Around the first of August several of us here suddenly got terrible outbreaks of blackspot. We had all been spraying regularly, but it just looked like we had been spraying with blackspot spores. We had quite a bit of leaf drop, and it was very difficult to control, even when hitting them with Manzate three times as prescribed. When the weather finally cooled off, it seemed to slow down quite a bit. Now it looks like mine have Cercospora. Big black round spots, but the leaves aren't turning yellow and dropping. I guess it's true - "If it isn't one thing, it's another".

I am so upset by what I am reading and what I have experienced over the last 12 years .. I am in the process of two major kitchen remodels and have 6 more to complete before I have them all done. Based on what I am reading here and on the internet blogs, I have ended up unwilling to order ANY new appliances. Over the last 12 years the only things I have purchased that have had great customer service are my Jura Capressa coffee makers and my Tempurpedic mattressses. All other purchases have been major headaches or outright nightmares. I am at the point that buying anything at all literally makes me sick at my stomach (and this is not just because I am a guy who does not enjoy shoppping in general). I have noticed that I have become openly hostile to sales people in general. With very few exceptions, I have never met a "sales" person who had even the scant ethics of even a democrat politician. The fact that I am now expected to buy appliances from one of these ingenuine sociopathic sales types is so upsetting that I have my two kitchen remodels on hold. I have great inset all wood custom cabinets with great custom granite counters ... and no appliances. Friends of mine in CA hate their Miele, friends in Henderson Nevada hate their Subzero and Dacor, friends in NY hate their Monogram, friends in Naples Florida hate their AGA and Viking, friends in the Netherlands hate their Miele, friends in Carmel Indiana hate their Traulson and Miele, friends in Arizona hate their Kitchen Aid ... and it goes on and on with nightmare after nightmare of new appliances defective out-of-the-box, incompetent installers, unethical distributors, sales people that grab the big commissions and then can't even return follow up calls, manufacturers that don't honor their warranty committments or try to stong arm the very customers that their business should be treating with dignity and integrity. To add insult to injury, many regional better business bureaus rate these retailers and businesses A+. No wonder consumers have stopped purchasing ... it is not the recession that has stopped people from making major purchases, but, rather, the expectation that after-purchase headaches will take months and months to resolve with stress levels higher than paying for your childrens' college educations. Short of having an attorney produce a contract that the appliance supplier has to sign and be held to legally, does anyone out there have any other magic process. A process that assures the customer won't be setting themselves up for an extremely stressful experience with underpaid customer disservice departments trained by the Insurance claims industry to intimidate and wear down the customer to a point of having to just give up? signed - a potential appliance customer in limbo

I don't really understand what has happened to Firefox. It's rather unusual of the open-source projects. It's become a stereotypical "committee project"! OpenOffice has always had the direction, the focus and the drive to get there and improve. K-meleon is stable, basic and progressing. Firefox, since about version 3 seems to have lost sight of things, almost like the committee is arguing on which way to go with it. Although it's more of the "amateur techy nerd geek wannabe" browser, great for people who like tinkering, don't mind reloading their computer every day or two and don't mind the pile of tv dinner trays falling over their computer in Mom's basement! Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of open source and I like the basic concept of Firefox, but they've just lost their way. When they were just copying Opera as much as they could they made great strides. Now, it's a patchwork quilt that's losing its stitches. Seems like they're more concerned on the extensions than making a good, functional browser. Sad, really. I'm using it less and less. Haven't even opened it in days. I refuse to to the update until they get some things straightened out. I use a bunch of the extensions to make it tolerable and am not going to have them broken up again. I just don't use Firefox on any site I feel needs more security, although I usually wouldn't anyway.

sorry to hear about the family member/diagnosis. We started looking for retirement home in 2006/2007. Husband wasn't feeling 'well' be continued on looking on weekend. Wanted a place out of the 'big city' (Katy, TX area). Country boy hubby. Just as he was diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer (esophageal) we found a great place; made an offer, closed on it the Friday before he started radiation and chemo. EC is a tough one to beat; he got to enjoy the 'retirement' place for 22 months. I retired the end of 2009 and moved out there regardless. Sorry you are traveling this road with your loved one.