I love the red rings too! They are aposematic coloring, along with the shiny black setae. The Arctiidae are well studied (some of them) for their sequestration of secondary chemicals (allelochemicals) from plants. They sequester pyrolizidine alkaloids, many of which come from the senecio family. They sequester other chemicals as well, such as iridoid glycosides from plantain. The same chemicals as buckeye cats. Some of the Arctiidae are extremely toxic or distasteful. That is why so many of the moths are colorful, such as the virgin tiger moth, the great tiger moth, and even the leopard moth, which in addition to the white and black spots has a lovely blue and red abdomen. Arctiidae also are some of the most polyphagous cats around, with some eating over 100 different species of plants. They also use pyrolizidine alkaloids for courtship and have developed complicated coremata or hairpencils for this. Interestingly enough, milkweed butterflies also use pyralizodine alkaloids as well for both defense and courship. They get them from flowers as adults, which is why monarchs love joy-pye weed and other eupatoriums. I could go on about that but I have written enough of a tome. I love the relationships Leps have with plants. Right now my giant leopards are loving dandelions, which seems to be a favorite of Arctiidae, and easy to supply. I remember Larry saying he fed his Taraxacum officinale, and I had to look it up! Typical Larry, lol! I remember raising an Isabella Tiger moth when I was six years old (to be fair, it was ready to pupate and all I did was provide a container to pupate in). I was disappointed that such a dull moth came from such a pretty caterpillar! Thus it was 30 plus years before I tried that again :)! Dan, I just put in a request to my local library for an inter-library loan. I think this book came from Virginia Tech. These scientific tomes are too expensive to buy. The next one I want is about checkerspots and is like $100. I like butterflies but that is too much to spend on a book! I will try putting the caterpillars in the fridge. Yikes, my fridge is quickly filling up with butterflies, cats, and pipevine (I still have some very small caterpillars). Cheers, Elisabeth

dorry: During my childhood, I spent untold hours picking bagworm sacks off arborvitae. Year after year. In reading posts here, I know many people are enthusiastic about their arbs. Even after reading those posts, I was wary, thinking, "I'll bet they still get those $%*& bagworms." Do you want to spend hours picking bagworms off or using chemical treatments? Are the arbs are worth it to you? You are the only person who can answer that question. If you answer "yes," prepare to pick. If you decide you want to keep them, I recommend that you do this yourself. If you delegate the chore to children or grandchildren, they are likely to develop a lifelong dislike of arbs. We are all wishing you well, Pam

Patty, that is an interesting question. Professor Roush (see his blog at http://kansasgardenmusings.blogspot.com/) brought up a related question after RRD decimated his Buck rose collection. Roush wondered if roses from different genetics, in his case the OGRs like the gallicas, were more resistant. I have never seen, knock on wood, RRD in my big patch of native roses, but I just found it in a plant of Rosa canina. I have a huge (20' by 25') plant of Rosa setigera next to the Rosa canina, so I will be watching...The R. setigera leaves are kind of fuzzy -- very different from both R. canina or the leaves of typical HTs. I will be curious to see what answers you get! Sunny

mariacmp, your most welcome. Since it was 18 years ago and if memory serves me it was around $200 for the chandelier. And somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 for the two sconces. I think I’ll keep it since if I changed out the chandelier I would probably have to change out the sconces as well and they make great bookends. The opening in the living room ceiling to the library above is octagon shaped that’s the reason I chose a chandelier with “8” light fixtures. Best of luck to you.