I don't know if rock salt would be safe for chickens or not, - but, I wouldn't use it. The best way to get rid of poison ivy is to pull it, bag it, and put it in the garbage. Of course, use gloves - disposable gloves so you can throw them away too. Or sometimes I use the plastic bags that grocery stores use to pack your groceries. Insert your hand into the bag - grab and pull the poison ivy (the bag is like the glove) - then, invert the bag over the ivy and dispose it all in the trash. Do not burn it and do not compost it. Hope this helps.

lette_04- I've been through several brands of salt grinders over the years. My first grinder I bought from King Arthur Flour Company was an Emsa, but it had a small chamber and was difficult to change the grind. I now use it to grind whole nigella seeds (a nice change-of-pace taste to black pepper). We had a set of small and large G'Rabbit grinders (has ears that look like a rabbit and they were almost a kitchen "pet"). Very easy to use with one hand, but we managed to break the ears on one of the small ones, and both sizes were messy. Fast forward several years.... I have a pair of OXO salt and pepper grinders I really like, and OXO has several different styles available. The ones I have are at the Amazon link below. I purchased mine at K-Mart, on sale, for about half the Amazon price. You can easily change the coarseness of the grind with your thumb (5 choices of grind). They are easy to use if you have a small hand (with a nice soft grip), they don't take up much cabinet space and are easy to refill. Because they store with the grinder up, you don't have a mess where ever you store them. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: OXO Salt Grinder

I don't want the slate rock ledger stone on the back side of my pool to be dull looking so I thought I would seal it with a gloss or semi-gloss stone sealer. Has anybody done this before and how long can you expect the sealant to last in a salt water pool? The only exposure to the water will be from the splashing. My hope is the sealant will give it a more vibrant look and allow more sun reflection. thoughts? I assume there are similar issues that apply for concrete sealers close to the pool.

Hi - I have a SWG and have a stacked flagstone weeping wall, as well as a stacked flagstone spa spillover and neither have shown any signs of erosion, corrosion, or pitting despite water running continuously over these things 6 hours each day. I've had the pool since August of 2006. I have done quite a bit of research on this topic, and much of what's out there is very anecdotal, even the stories written about in the link that kurtv provided. However, given my research and personal experience with these things, this is what I know: - many people forget that chlorine is just as much a corrosive as salt is! In fact, what makes salt (NaCl from High School Chemistry) corrosive is the Cl (Chlorine) part of the molecule. - many SWG owners are under the impression that having a SWG means no longer having to watch their water. I hear so many SWG owners say that their pool is so great and worry-free that all they have to do is dump a bag of salt in once or twice a season! If you don't watch your water, it could turn into a really corrosive agent! - another thing to watch out for - stabilizer (CYA or cyanuric acid) levels. Stabilizer is required in outdoor chlorine (yes, salt pools ARE chlorine pools as well) pools because it helps reduce the breakdown of chlorine via the sun's UV rays. But more importantly, one side-effect of not having enough stabilizer is that it magnifies the corrosive effects of chlorine! For example, with little or no stabilizer, chlorine at normal levels (4-5 ppm) actually becomes a 30x STRONGER disinfectant AND oxidizer! Now guess where the corrosion comes from? Having said all this, my conclusion? Enjoy your SWG, but PLEASE watch your water! Having a SWG doesn't mean you don't have to watch your water, but in fact the opposite. I test my Cl and pH levels every 2 days, and test TA, CH, and CYA levels weekly. I know people who take their water to Leslie's for testing only every month or so!