beccalmt- I've moved MANY MANY molting monarchs and never lost one from it. I've lost a couple black swallowtails that way though, so I only handle them when absolutely necessary. In raising monarchs over 30 years I have never has a disease outbreak. Part of it is my location. In Minnesota all the milkweed dies to the ground each season so most of the OE spores are killed. These are the things I do to care for my monarchs...maybe something will strike a chord with somebody: I usually give them leaves twice a day...once early, once before sundown Each time I rinse the leaves in the sink in cold water(have never used any sort of cleaning solution) I also empty the cage of frass before adding new leaves and then rinse it out with warm water...then DRY it! I handle my monarchs a lot, taking them off old leaves and placing them on the new. If they are 1-3 days old I tear off the section of leaf they're on and place it on a new leaf. If using my large caterpillar castle, I take a warm rag and clean off the floor each time I change leaves. (since I can't rinse it out in the sink...the material dries fast) I usually try to limit my cage to 10 cats....I would separate them if there were signs of an outbreak. Minrose, have you had disease problems in Minnesota before? What is your routine? Sorry to hear some of you are having problems. I hope you all have some healthy monarchs soon! Tony

Ray, Those that I've grown, Betterboy, did poorly in my gardens Sweet 100, lots and lots of little red tomatoes, sun-gold's better. Black Cherry, tasty cherry, has very thick skin. Black from Tula, very bland, watery, tasteless. Black Krim, good tasting black, had concentric cracking issues last season. Brandywine, my favorite tomatoes, Cowlick's, Sudduths. and Glick's,then Black, and red, in that order. Cherokee Purple, my best tasting tomato last year, poor production. Arkansas Traveller, Decent tasting tomato, but very late. Costoluto Genevese, tasty tomato, good for slicing and sauce. Stupice, great producer of tasteless tomatoes, very early producer. Marianna's peace, nice looking tomato, not overly special. Kellogg's breakfast, great tasting orange tomato with creamy texture. Haven't tried the others. Of course thats my opinon up here in Pa. could be a world of difference down your way. Good luck with them all! Camo

We have National City and I have heard from other people building locally that the bank has been stopping giving draws in the middle of the project. We pulled off of the garage/guest quarters that we were going to build (which was part of our loan) for several reasons. The bank is happy with that. We didn't finish our house before our year deadline and they are changing the financing on us. Watch THAT!! Instead of the 7ish cap for our jumbo loan, they are offering two products. 2 years interest only or 9 1/4% interest 30 year fixed. One is the road to foreclosure and the other is the road to bankruptcy. We're self-employed with good assets and credit, but the loans have dried up and I talk to numerous people in the same boat. We're in So Cal. We need our final small draw to pay some contractors and it used to be that the bank would be out in the next day or so. Now, it's been over a week since we put in for the draw and no word....Scary. We closed our property about 1 year and 3 months ago and were in escrow for 10 months before that. Love the property, love the house, but there are a lot of estate home foreclosures with promise out there that might have worked just fine..... We may hire an attorney to see if we can negotiate something a little kinder, but the clock is ticking.....

Though the Canadian banks have been somewhat more heavily regulated than many, so that they've been evaluated recently as among the strongest in the industriaized world ... ... I've held shares in one of them for 42 years. "Value" (whatever that means ... I guess that I really mean, "price") per share about June 2007 - $107.00. It appears that not only did that one have significant exposure to some of the rotten portions of the U.S. mortgage market recently ... but they were backing a mortgage insurance company, as well. Price per share, last Nov ... $42.25. Price per share, now ... $51.84. It seems to me that, rather than being the "robb-er", I'm more like the "robb-ee". It sure feels like that, anyway! What's that you say? ... I'm not alone? That others, not only some bank semi-owners, have suffered a similar fate? Who's responsible? Where does the lynch mob congregate? What's that you say - that there's millions of us?? (Mainly found in mirrors?) Oh, Lord! What next?? Best wishes for learning to manage your life more effectively, ... ... most all of us. ole joyful P.S. Bought shares in a Canadian stockbroker quite a few years ago. Later bought out by another Canadian stockbroker. Later bought out by a U.S. stockbroker, Merrill Lynch. (Drat - all of our good stuff is being bought out by furriners ... making us hewers of wood and drawers of water ... in our own country!)!! That, a few years later, having got itself into serious financial trouble ... ... was recently, as a pretty sick patient, "rescued" ... ... by a large (but nearly insolvent, itself), U.S. bank ... ... making me the bedazzled shareholder of a U.S. BANK!! ................ ................ ole joyful (duct tape over mouth - more or less)