I cannot claim to be an expert on chilli thrips, but I know how we control them, and how most successful programs work -- they are based on soil-applied imidacloprid as the primary control measure. Then supplemental sprays with unrelated chemicals help prevent any build-up of resistance to the imidacloprid. It works very well. There appear to be a few roses that at least tolerate them, if not being actually resistant -- 'Mrs. B. R. Cant', 'Trinity', 'Smith's Parish' 'Tausentschoen'. Probably lots of others. Unfortunately, some of the most otherwise carefree roses (Belinda's Dream, all of the Knock-Out series, Don Juan) are unusually susceptible.

Jo, I use a drip irrigation system and put it away before freezing temperatures arrive. Parts of it...like the t-tape can be left outdoors but it drastically shortens its life. My garden slopes much more than yours, so I have my drip irrigation set up in zones with ball valves, so I can shut off some sections while irrigating others. Since water tends to flow downhill pretty well, even underground, my higher beds dry out faster than lower ones and need to be watered more often. Also, because they are on the higher south and west ends of the garden, they are more exposed to summer's south winds. Most of the time,, since water does flow underground from our neighbor's higher ground to our south, the lower beds at the north end of the garden have good deep moisture under them for a much longer period of time and often I don't have to irrigate those beds at all until mid-summer or later. To make drip irrigation work in our big,sloping garden, setting up zones has worked better than anything else I've tried. Our lowest temps at our house this winter have been 9, 10 and 11 degrees on several different nights, so I was glad we didn't have any drip lines out exposed to those temperatures. The people who leave their drip irrgation lines in the garden all winter often unhook the lines and situate them so any water left in them can run out. Then they use an air compressor to blow air through them to insure they are dry, and then hook them back together in place to they are ready for spring. I am not certain what they do with the rest of the system, but I imagine that even if they leave the lines themselves in the ground, they take the pressure regulator, filter and other parts and dry them out and store them indoors where they won't freeze and crack. Drip irrigation might not meet your needs if you don't want to put it up every winter, but it might work okay. You can learn more about drip irrigation at the website of Dripworks, which I'll link below. They even have designers who will help you design your drip system if you want them to, free of charge. If you go that route, be sure you tell them about the change in the grade in your garden so they can take that into account. Also, there is an irrigation forum here at GW and I bet the irrigation specialists there would be happy to answer your questions. I agree with Larry that a pressure compensating system likely would work for you. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Dripworks

What about the furnace or oil or gas fueled boiler firing off when when a leak is detected? What about a leak occurring in a utility closed in a kitchen? Will there be a safety device to disable the gas stove? Will all of the safety requirements be resolved, understood, and ready to be deployed by January 1, 2025? Certain locations may have differences to building codes as there are some differences depending on where you live. So the proper answer is to consult a professionally licensed HVAC contractor in your area. For my area I think it will be limited to the box in which the Evap coil sits in, once refrigerant leak is detected it locks out equipment and forces blower to run to dissipate the "mist" if you will. This lock out, once it happens does not reset. Meaning that professional visit will be required to resolve the issue. These kinds of refrigerant leaks are enclosed in the box and dispersing the mist thru the structure aleviates the risk of ignition of these fumes. So don't over blow this Mike, it's mildly flammable with very low possiblity of an ignition. On the exterior condenser if refrigerant sensed, it force runs the condenser fan and locks the compressor out from running. Again once this event is triggered it requires a professional to check it out. ( I don't know if they will do this to the exterior unit as it's outdoors and typically well ventilated enough... but for liability who knows? We can only guess right now.) -------- R22 vs. R410a Vs R470a --------- R22 has been in use since the 1950's, equipment phase out in 2010, dry equipment up until about 2014 or so. Then they produced R22 Freon up until about 2020 when production was finally banned. So that's 70 years of use. R410a was developed in the late 1990's. I grauduated HVAC trade school in early 1996 and only after I graduated did they then start covering it at the trade school. I was exposed to it in 2001 as the large HVAC company I worked for then was a Carrier distributor. So early on in my HVAC career I have dealt with both R22 and R410a. So life of R410a so far has been just over 20 years a far cry from R22 Freon's 70 year reign. (There was a large stock pile of R22 to work thru. Not so with R410a.) R410a is twice the operating pressure of R22. Typical operating pressures R22 75 PSI / 250 PSI R410a 150 PSI / 425 PSI. It's more common with R410a unit for it to be flat of refrigerant. You can not reclaim something that isn't there. (refrigerant leaks, means the refrigerant leaks out.) R470A (also known as RS-53) is a zeotropic mixture consisting of 44 weight% R1234ze(E), 19% R125, 17% R32, 10% carbon dioxide, 7% R134a, and 3% R227ea. It is considered to be a replacement fluid for R410A. R125 is being phased out due to high GWP, R134a is also on the chopping block. Currently R470a is prohibitively expensive if you can even buy it. So you have a builder who doesn't buy refrigerants claiming that something that isn't there is available? From what I see online costs on average of around $1000 a drum for R470a. That's just the cost of refrigerant, not fixing the leak(s), labor, etc. GWP for R470a is estimated around 909 GWP. EPA is cutting to 700 GWP. So it can be easily said R470a will be short lived at best, just based on already known requirements moving forward. So this thought that R470a is going to save your poor AC unit? possibly those in Calfornia, but only because they won't be able to buy R410a after 2030? I think by that time, R470a will probably be an after thought. Due to cost.. as always. As I have said before... cost is what will drive replacements just as before with R22. The cost of R22 stayed low up until about 2018 or so, relative to what R410a cost at that time. That is all changing. 2024 is only the beginning. I service the Katy, Texas area.

