I have several ken janek's too. deadheading definitely helps next years blooms (on all rhodos). I snap the spent flower blossoms off by hand, but you need to be careful to break it off just below the flower as below this are next years buds. You can often see the bumps associated with what will be next years buds below each flower and if you break this off, you won't have blooms next year. It is not that tricky, and once you know what to look for, the flower heads snap off easily, leaving behind the forming buds. As for Holly-tone, I'm not an expert on how much difference it makes to the ph, but it should certainly help some.

Pulses on and off, could be a bad control where the control knob is. It could be that the control was attempting to send heat to the burner and when it 'monitors' the electric flow, it has not sensed enough power and automatically calls for more power to the burner. This can cause a safety in the controller to become damaged. Keep in mind that the controls on electric stoves cant really 'measure' the heat thats generated by the burner and they go by the amount of power the element draws. If there is a poor connection at the burner, it could cause the controller to overwork itself. Usually when a controller gets damaged, it will not even power on the burner. This was quite common several years ago when the controller circuit was a bit 'lower tech' design. It is also possible that the new canning burner is defective, so you may want to contact the supplier for that issue. Mine has worked well with my fairly recent frigidaire stove. BTW, my ovens lower element burned out less than one year, and was replaced under warranty. It was caused my a few small drips of food that fell onto the lement and somehow corroded and broke open the heater. It was in pieces and was made of ceramic, with carbon powder inside a thin metallic jacket. Stove top elements are similar and have a thicker metal oustide, but still contain some kind of heat producing composite inside, or it could be nichrome wire. In any event, the element might have an intermittent connection that opens when it heats up a little. Suggest you try the canning element on a friends stove, if they have a similar socket plug type, and see if it does the same thing there. Here are a possible sources for a controller unit, provided the stove brand and model you have is supported- http://www.repairclinic.com/0001.as Here is a link that might be useful: Part Finder

I am referred to as "the tick magnet" in my household. It is not uncommon for me to walk across the lawn, spend 10 minutes in the veggie garden, and come in with a tick. I've gotten so I can spot a wood tick sitting on the top of a plant, waving its little legs and waiting to grab hold. I'm going to repeat what I said in the post from last fall that Claire linked. I live on an old farm with a mix of field, brushy growing-up field, and woods. I use bug dope with DEET, though I put it only on my clothing and I don't always use it. I own several pairs of the pyrethrin impregnated socks and I tuck my pant legs into them. (Along with my bug net during black fly season I usually look pretty dorky when I am out in the garden.) I don't really worry about ticks because during the height of the season I might find 6 or 8 on me over the course of a day, but I do take them seriously. Instead of worrying, I do a complete visual and touch check whenever I come into the house in the spring and fall. Clothes get stripped off and examined along with my body. I again do a complete visual and fingertip check at bedtime every night (until it gets too cold for the ticks to be active) standing nekkid in front of a mirror so that I can see places like under my arms and the middle of my back, etc. in case I missed any the first time around. I also comb my hair with a comb having close-set teeth and do a careful touch examination of my entire scalp. Clothing I take off doesn't go into the bedroom. I view that nightly 15 minutes as the dues I pay for being able to get out beyond the lawn areas at my house. When we first moved here I used to freak out about getting a tick, but there are so many (mostly wood ticks, though there are some deer ticks) that I just don't have the energy to get worked up about them. I'd rather put the energy in to doing careful checks afterwards since it takes a day or more for a tick to get seated and spread disease. I do this check religiously, every single night, even if I have not worked in the garden. It's part of my bedtime routine, like brushing my teeth. It is my understanding (and fits in with my observations here) that rodents are a large part of the cause of the "deer" (more accurately referred to as "black-legged") tick problem, so the tick tubes, which target the application of permethrin specifically to rodents, make good sense. I haven't used them, however, and studies vary in their evaluation of effectiveness. Last season was the first we had appreciable numbers of black-legged ticks, so we are just starting serious consideration of management for them. I haven't previously seen reference to nematodes as good for controlling ticks, so I did some reading. It seems like around here they aren't too effective since nematodes live in the soil, and when are ticks are in or on the ground, it's too cold for the nematodes to be effective. They are also more effective on adults that the nymphs that often spread disease. However, I did come across a fungus that it supposed to be better in this part of the country, Metarhizium anisopliae, that has met with EPA approval for tick control. Unfortunately, it appears to still be in the product development stages. As others have mentioned, keeping areas with brush or long grass mowed will help reduce shelter areas for ticks, and reducing areas like stone walls where rodents hide will help as well.

I found it. It's called the Time Tracker. Best price was around $25 (plau shipping) but a toy store that specializes in learning toys may be able to get this without shipping charges for you. Here is a link that might be useful: visual timer