Hi Poochella! And Plantlady! Poochella you wrote; A good reminder of Mother Nature's fickle ways Jim. And yes indeed she can be! You also asked: Why do people even LIVE in Buffalo NY? It gets hit more times each winter than I can even count. Yes they do get hit quite hard at times with whats known as Lake Effect Snow but Syracuse tops them by far and coming off Lake Ontario rather than Buffalos Lake Erie. I lived in Syracuse for 32 years and now live 6 miles east whereas this 6 miles can make a great difference in amounts of snow that can be gotten living so close to the Thruway as this is considered a boundary line for heavy Lake Effect. Plus after the LE passes we get hit with a Northerly backlash coming off the Ocean as the Low moves away. Heres something to ponder over when thinking about snowfall and Buffalo: Syracuse is known for its snowfall. With 115.6 inches (293.6 cm) average,1. [3] the Syracuse metro area receives more snow on average than any other large city in the United States.[4] Research has even shown that Syracuse is the snowiest large city in the world.[5] Syracuse continually wins the Golden Snowball Award, among Upstate cities. Its record so far is 192.1 inches (487.9 cm). The high snowfall is a result of the fact that the city receives both lake effect and nor'easter snow. Snow most often falls in small (about 1-3 inches/2-8 cm), almost daily doses, over a period of several days. Larger snowfalls do occur from time-to-time, and even more so in the northern suburbs. One notable blizzard was the Blizzard of 1993, during which 42.9 inches (109 cm) fell on the city within 48 hours, with 35.6 inches (90.4 cm) falling within the first 24 hours. Syracuse received more snow than any other city in the country during this storm, which shattered a total of eight local records, including most the snow in a single snowstorm.[6] Ironically, virtually no snow fell during the Blizzard of 2006, where the Catskills and New York City saw over two feet (60 cm) of snow fall in about one day. Poochella! Despite these Winter facts we have some of the most beautiful scenic land and Spring and Summer weather that can be offered, except for 2006. And with the Finger Lakes that are stunning and picturesque that produce some of the best wines in the world, and they are only a few miles away. And Plantlady just as a side note to your saying "Some people say dahlias are hard to grow??? Just throw em on the compost pile - its as easy as that! As I was preparing to put this years tubers to bed, I reached into one of the large boxes to pull out some of the peat moss. I was surprised to see some white growth that was coming from a tuber I overlooked and was the box last in late March or early April. The growth was curly-cued and probably at least 6 feet long. It was hard for me even to believe it could have lasted that many months on its own extraordinary ability to want to survive and grow. The are a lot hardier than most can imagine and then again yet can be so delicate. Thanks for listening! Jim

If you have unpotted your plants and washed all of the old potting soil off them and replaced that potting soil with new and the insects are there again, then you need to look further into what they are and the why they are there. If you have not yet done that then that would be the first thing I would do.

Hi Laurelin and All! I didn't think when I originally posted this thread that we'd be back in a couple of weeks talking about another onslaught of bad weather. The rain of yesterday afternoon here in the Syracuse area was somewhat reminiscent of the straight line winds we had during the Labor Day storm of a few years ago when we lost over 33,000 trees just in Syracuse alone and we were without power for almost a full week. Back then the winds with the moving storm were estimated at 115 mph. They said yesterday's winds were clocked at 75 mph hour at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse and with the same fast movement of the storm they must have been close to 90mph. It's only the second time I've seen horizontal rain like that, and my initial thoughts were here we go again, and thanks be to God all of the leaves on the trees have fallen. Laurelin I'm originally from Binghamton and was heart sickened to see the devastation you all had in the summer and with it being so widespread. My wife and I have family in Conklin, Kirkwood, as well as in Great Bend where my wife and I had to pick up and bring back her mother to stay with us after the Rt 81 off and on ramps at GB were re-opened on July 3rd, as everyone else who could have helped was stranded. After her mothers return to GB two weeks later my brother in Conklin took my wife and I on a full scale sad and sometimes teary eyeopening tour. It was close to sickening to see the damage even in little places like Stillwater where my sister lived back in the '70's and I had so many fond memories. To see that virtually ever home, cottage or trailer at Stillwater had to be condemned was mind boggling. I couldn't fathom the power of water that could turn once quite Brooks where I fished for Brook Trout into raging torrents that now left them wider than most two lane roadways. Just unbelievable. When I heard esterda on the 06:00PM news that the Port Crane area was hard hit, plus the high water in Binghamton I easily envisioned Port Crane as I hitchhiked (almost walking all the way on man of those occasions) to Lily Lake in the summer as a kid. The traffic flow then wasn't bumper to bumper as can be today at times, and rides to the Lake were far from in between. All of us kids back then were also far from overweight, and I don't have to wonder why? In fact during yesterdas storm my wife was talking to her sister in Kirkwood when you all were getting pelted in the Broome area. Yes Laurelin! I fully agree, I too am ready for a drought. Maybe if we get to use the hoses more often next year we'll be able to bring down the water table of 2006 a little. Hope things get back to more normal soon! Jim

Dogs develop hemolytic anemia if they eat enough garlic. The quantity required is high enough that dogs can generally tolerate small doses without any problem and moderate amounts without clinically apparent disease, though there may be measurable changes on lab test results. There doesn't seem to be any consensus on how much is too much and I avoid garlic, onion and their powders when making homemade food for my dogs. The below recipe is nice, but must be stored appropriately. BROWNIES Cook up 1 C rice & 1 C barley (or 2 C rice if you don't have barley) Once the grain is cooked, mix together with: 12-16 oz ground chicken 3 carrots (grated finely) 1 apple (grated finely) 2 pounds zucchini (grated finely) 1 pound pumpkin or yams (canned type or raw grated) 1/2 Cup raw fresh or frozen chopped spinach, kale, or swiss chard 2 eggs 1 tsp molasses (optional) 1 T. dried parsley (or a handful of chopped fresh) (Mixture will be sloppy at this point) Blend in enough whole wheat (if no allergies) or rice flour (about 2 C) that dough is soft but not wet. Spread dough about a quarter-inch thick on baking sheets, using your hands or the back of a large spoon. (Use non-stick pans or spray pans with non-stick cooking oil.) Bake at 325 degrees for 25 minutes, then remove from oven and score into squares with pizza cutter. Return to oven and bake for 40 to 50 minutes more, or until edges and underside are light brown.) Remove from oven, lift away from pans with spatula, then let cool to room temperature and separate the brownies. These treats will be moist and chewy. (If you want crunchy treats, return brownies to oven at 200 degrees for about an hour after they've initially cooled. Check often to get desired texture.) Once cooked, keep brownies refrigerated. They'll keep fresh about a week this way. Brownies also can be frozen for later use. The raw dough freezes well too. Portion it into plastic zip bags in convenient amounts and freeze flat. Thaw overnite in fridge and bake as above. The original recipe called for 1-4 cloves of garlic, crushed. I eliminated that ingredient. Then again, garlic may be some sort of natural coyote repellent, so I'm sure you'll want to investigate further. Wouldn't want the new puppy to suffer the same fate as your cats, especially since you like to avoid the vet at all cost.