I'm not sure if things are different in different states, but here, hospice is ordered if death is expected within 6 months. We have used hospice 3 times, for my mom, dad and grandmother. My mom lived 5 months after her diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. She had hospice pretty soon after her diagnosis, maybe within a month, I can't remember for sure. We also had a group of caregivers as my sister and I were both working during that time. My grandmother was in her early 90s and needed some care. My grandparents and my parents lived on joint acreage, so we were able to move my grandmother and mom in together. My dad was able to be there as much as he wanted. The caregivers started out as night only but as my mom got worse, we had them 24/7. My sister and I were there often (thankfully my work was not far and I would sometimes even make mid-day visits) and on weekends, we would sometimes spend the night, etc. During this time, my grandmother had some symptoms of dementia and my dad slipped on her back porch and broke his hip. He had hip replacement and we moved him with mom and my grandmother. I know, who would think all that would happen at once?! The caregivers were life savers. Then there was Hospice. We had a great experience with Hospice. We had a wonderful nurse who came several times a week. All medical care is turned over to Hospice. They worked hard at keeping my mom comfortable. They were very willing to experiment with drugs to keep her comfortable. She was sick to her stomach often and they were great at finding something that helped with that. She had a morphine pump. They worked to keep her pain under control without her being zoned out. They had social workers, chaplain, sitters, etc. also. They really try to help the family, not just the patient. Our nurse was good at telling us what to expect, what she felt was going on, etc. She knew within 48 hours that my mom's end was near. During this time, we felt we needed to devote our time and attention to our mom, and we moved my grandmother into AL (her sister was already living there). The plant was to bring her home once mom was gone. That never happened. The AL facility became her safe place. It was sad but we were glad she was so content there. When the medical staff there felt it was time, we had hospice with her but they came to the facility. There wasn't as much family involvement because we were not always there when they came. She did not require end of life medication; my sister was alone with her when she passed. I and my cousin had left just a bit before. My dad's situation was much the same, he was also in AL and if I remember correctly he had Hospice less than a week before his death. Because of the short time and us not staying round the clock, we didn't have alot of interaction with them, but no complaints. My sister and I and our husbands were there pretty much 24/7 the last few days and hospice did check on us, but dad was not in pain either, so no morphine, etc.. He pretty much was unresponsive the last two days. I can say all three experiences were good/helpful for us, but my mom's care was really great. She had a very caring nurse. We always had the same nurse, other than a few days off and I believe she was on vacay one week during that time. We bonded with her. I honestly don't know how they do the work they do. Also for us, the caregivers were such a good thing. They became like extended family. They were a group of 5 women who rotated the time. They cooked, cleaned, there was once or twice one of them took my dad to dr's appts., etc. They even found a man to mow! I am very thankful for the help we had during that time. I'm so sorry to hear there are those here who have had bad experiences with hospice. I can't imagine having to deal with that at such a hard time. : (