Why no gutters? I am seeing a lot more of this lately and I am not sure what's behind this trend. Any type of overhanging eaves without a gutter system will produce a very distinct drip line and depending on your climate, can cause drainage issues in the immediate area as well as problems with snow and ice in winter. The short answer is that even groundcovers will not be happy with a constant (or very regular) dripping of rainwater from the roof line and generally develop less healthy, thinned growth or even die out along this line. Larger plants, if thoughtfully selected, can often withstand this activity much better, but my first choice would be for a gutter system and avoid the problem entirely. Although the NW has a reputation for being a wet climate, our rainfall tends to be very light - more of a mist or prolonged drizzle, sometimes lasting months :-) Certainly not the downpours or gully washers that are common elsewhere. And even with our normal light type of rain, driplines from gutterless roofs are distinct and unsightly and difficult to disguise.

As someone who lives in a tich cooler climate than you do, I can say that this works, but there are gotchas. The amphitheatre approach won't raise the nighttime temperatures, but will raise the daytime temps. This means that the plant's leaves may be evaporating water while the roots remain too cold to transport water. If you do this, then water in late afternoon, early evening, or use it in conjuction with heat storage tricks, such as a forest of 5 gallon water buckets. We used this last summer to get ripe tomatoes. Our summers are typically 65-75 F and tomatoes don't rippen reliably. Put us chunks of concrete reenforcing mesh, covered with plastic, but left one side open, and we had ripe tomatoes starting in August.

I think what may be causing the concern here is the use of ABS pipe, which under the Plumbing Codes is limited solely to DWV(drain,waste & vent) piping, however it must be understood that a municipal water supplier is not governed by the Plumbing Code. They are governed by a separate "Municipal Water & Sewer code, which is far stricter than the plumbing codes. First of all, let us consider codes as a whole. In general the Building Codes, I.E. Foundation Code, Framing Code, Mechanical Code & Electrical code exist to insure the safety of anyone who lives or works within the finished structure and even though an inspector can issue a "Stop order" and bring a contractor to court where they may be assessed a substantial fine for non compliance, as a whole the potential liability is limited solely to those who may occupy the structure. On the other hand, the Plumbing codes and Municipal Water & Sewer Codes are not building codes, they are Health Codes that exist to insure the continued safety of the Public Water Supply and whereas a violation of the building codes may pose a potential safety hazard for the occupants of the immediate structure, a serious violation of the Plumbing Codes & Municipal Water & Sewer Codes could pose a serious health risk to the entire community at large. For this reason, most Plumnbing Inspectors are sworn officers of the court, just the same as a police officer, and they carry a badge and have full arrest powers. Not only can a plumbing inspector order you to stop work, they can order all occupants of a structure to leave the structure immediately and not return until the violation has been corrected and inspected, and in an instance where the violation might pose a threat of contamination to the public water supply, the Plumbing inspector can arrest all parties involved in the violation and they can be held both civily and criminally liable for any health issues that might arrise from their action. Many people have taken exception with me here on this forum because I am a stickler for code in my responses. You are absolutely correct that I am a bit overzealous about code issues, but I will make no appologies for insistance upon following the rules to protect the public health. To do anything less would be both morally and legally reprehensible on my part. In fact, if I were to follow the letter of the code, I would not be permitted to provide most of the answers that I do post, by example: Under the plumbing code a homeowner, property owner or thier delegates may perform "Maintenance" on their plumbing system as a self help project, but technically they may not perform any "Plumbing". The question then becomes, what is Maintenance and what is plumbing? Maintenance is the act of maintaining an existing system in its current state of design, thus you could change out a pipe, fitting or fixture providing you replace it with a like kind pipe, fitting or fixture and do not alter the routing of the pipes in any manner. Technically the act of adding on to a plumbing system or altering the location of pipes is defined as "Plumbing" and in most jurisdictions it requires a permit and inspection. Most jurisdictions will allow a homeowner to perform plumbing on their structure providing the structure is the primary domicile of the property owner and his/her immediate family, however they are still bound to all the code requirements for the job at hand. With that in mind, it can be said that the under limited circumstances the plumbing code will allow people to work on the system with absolutely no prior knowledge of the trade. The Municipal Water and Sewer codes are much stricter. Under the municipal water and sewer codes no one except a bonafide employee of the municipal water supplier may even touch a municipal water line. You can be a Licensed Master Plumber running a new water line for a house and you would still be required to stop within 4' of the municipal line, then have the municipal water supplier personel come out and make the final connection. If anyone thinks the Plumbing codes are strict, they should try working under the Municipal codes for a few days. Not only do the codes specify what types of pipe may be used and the manner that the joints are to be made, it further specifies the level of training and experience required before an individual may make the joint. Under the plumbing codes, in the course of building a house we generally take every precaution to prevent dirt from getting in the pipe, but lets be honest here, occassionally a bit of sand or sawdust does get in the pipe. We simply flush the pipes thoroughly and call it a day, but under the Municipal code if they get any ditt in a pipe while making an underground repair, the are obligated by law to make an immediate public announcement of the fact. (We have all heard the public service announcements on our news broadcasts where a municipal water supplier issues a warning to use bottled water or boil all potable water for the next 24 hours). Becasue a continued supply of clean potable water is considered vital to the public health, the municipal water suppliers are permitted a certain ammount of lattitude to make a temporary repair to keep the water flowing while the permanent repairs are being completed. In fact, I have seen them actually use a 6" fire hose to bypass a line for a city block, but you can rest assured that they are at a minimum, taking daily samples of that water and testing it to insure the public health.

My windows are 36" wide and too long for redishades to work well. I bought inexpensive, single-bed, flat sheets. For each window, I folded a sheet over at the top and used 3 thumbtacks along the fold to attach the sheet to the top side of the molding. The sheet hangs down to the floor. The thumbtacks are hidden by the fold, and the foldover makes a valance. I use a shoelace, which I attached to the side of the molding with another thumbtack, as a tieback during the day. At night I untie the shoelace, and we have privacy. The sheet is wider than my windows, and the extra material drapes (pun?) gracefully to the side. If I had had any idea that my temporary curtains would still be in use 11 months later, I would have done a neater job with the thumbtacks. Here is a link that might be useful: