My crockpot "superheats" queso and Rotel on "LOW", so I am thinking that it will be too hot. The stew pot with the big heating pad wrapped around it was 117 yesterday. When I shoved a washcloth in between on one side, it dropped it to 110...so I think I'll be ok with this very scientific method. I am giving the pot 5-6 hours to equilibrate between my adjustments. I will submerge them on Wednesday... Think I'll do 2 bulbs that way. There's one bulb that doesn't have as much damage, and Chris at Southern Heirloom bulbs (just east of Dallas) suggested that I soak it in a dilute solution of systemic insecticide. I may chip another bulb later this week. That will take care of all 5; 3 will be intact and 2 chipped...AKKK still ill over it. Just checked the chips from Friday, and although it's only been 2 days I was relieved that I didn't have bags of icky black mold balls. I am going to be very patient and check them every 3 days (checking more often won't make the bulblets grow any faster!!). I really do believe now that these were just opportunistic flies, as none of the other plants that were scattered in the front were affected, just the soggy bulbs in one big pot. Systemic insecticide is my friend now. Went to Home Depot, Lowes, and Houston Plant and Garden looking for Orthene a few days ago, and none had it. Have my standard toxic 0-0-diethyl S-2-(ethylthio) ethyl phosphorodithioate as well as a new bottle of disulfotone. Will no doubt kill something!! New bulbs from Holland start shipping in a month!! Then the next round of excitement starts! Kristi

Great discussion. This sounds exactly like the approach I need to keep a mid-summer sowing of carrots moist enough to germinate. Suppose I suspend some ungerminated seed in the gel, squirt the mix down a row with a ketchup bottle, and then lightly cover with soil. Should I then avoid watering it to avoid washing the gel away? Or should I water as usual (once every few days) to make sure dry soil doesn't wick away all the moisture from the gel (and rehydrate the gel itself)? Now I'm excited. If this pans out, this could make summer plantings much easier to get going. I'll test it on the worst case...carrots. BTW, the original article made it sound like this technique was mainly for planting early. In that case, the whole goal of the gel is to just avoid physically hurting pregerminated seeds, right? Or are there other early-season benefits as well (e.g., putting a "coat" on ungerminated seeds to help retain warmth and germinate in ground in colder then usual temps)? I'm in the Pacific Northwest, so we definitely don't have a lack of moisture in late winter and early spring. I'm wondering how this technique would help in that case. Anyhow, thanks for the useful discussion everybody. This was very informative. Wish me luck. -Rob

Stacie, I don't know why after all these years of getting them on my lips, I would suddenly get one on my nose, but I will agree with your sister that it's a very painful spot! Mine is on the underside of my nose, but I think it extends into one nostril a bit. My cold sores started when I was 19. My boyfriend at the time was in the service, stationed in Albuquerque, so I know I didn't get the virus from kissing. I probably picked it up on one of the office phones where I worked. A doctor with big ideas decided to treat my cold sores with 28 smallpox vaccinations. Yes, 28. And because I was so young, I readily went along with this. When the series was finished, I broke out with the worst cold sore of my life. It extended up almost to my nose and down under my chin. Now, more than 40 years later, I hope the virus hasn't decided to migrate.

I can understand trying different techniques and tools to find what works best for Peanut, but I'm afraid that that strategy may have actually caused the problems you're having now. Each time you tried something that may have made him more uncomfortable, like larger needles, room temp fluids, or larger fluid volumes, you may have soured his attitude toward the whole procedure and made him distrustful. Now he doesn't know what to expect, so he's expecting the worst. Stick with 20 ga needles, warmed fluids, and smaller fluid volumes daily. Distractions work with some cats, while other cats find distractions irritating. If distractions aren't working with Peanut, try just sitting very quietly and benignly with him during admins. My Billy was quite cooperative as long as I sat like a stone next to him, but the slightest movement or sound on my part would irritate him and make him try to leave. Also, cats can develop scar tissue at the site of admin, making admins uncomfortable if you use the same site every time. Billy had a favorite site that I used for almost a year before he suddenly started fighting the procedure. Once I moved a centimeter over, he was fine again. If you generally place the needle so that fluid runs down Peanut's left shoulder, try placing it so fluid runs down his right, instead. Laurie