I drove by our lot today and saw that it had a "silt fence" surrounding it. I didn't know that was the term for what I saw, but it is the orange material that you see stretched around the perimeter of building sites that is about 2 ft. high. I should have taken a picture, I guess, but they plan to dig the basement next week, so I will take a picture then.

Here's a funny story. DH and I picked out our windows and doors last week. It was a fairly tedious process, consisting of going around the perimeter of the house and deciding on each opening. We are having mostly double-hung windows, but when we got to the master bedroom (at the back of the house) the window guy asked if we might want to do casement windows instead in order to maximize our view of the trees behind our house. Well, I have casement windows (the kind that crank out) now and half of them are stripped and no longer crank. I also have found that the windows rattle when the wind is blowing (too noisy if they are open at night) and sometimes they block the flow of air depending on which way the wind is blowing. Last, but not least, the kids have run into them when they have been open and the kids are playing outside. So, I explained all of this to the window guy and he was a little taken aback, probably because I had barely said anything up to that point. He said "Okaaaay, double-hung windows in the master it is." We all laughed, and then he moved on to the next opening on the back of the house, which is the dining area off the kitchen (which also has a view of the trees). He said "Now, do you want to stick with the double-hung windows here, or....." and I said "Oh, as long as it isn't in the bedroom, I can be creative." I realized what I had said about a half-second too late. The guy gave me a funny look and I immediately looked away and pretended I was studying one of the displays in the showroom. DH totally didn't hear it and the moment (thankfully!) passed. The window guy has a son who is a student at my school, and I run into him in the community from time to time. I told the ladies I eat lunch with what I had done, but I said that I wasn't sure the guy picked up on it. One of my fellow teachers has a husband who is a builder and knows this window guy too, and she told me she is sure he *totally* picked up on it. SO EMBARRASSING! Every once in a while I do or say something that has "blonde" written all over it, and that was definitely one of those times. When I told DH what I had said on the way home, he laughed his head off. Now he keeps coming up to me in the house (but not the bedroom) and saying "Soooo, we're in the kitchen...... (living room, dining room, etc.) feeling creative?" I have a feeling this one will take a while to die. [/QUOTE]