Sandy, Hope all goes well with your mother and and that your daughter has an easy flight. Trying times, but it will be nice for all of you to be together to be each others support to get through them. drzoidberg, No idea of what Live Monarch sells for sleeves, but it sounds like they must be really small. I made my own sleeves. The size picked for each situation should be big and roomy enough to enclose several branches with enough plant to see the larva all the way to pupation. Doesn't mean you have to leave them in the sleeve to pupate, just that it gives them enough plant "choices" to feed on until they get there if needed. IE, when I went out to service the sleeves in nature I let the remaining plant enclosed in the sleeve be my guide. If not enough I usually redid the sleeves to enclose new branches and simply moved the larva to the new location. That said it sounds like you will have to move the late instar cats to larger quarters to pupate. Either a bigger sleeve, to some kind of emergence cage or just unsleeve them and let them find pupation sites on their own. The sleeve itself acts like a sun shade up to a point. Works much the same as the spines on cactus for example. Even so I always tried to place my sleeves so a portion of them was in direct sunlight and a portion in shade or filtered light. Gave the cats a choice and they could freely move to what they wanted. If not possible because of where your plants grow, simply mist the sleeve at least a couple of times a day. That has the same effect as a swamp cooler to cool the cats off.

Inc... you are not the only mean SM ... SKs used to have a "friend" who would be at the house at 7am rule back then they couldn't go out till 10 am ... now they don't leave the house!!! Hubby and I laugh punishment would be making them go outside... I have only one real rule this summer ... however many hours you spend on the comp/video games (because you are afterall teenagers) ...is how many hours you cannot play once you are done that does not include sleeping or being at mom's.... so if you wake up at 9am and head to the comp or video game and do not get off till midnight .. that's 15 hours you cannot be on it ... so you have to regulate your time!! they are now playing a couple hours at a time rather than not playing at all the next 2 days ...:) SS13 has been complaining of 'stomach aches' but can sit at the comp for hours ... was pi$$ed at me because I made him make a real meal instead of snacking all day ... how dare I say make a sandwich (instead of making it for him!!) Conversation went like this ... why don't you eat a sandwich or have a bowl of cereal instead of crackers... because I don't feel like it I want crackers well don't complain later that your stomach hurts if you haven't eaten but I ate I had crackers really so I can serve crackers for dinner and you'll be happy after all you ate ... no crackers aren't dinner so what makes crackers lunch???? insert rolling of eyes and snapping of tongue! .. My favorite excuse for staying up late ... they are on "vacation" ... well I am not so I don't want to hear kids at midnight! when I have to be up at 6am. GO TO BED!

Thanks everyone, my BIL is in complete denial and doesn't want to even discuss this with family. His daughter had many problems, was engaged to a guy in prison but when he got out he left her. She has kids and grandkids from her first marriage. My BIL is 25 years older than my sister so his kids were grown and moved away when they got married. I just hope they hear something soon to get this resolved. His health isn't the best and the stress isn't helping. Thanks again for your concern and hugs. Diane

From Wikipedia: Ammonium carbonate may be used as a leavening agent in traditional recipes, particularly those from northern Europe and Scandinavia (e.g. Speculoos, Tunnbröd or Lebkuchen). It was the precursor to today's more commonly used baking powder. It's a natural substance. It's not actually dangerous--over-corsetted and excitable ladies used to sniff it to revive themselves from swooning, or drink it dissolved in water. The chemicals I work with that require the mask, actually are, but not highly, and they're not for eating though they don't smell bad. Lots of nasty smelling things go into foodstuffs.