I have been able to live and garden in harmony with the chipmunks in the rural area we live in Connecticut. But it seems over the last 2 years or so the chipmunks have taken advantage of any prior agreement we had, getting more and more emboldened. This year when they started to tear up planters in a screened-in porch I became alarmed but when they undermined a sidewalk and a retaining wall that was it. The mason performing the repair work uncovered a munk burrow that ran about 10 feet and almost a foot high, cleanly excavated. They are no longer cute, they are vermin over running our property, and not only costing serious money for repairs but they're creating a hazard as well. Like many on this thread I too felt guilty about eliminating chipmunks ... but have become increasingly frustrated and desperate when the population exploded and over ran our property and garden areas. Destructive, brazen and invasive is ALL an understatement when I see what these cute little critters have become. While I feel I need to eliminate them I want to do it as humanely as possible, and since it is illegal to relocate them in the state of CT, the Hav-A-Heart trap presents the dilemma of having to "off them" yourself and watch them die. I think I have solved the problem ... the RAT ZAPPER. An animal control professional I spoke to (off the record) indicated that "electrocution" is the fastest, most humane and cleanest way to do what has to be done. I bought my first "zapper" and eliminated 21 munks in approximately 10 days. Since then I bought 2 more and now there are almost 50 critters that no longer make their home in the area around my foundation, sidewalks and retaining walls. Granted the "pool of death" (the bucket) does work, but this is cleaner, more convenient ... no bucket to maintain/seed to replenish. I place a little pile of sunflower seed at the back of the chamber and flip the switch. And location seems to be important. Under shrubs and near visible, active holes seems to be most effective. Interestingly, an Ohio State University critter/pest management site I visited indicated that 10 chipmunks or more per acre is considered an infestation population. I have caught almost five times that number, so I assume I am dealing with nature being way out of balance, at least as far as the chipmunk population. If you're getting more and desperate, try the Zapper, it works.

Froggie, the post below was care of Fratelli back in Dec of 2005. Depending on which browser you have, you can use whichever solution he suggests. I used the Universal solution, and it worked great for me! Hope this helps! Brenda RE: IVillage lost it's format! Posted by: fratelli_can z5 (My Page) on Sun, Dec 25, 05 at 16:00 Once and for all: How to stop the iVillage ad onslaught. First we need to understand how it's done: iVillage doesn't bother to try and buy ads directly from all the various companies that show up on the pages of GW. Instead they use large ad-service agencies like doubleclick, akamai and pointroll. You can visit some of these sites if you'd like to see who's behind the ads. http://www.akamai.com http://www.doubleclick.com/us http://pointroll.com This makes it easy to block out all or almost all of the ads very easily, just block the originating sites. Right now all the ads on GW come from: http://amch.questionmarket.com http://a820.g.akamai.net http://iv.doubleclick.net http://i.ivillage.com http://m.2mdn.net http://tste.ivillage.com http://img-cdn.mediaplex.com http://ads.vmirror.com http://cmhtml.ivillage.overture.com http://ads.pointroll.com The Universal Solution. This will work on Windows systems for all browsers; IE, FireFox and Netscape. The Windows operating system provides a system-level method to block specific IP addresses before they even get to the browser. To effect this solution you need to edit a Windows system file called hosts. This file is located in the directory: Windows XP: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC Windows 2K: C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC Windows 98: C:\WINDOWS Open the file in Notepad. Cut the following from this post and paste it to the end of the file. 127.0.0.1 amch.questionmarket.com 127.0.0.1 a820.g.akamai.net 127.0.0.1 iv.doubleclick.net 127.0.0.1 i.ivillage.com 127.0.0.1 m.2mdn.net 127.0.0.1 tste.ivillage.com 127.0.0.1 img-cdn.mediaplex.com 127.0.0.1 ads.vmirror.com 127.0.0.1 cmhtml.ivillage.overture.com 127.0.0.1 ads.pointroll.com Edit each entry so that there is a tab between the IP address 127.0.0.1 and the URLs. Save the file and you're finished. Close and re-open your browser and all the ads will be gone. Unfortunately, iVillage may in the future buy ads from a new source. In this event the new ad source will have to be added to the list. The IE solution. Most of the ads are placed using Java$cript. You can remove the more offensive ads in IE with the browser settings. You can't however remove them all. To improve GW using IE do the following: From the menu select Tools -> Internet Options -> Security and click on Custom Level. Scroll down to the end of the list and you'll see an entry for Scripting. Disable all the sub-entries. Now select the tab labeled Privacy. In the bottom of the box that appears check on the option to block pop-ups. I recommend you also click on the button Advanced and select the option to block Third-party Cookies. NOTE: By disabling Scripting you will also effect the way other websites behave. You may need to get used to switching scripting on and off as desired. That's why this is the least desirable of these various options. The FireFox solution This is an excellent choice -- it's the fastest performing of the options listed here: FireFox is superior to IE in every possible way. FireFox provides the added advantage of blocking all Spyware, an evil that IE brought into this world. * download and install Firefox 1.5 * in the FireFox address bar type about:config * scroll down the list to the entry xpinstall.enabled * right click on the entry and select toggle from the menu * toggle as needed to set the value to true * go to the Firefox website and follow links to extensions * find the extension adblock and install it * remember to toggle xpinstall.enabled back to false * in Firefox select Tools -> Adblock -> Preferences * use the New Filter field to add the following items: http://amch.questionmarket.com http://a820.g.akamai.net http://iv.doubleclick.net http://i.ivillage.com http://m.2mdn.net http://tste.ivillage.com http://img-cdn.mediaplex.com http://ads.vmirror.com http://cmhtml.ivillage.overture.com http://ads.pointroll.com * enable Adblock The trick with Adblock is to block the domain rather than the specific ad. If you click on Adblock to disable an ad. Select Tools -> Adblock -> Preferences from the menu and then edit the new entry; remove anything that follows after .com or .net. This will block everyting from that source. The Netscape solution. With Netscape you can shut down all the iVillage ads using the browser preference settings. From the menu select: Edit -> Preferences -> Privacy and Security -> Cookies Allow cookies for the originating website only Edit -> Preferences -> Privacy and Security -> Images Accept Images that come from the originating server only Edit -> Preferences -> Privacy and Security -> Images Block unrequested popup windows -- turn this on Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced Enable native object scripting -- turn this off Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Scripts & Plug-ins Enable Java$cript for Navigator -- turn this off NOTE: GW will now be ad free, however disabling Java$cript will effect how other websites behave. You may have to get used to switching this setting back and forth. Therefore I suggest the Universal option above is more appropriate. NOTE: You MAC users out there: Sorry I don't have more info for you except to say that FireFox and adblock are available for the MAC. There's no sense in further complaing, iVillage IS an ad. We need to let them be who they are and stop them on our end. Take care all.

