Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart, Ace Hardware and many others. Depends on inside diameter as to if regular hose repair parts will work. click link. just one of many on line sites that have fittings for 5/8" OD Soaker Hose. Here is a link that might be useful: Drip Works

First lets talk about your gallicas. Whatever was wrong has died. That's good. And what's left seems to be healthy. That's also good. Some plants get a disease, and the disease is isolated by quick death of the infected plant parts. A gallica in Madisonville IN died in a very similar way about five or six years ago and it is very close to where RRD had become entrenched in a state park. I've seen similar quick death in Cl. Old Blush and on my found rose Cleveland Cemetery White. On both Old Blush and CCW, there were witches' brooms of new growth, then the whole stems died. And left behind some plant parts that came back healthy. Can we say that these had definite RRD? No. But they had enough RRD symptoms to strongly suggest RRD. Hearing about your gallicas sounds a lot like what happened in Madisonville. The Powdery Mildew...sometimes when it would appear in a normal summer on a usually PM-unsusceptible plant, the PM would be followed by RRD. This year, that doesn't seem to be the case, in my garden, at least, as my big PM infected plants seem to be putting out normal regrowth. BUT, my plants aren't doing the hyperthorny " Very red, extra thorny, kind of twisted down on top - or wilted, or something. I looked at it for a long time. There are several of these shoots on one branch." That's at least five symptoms of RRD on that one cane. Can you cut that cane off really low (better yet pull off the roots that support it?) re the bristly locust....I've never heard of that plant in any of the plant pathology literature I've read. I'll check it next time I go to the library. I think, though, you may have gotten lucky and had a few isolated roots left behind that didn't get the problem into them. I'll see if I can find out what it's causal agent is. I plan to go to the library this weekend. ALoha's vegetative growth is sort of normal for Aloha. This year, especially, there've been lots of reports of the vegetative growth extending into summer. The only two blooms I've got on Aloha right now are on the top of the arbor so I can't see if mine are normal now or not. Hope this starts to help. Ann

Hi- I haven't been on this forum for a few days--been busy. Anyway- I also had my granite done by In Home Stone!! I live in Southern Maryland- northern Calvert County, though, so I am only about 40 mintues away from Annapolis. I really do like In Home Stone, however. There are so many small granite shops around our area. I went to maybe 5 places to get estimates. In Home Stone had the best price, and seemed to have a great reputation, too. (One interior designer told me they send all their clients there.) One of the reasons they were less expensive than other places (in some cases by over $1000 cheaper!) is that they were only going to charge me by the square foot--not by the slab. I needed just a little bit over 1 slab. I didn't want to have to buy 2 slabs! They said they do so much work that they can always use the leftover sections for bath vanities, or misc. things. They also don't charge extra for about 4 different edge choices. I went shopping for slabs at about 4 or 5 granite warehouses, too. They all seem to be up between D.C. and Baltimore for some reason--so you may end up taking a long drive anyway-- unless you happen to find a slab you like at a fabricator's shop. I ended up buying mine at Gramaco (actually- you pay for it through your fabricator and they ship it to them. It is all wholesale but they let you in to look and put a hold on a slab you like.) Just google--you'll find someone local. Check the better business bureau, too, just in case... Hope this helps.

I think you've already answered your question :-( Our pets try so hard to please us, even when they are in the condition you describe. It is so easy to get swayed by the displays of affection and attention that even pets on death's door exhibit. You want to think that maybe everything's OK when subconsciously you know it probably is not. And sometimes it's very hard to actually the judge the quality of life they may have......afterall, they cannot communicate verbally how bad they may be feeling, what kind of pain they are in, or how confused or disturbed they might be. All we can go on is their actions and they do their best to put on a brave front for us. Deciding when is the toughest decision a pet owner has to make. Been there, done that too many times and it doesn't get any easier. It is always best to do it before the animal is really suffering. Take the weekend and spend some quality time with your kitty and lavish him with attention. Feed him his favorite treats and cuddle and love him. And know that you have been a great pet parent, otherwise he wouldn't have made it to this ripe old age, and that you gave him a great and long and loving life. And then do what you know you need to do. My thoughts are with you.