The more you work with your dog, especially in obedience, the more confident the dog will be in you and in turn, in himself. Michelle

cindy, here is a picture of the cabs above my range: The door to the left is as low as it can go, and is 1/4" higher than the double doors in the middle. The rightmost "door" is actually a fixed end panel, and is under 1/8" off from the doors in the middle. No way to line them all up. Note that the bottoms of the cabs flanking the hood are perfectly aligned, so this is not an installation problem. A closeup of the left transition (please overlook my GC's attempt at using filler pieces): The drawers in the island have some major variation (5/16") also, but it could probably have been fixed if we or the GC had noticed it before the pulls went on. :( In Starmark's defense, I did not call this to their attention, so gave them no opportunity to make it right. Remodel fatigue -- I decided to live with it, and I don't notice it anymore. allison, those pendants are Pottery Barn. They originally came with chains, but I really dislike chains for pendants, so my GC replaced them with the fabric-covered wire.

no-green-thumb, SO sorry to hear of your estimate troubles. We encountered a similar hitch in our patio plans when we went to a local upscale landscape and design center. It cost us $500 just to get a personal visit and recommended plan. For this price, we could look at the plan, but not keep it unless we hired the center to do the work. If we liked the plan but chose not to use the center, we would have to pay an additional $500 - $1,000 for just the plan. Anyway, you get the idea. The plan they came up with was nice, but pricey, at $19,000 for a flat patio with a step down from the house, and no seating walls or plantings (hardscape only). The plan did use a very nice paver block - Brussels. So we decided to get another estimate from a small operation, and to make a long story shorter . . . we can get a larger patio with a seating wall around the whole thing, lighting wiring, a sidewalk and grill area for $20,000 with the same Brussels block. While I still think this is expensive, I'm much happier with the low overhead, down-to-earth operation than the big-wig outfit. The patio will be over 500 square feet, plus a sidewalk, seating walls with pillars, and a grill area. We were initially hoping for something in the $10,000 - $15,000 range. We didn't give either company a budget amount, because we knew what we wanted, but figured if it were too expensive that we'd just wait and save more money. I think it is most unfortunate that your landscape designer failed to listen to your wishes as to budget and size. The cell phone etiquette thing seems to be a widespread problem everywhere. You'll probably have better results with the other recommended contractors. Please keep us posted. Jan

At least they were nice enough to give you early warning. It doesn't always happen that way. I can understand your losing sleep and watching TV in the wee hours. I do not know what kind of work you do and what kinds of skills you have, but I will make some general suggestions based on what worked for me. I took early retirement at age 59 in 1995, when my pharmaceutical company reorganized and offered me a package that enhanced the benefits to which I was entitled. It was not enough to live on, and it felt like stepping off a cliff. I "re-engineered" myself and started working at home. It was very hard at first because I am not very good at promoting my services. Assignments offered to me by strangers were small and not very gratifying from either the financial or the work satisfaction perspectives. But eventually just 3 or 4 old colleagues came forward and have over the years offered me good assignments. Although working on your own is different and has its ups and downs, as I look back on my experience now that I am 72, I would say that working at home has been the most gratifying chapter in my career. Of course, my situation may not be "typical." Everyone's is different. I had a skill set that easily transferred to the new situation. What you need to do, I think, is try very hard not to let your negative emotions dominate the situation. Think through, even fantasize, the kinds of things you like to do and how your work experiences and skills can be put to use in new settings. Try to figure out how you might offer your services as an independent self-employed person. It is much easier to do this now because of the computer and the Internet. It would not be inappropriate to talk to people about your tentative plans, people you can trust to keep your confidence. Since you will be in unchartered waters, the rules are different and there are a lot of impromptu activities and connections that can blossom into something very good for you. Change is always frightening and challenging, especially if you have been in a good job for a long time. But change can also be refreshing. Best wishes for a bright future.