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Do it yourself landscaping without spending a fortune Hi Taylor - I’ve got high hopes for fixing up my yard this summer, but I’m starting to worry I don’t Taylor have the money to make these Kovar dreams come true. Do you have any advice for a DIY landscaper who wants things to look good without spending a fortune? - Jared Hey Jared - This sounds like a worthy goal and I’d love to help. I wouldn’t describe myself as a green thumb, but I have some ideas about how you can spruce things up in a cost-effective way. 1. Use what you have. It sounds like you’re ready to put in some time and effort, and laziness is usually what causes people to overspend on these types of projects. It’s really easy to drop $300 on the materials needed to make a fancy flower bed, whereas it takes a little more time to find old household items that can be deconstructed and repurposed. However, if you waterproof shelves from old desks or place the bars of an old bed frame in the right place, you can create some neat visuals without even going to the store. Think about creating clear, defined areas using whatever materials you have around and then getting affordable plants to make everything look a little nicer. 2. Add some lighting. I’m constantly impressed by what you can do with well placed Christmas lights. There’s no reason your yard can’t look good at night as well as during the day, and using a strand of cheap lights to either line a walkway or decorate some shrubs can go a long way. You don’t have to leave them plugged
To get back at us for walking Cooper so many times, they used my personal kryptonite which is wearing red with the Howe Bulldogs black and white standard colors. They all dawned bright red socks when they took the field which was good for a few laughs. Cooper didn’t get his glory against us. But it’s not an individual game anyway, it’s a team game and winning as a team should be the objective and they
Living with children
in and wasting power throughout the day. These small lights are also a great way to fight frost when the temperature starts dropping below 30 and hurting some of your vegetation.
Are parents responsible for the sort of people their children become? That’s this week’s question, and the answer is no, albeit equivocally.
3. Get water-conscious plants. If you buy exotic flowers and things that need daily watering, you can’t avoid paying that utility. These fancy plants often cost more than some of the heartier options as well. Look into succulents and cactuses and some of the ferns that can get by with just a little bit of hydration. You’ll still be able to keep your yard green and lush looking without providing the same amount of water that jungle plants expect. You can also use nice rocks and other non-living decorations to avoid increasing your water bill.
John Rosemond
If you get creative and put in the effort, I’m sure you can design a lovely landscape that doesn’t break the bank. If you have any luck with the options above, please let me know!
As is the case with every human endeavor, the raising of a child is, never has been, and never will be done perfectly. Furthermore, every human being comes into the world bearing unique traits. Lessons from one’s own childhood as well as prior childrearing experience can be of assistance, but in the final analysis, one learns to be a proper parent to Billy or Susie by raising Billy or Susie. There are general commonsense principles, but there is no one-size-fits-all formula.
Legal Disclaimer: Information presented is for educational purposes only and is not an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. Investments involve risk and, unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Be sure to first consult with a qualified financial adviser and/or tax professional before implementing any strategy discussed herein. To submit a question to be answered in this column, please send it via email to Question@GoFarWithKovar.com or via USPS to Taylor Kovar, 415 S 1st St, Suite 300, Lufkin, TX 75901.
Howe’s That Lowder who has shut down our team that scores 14.5 runs per game. Lowder has pitched a total of 10 innings against us and struck out 20 and allowed one walk and six hits. Our team has struck out only 48 times all year, but nearly half of those are at the hands of Lowder. Our team is hitting .162 vs. Lowder and .551 vs. everyone else. Amazing.
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did that twice and made my face match their socks. In the end, it’s all fun and we’re all Bulldogs. With the win, Kent Lowder would most likely have been the 14U All-Star coach, however, he will be unavailable to make the trip to Longview at the end of the month. Therefore, it falls in my lap to head up the 14U Howe AllStars. Brad Murphy and Josh Daniels will be assistant coaches and the roster will be officially announced after the regular season is over. In this ‘special’ season, Howe will automatically advance to the state tournament which will be held in Longview July 31— August 2. These are my last moments to coach (any sport) and it will be very special and emotional. Daniels and I began coaching this group when they were 6U.
Several parents have recently written me bemoaning the lifestyles their adult children have chosen to lead – lifestyles that feature addictions, criminality, and flagrant irresponsibility. (The operative word in the previous sentence, by the way, is chosen.) “What did we do wrong?” said parents ask, to which my answer is “Something, but so does everyone.”
Parenting is, in other words, a trial-and-error process. Everyone who attempts it, therefore, will commit error. The question becomes: Did the errors made by a certain parent or set of parents determine the trajectory of their child’s life from beginning to end? The notion that parenting is deterministic was proposed by Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939), the so-called “Father of Modern Psychology.” It is because of Freud’s proposition that most therapists attempt to link an individual’s “issues” to features of his or her childhood. Supposedly, the fact that a person’s father was an alcoholic and abandoned the family
explains said person’s chronic codependency, for example. The problem, of course, is that for every codependent with an alcoholic parent there is one whose parents were emotionally healthy people. Dysfunctional people raise functional people, and functional people raise dysfunctional people. When all is said and done, parenting is certainly an influence, but it is impossible to predict, based on a person’s childhood experiences, the direction his life will take. When all is said and done, a person’s present life circumstances are a matter of the choices he’s made, also known as free will. Without free will, there is no personal responsibility; and without personal responsibility, everyone is helpless and hopeless. The further problem is that some adults seem to thrive on blaming their parents (or a parent) for their shortcomings. The individuals in question construct soap operas out of their childhoods in which they are victims of their parents’ villainy. That may be the most destructive form of irresponsibility. It often turns into a life sentence. So, if your adult child is dysfunctional in some way, you may or may not have been an unwitting contributor (people who read parenting materials do not tend to be witting in that regard); nonetheless, it is your adult child’s job to fix it, not yours. Take it from the horse’s mouth, there is nothing so liberating as coming to grips with personal responsibility. Family psychologist John Rosemond: johnrosemond.com, p arentguru.com. John Rosemond has worked with families, children, and parents since 1971 in the field of family psychology. In 1971, John earned his masters in psychology from Western Illinois University and was elected to the Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society.
