I have pillow protectors over our pillows. Hubby drools in his sleep...'nuff said. ;) But I can attest to what collects in mattresses. Why? I have the original free-float waterbed, King. Wood sides/frame with very padded rails that slip over the wood side so when you are getting in bed you aren't sitting on hard wood but padding. All that to say that every couple months I strip the bed of all it's bedding, including the thick mattress cover/protector, right down to the vinyl mattress. It's so fine that it goes through not only the mattress protector, bit also the very thick king-size comforter that we use instead of the electric mattress heater, And the bottom sheet of the waterbed sheet set. When I change/vac the mattress/bedding with the bedroom windows open, I could literally write my name in the fine dust that is on the vinyl mattress. What I should do next time is take a pic....you'd be amazed and probably really grossed out at the very fine dust-like stuff on the vinyl mattress. Not just the mattress but collecting along the sides where the mattress butts up against the liner/wood railing. We aren't talking 'dust' but really fine, float-in-the-air stuff that I have read comes from our bodies when the body sheds it's cells. The body sheds about a pound of old skin cells daily and it's those cells that the mites thrive on, live off of. So every couple months there I am with the poofy brush attachment to the vac, getting all that fine 'dust' from between the mattress and liner/wood railing. Then a quick swipe with the vac over the whole bare vinyl mattress. Then an old hand towel soaked in good-smelling Pine-Sol and wrung out to wipe the whole top of the mattress, sides, etc. When dry, I can remake my bed. All this to say..... because of my hubby's allergies, our bedroom is vac'd much more often than the rest of the house.....lamp shades, fan blades, etc get a good vac at least twice a week. All that 'fine dust' on the vinyl waterbed mattress once the blankets and mattress cover are removed, can't just be typical room dust...has to be ...EEEEEEEEK....body dust/shed skin cells/mites. Yes, we shower daily. lol

Debs- Once again, Live Wire Oak has given you really good advice & I agree 100% The only things that I can add, is that I do all my cutting on one of those white "nylon" type cutting boards. This is to make my knives last longer as the granite will usually dull the edges of the blades. As far as sealing your Volga Blue - I have always sealed it without incident, and I have had no complaints from customers in that aspect over the years that it has been available for use. Since Live Wire Oak said - "unwashed hands are the #1 germ spreader"... With that in mind...... just remember...... Regardless of whether your going to grill them, bake them of fry them - Make sure to ALWAYS wash ANY hands well before preparing them for any meal........ HA!!!! This applies to to plain hands, as well as handsdown and handweighs... hope that helps you - remember that you gotta laugh every now and then too! kevin PS - If anyone asks "What's a Handweigh" - just tell 'em - about 2 pounds

I never used to wash new clothes until my sister got a job at QVC. She works in return goods. QVC has a very, very generous return policy, they will almost take back anything for any ridiculous reason. She tells me about some of the nasty clothes that get returned. Smelly shoes with worn soles, body odor and stains on clothes, half empty bath gel, it goes on and on. It all has to go somewhere...some get sent back to warehouse for resale, some go to outlets and some go to charity. After hearing her stories I will now and forever pre-wash all my clothes.

PM doesn't affect the color of the petals. I agree with Buford that it's probably RRD. The really tight sprays that are out of sync with the rest of the blooms and the buds are much tighter than roses 'normally' grow them. Buds usually are spaced so that they don't fight with other blooms for light. The powdery mildew is a strange thing. Epstein and Hill were the first to report that R. multiflora sick with Rose Rosette could have powdery mildew which was not thought to be a problem with multiflora. If that were mine, I'd take out the cane(s) that support those two too-tight sprays and take them all the way down to the ground. Then watch that bush closely for a while. I saved a Tausendschoen by cutting one cane way down so that can work on some multflora-related once bloomers.