The following statement was made in this thread on April 29, 2009: "It has been demonstrated by natural root grafting at UC Davis, but then only on rootstock plants just a few inches from each other, in the nursery row, and then only on mutiflora." In 2007 Golino et.al. at U.C. Davis published a paper on this subject. The abstract is at: http://www.actahort.org/books/751/751_26.htm In the full paper, the following is stated (page 29-30): "Field Spread in Scion Cultivars To test further for the occurrence of virus spread trials were conducted on over 300 plants each of three scion cultivars, Double Delight, Iceberg, and Queen Elizabeth. Rooted cuttings were planted approximately 30 cm apart in rows in the field, grown for one year and alternate plants were graft-inoculated as described above with one of three virus accessions: 1) ROS98.36, 2) ROS98.27, and 3) ROS70.7, which were 1) a source of PNRSV that caused bright yellow chlorosis in the spring; 2) a source of ApMV, and 3) a source of a naturally-occurring mixed infection of ApMV and PNRSV, respectively. Plants were pruned yearly using shears that were cleaned between each plant by dipping in 10% bleach solution. Bushes were observed for symptoms periodically and ELISA tested for PNRSV and ApMV in the spring for two years. All non-inoculated plants that tested positive were re-sampled and tested to confirm the result." In the conclusion section (page 221) the following was stated: "In scion varieties, transmission rates two years postinoculation ranged from 0 to 25% depending on virus and cultivar. Queen Elizabeth had the lowest percent infection of all the varieties at an average 5% for all three viruses; Iceberg had the highest for a scion cultivar at 13% average for the viruses (Table 4). These differences correlate with the cultivars relative root vigor. It is possible that a larger, more vigorous root system would increase the chance of forming a root graft with an adjacent plant. R. multiflora has a more vigorous root system than all three scion cultivars tested and within the scions, Iceberg is more vigorous than Queen Elizabeth and Double Delight." -------------------------------- I do not understand why someone would make the April 29 statement. Especially since on April 30, 2009 the same writer states: "If one actually looks up Golino's paper in Acta Horticulturae......." ----------------------------------- Please also note that not all types of mechanical transmission were ruled out in the 2007 paper since the observed rate of spread was higher in the unpruned bushes than in the pruned bushes. In another PNRSV infected plant, hops, this is attributed, in part, to the branches of neighboring plants rubbing against each other. Golino et.al. acknowledge this as they state (page 220-221): "The possibility remains that spread occurred by mechanical transmission due to contact between the leaves of the closely spaced plants and experiments are underway to test that putative mechanism of spread."

A story about Angie's List. I got a freebie trial for a year when they were new to this area. So I was heading out of town, afternoon before got an oil change (quickie place, not dealer). They bunged up the transmission (forget details now but would have stopped me from making that trip). Reimbursed my money and were trying to get me to head to their 'transmission guy'. No way! A girl customer who overheard that fiasco gave me her ex BFs card, said if he couldn't help me he had friends who could. He did body work but sent me to his friend. Sweetest, kindest mechanic I've ever met. Got there at closing time on Friday evening. Still, he stayed, fixed it, and wasn't going to charge me. (I gave him money anyway.) I also gave him highest rec on Angie's List. I bumped into him a few months later. He's very laid back so didn't complain, but the poor guy had since been flooded with snail mail solicitations from AL to join and IIRC he said their fees for business owners were astronomical. He was appreciative of the review, but he was small & just starting out then so had to watch every penny. But we were both kind of surprised they'd solicit business owners that way, seems that would create bias to some extent? I didn't renew when my freebie subscription ran out, but to this day they've not stopped soliciting heavily, even after multiple requests from me to unsubscribe from their list. Aside from having "paid" members in the business community, it's pretty annoying the way they hound people incessantly, a total turn off imho.