"How can I tell?" Perform paper cut test. Turn mower over to exposed bedknife on bottom. Take a 1" strip of paper and insert between bedknife and reel blade. Turn blade in cutting direction. If blade cuts paper then that part of that blade is good. Now repeat across entire length of bedknife for every blade. If you're not getting good cuts, you'll have to adjust the bedknife by turning the two screws on each side of the mower. Do a search on backlapping for more info. In a perfect world every blade should cut the paper across the entire length of the bedknife, but what I've found w/ manual push reel mowers is that it's highly unlikely, they're just not that precise of machines. But if you can get most of the blades cutting across about 80% the bedknife, you can still get a decent cut. You'll just have to do some overlap.

I've been doing pretty well with my lacunosa cuttings. Some of them did arrive somewhat rooted, but other bits needed some help. This is what I've been doing. I set the potted cuttings (2.5 inch pot), uncovered, on a six inch saucer filled with Hydroton. Since I've heard a lot of people foliar feed their hoyas, I decided to water my cuttings twice daily, but by spraying the leaves, not the soil, with the assumption that the cutting would take in some water via the leaves. The soil only got watered when it just started drying out, to avoid root rot. The Hydroton saucer does two things. First, when I spray water on the leaves, I get the excess in the Hydroton mainly, rather than all over the place. Secondly, the moisture in the Hydroton from the excess water adds humidity to the air around the cutting. I did this until I started seeing new growth from the cutting, then I decreased the frequency of watering the leaves to about once a day or two. It is in a south window, and seems to be happy. It doesn't need to be a saucer of Hydroton exactly, I'm sure, it's just what I had on hand. I lost a stem or two before I started doing this, and only one stem since, early on. I got another batch of cuttings (different lacunosa) and did the same thing, except due to lack of room, they are in a terrarium 5 ft away from the window. I only just added a light to the terrarium, so we'll see if they grow, but I haven't lost any cuttings from this batch either. The terrarium is large, and not sealed, so the humidity in there only gets to about 60% at most, which is only 10% higher than my room on average. Oh, and the temps are around 75-80 degrees. I'm on the third floor, so it won't get much cooler than that until fall temps roll around again, even with AC.

I am so sorry to hear of your husband's job. Hopefully he won't lose it, but remember whatever happens..happens for a reason!!! Though I know it is extremely difficult to hear that right now. Like others here, this too happened to us only I was wanting to have another baby at the time not remodel a kitchen!! My DH lost his job and we lived in an upscale community and I wasn't working at the time...talk about stress. We eventually had to sell the house and move to another town, but it actually worked out better in the end. I now have a new baby (19 mo. old), and my older son has a better group of friends, we have a charming home, etc. Although, now there is an eleven year gap between the two boys, but c'est la vie! Now here we are in this charming home that needs a lot of work (but I love it) and getting ready to remodel and the economy/market goes to squat!!! My DH's current job is tied to this market so it maybe longer than planned but hopefully soon like others have said it will be better in the long run!!!! More time to plan :) Sorry for the long story. I just wanted you to know we support you and keep lurking here. I am!! Shannon

The NRA has stifled attempts to return to collecting stats about gunshot wounds and deaths, but... There are stats that show the increase in deaths and suicides in states that have relaxed permit laws -- and decreases in them in states that have made it more difficult to obtain a gun. I no longer have the article citing this, but I believe it was Florida that relaxed laws and one of the New England states (Massachusetts?) that strengthened them. Earlier studies showed that just having a gun in the house has overall proven to be less 'protection' and more 'disaster'.