Nan, Zinnias go hand in hand with powdery mildew, and black-eyed-susans get it too. We live on an island, mildew happens. Sigh. Go to a good nursery, or Home Depot, Lowes, Wally World, etc, and look for a product called Bayer Rose Food and Treatment (or some similar name), it's in a silvery blue bottle and has granules you strew about the plants. It's systemic and does a great job at preventing PM on roses and it works great on zinnias, rudbeckias and balsam too. The Mexican Zinnias seem to have better resistance to PM than the others, and of them I like the parti types. But for just knockout beauty in the garden you can't surpass Cactus Flowered Zinnias, they are my absolute favorites. They are butterfly magnets too, the monarchs, swallowtails and morning cloaks are always on them. Most of the time the Cactus Zinnia are available in dollar store packs, but you can get them from any garden center or catalogue. Just a suggestion, get a piece of oaktag and map your garden on it then tack the posterboard to the wall in the garage or slip it between your mattresses. I do a mapping each year of my tomato beds because I need to save their seeds, most of the flowers I don't map, and likewise you don't need to map the things you know well, just scribble down a general location and name of the special plants, you can even glue or tape the seed pack to the oaktag. I always put markers out in my garden, written with a commercial sharpie too so they don't fade, but I've seen them blow away in severe storms and Liz, the most wonderful of dogs, will sometimes snatch them out of the beds and chew them up into unreadable piles of shreddies; so for a back up a map is very helpful. T

I must admit....after about 3 times...it gets annoying. But, I still like the message. I once knew a Personal Manager who walked potential Employee's to their car. He judged employee's by the condition of their car. Eek! Mine has bird poop on it right now. LOL! Gayle

uxorial, I have a "teeth-showing" dog too - it's normal for his breed, the Keeshond, to display a submissive grin. The breed is nicknamed the "Smiling Dutchman" because of this habit. Believe it or not some people think the dog is snarling at them because s/he is showing teeth! Sometimes when he is very happy playing with DH he'll roll over and peel his lips back so far he's showing both sets of gums, and if he's VERY excited he bares almost every tooth and "clacks" then together. :-) He's also another one who would happily sleep in a snowbank if we let him. If it's snowing we have to rattle the treat box to get him into the house! In our last house we had one of those beige fake-sheepskin bolster-beds in the corner of the living room for Goku-pup, and a crate in the bedroom (he took well to crate training). He responds to placement cues too, so "go crate" or "go bed" gets the appropriate response. The fleece thing looks so terrible in this house that I haven't put it out, although the crate fits nicely in the mudroom. The "giant pillow" kind of beds just don't do it for me at all. I've been thinking about one of the types that looks like a miniature couch but not sure if I can justify the price; Target has some kids' couches that might actually fit the bill, for much cheaper. Random-kitty preferred cardboard boxes for sleeping in, although shortly before she left us for the Bridge I finally convinced her to sleep in a cat bed. She was also welcome to sleep on whatever furniture she wanted to - she was family, after all.

Thank you.. Not too nosy, since I mention it plenty of times, here and there.. I was born in Kiev, Ukraine, the former Soviet Union.. as much as I felt I've moved on-we left when I was 18..this Maidan revolution in 2014 and everything that's followed was hard on me..you see, my childhood home overlooked Maidan( that was of course called differently, and I must say looked much much nicer then..it's like these urban planners compete how to make it uglier, really)..anyway when you see the place you were born, saw from your window, walked every day.. place that was your home..burning..you suddenly understand that you didn't move too far.. and no, you can't predict, until something like this happens. I really thought it's part of me, of my past, integral part, but not a home anymore. Israel is my home. we moved to Israel.. I spent there many years..then my ex got transferred here..I was hysterical and didn't want to go yet I went..very young kids, family..you know.. then they transferred us back I was so happy still wasn't a walk in the rose garden..as much as my previous employers loved me-they didn't hold space for me..:) so looking for new job and all that..you do start again, even if you left for some time and went back you still adjust. even when everything around you spells home. And Israel has this thing about it..you change, it changes, yet it's the only place on Earth that gives meaning to me being there, besides just being with the people I love anywhere else I won't say it's a Garden of Eden, yes? it can be downright scary..the bombings and all-I wasn't there(actually came to take care of my Mom, also in 2014- but they didn't get to Haifa then..was too far for their missiles..)..but I lived in Jerusalem through two intifadas..you understand that every day is a dying day(c)..yet you know..you continue..because -where else? and you have to stay human. there are two sorts of death, right? This is a very strange, magical place. People go crazy there. We even have "The Jerusalem Syndrome"..:) that some tourists get..need to be send to a hospital for some time, take meds you know..they start thinking they are Messiahs.. It's too old and seen it all. Jerusalem I mean. It doesn't care about you. And the sky is amazingly high there. But you can't stop caring about it. When I'm in Israel and it so happens I didn't go to Jerusalem-I feel I didn't fully go.. so.. sorry about the big lyrical off top..when my ex's bosses decided to send us here again I was very sad but less panicky..I thought "ok they're going to send us back again, as they did the first time" and then everything unfolded differently so..as they say in Russian fairy tales "for longer for shorter"..for now I'm here, and listen, I love it too. It's been many years already..I lived on two coasts..I think 7 years(altogether) on the East, and probably 7 on the West? goodness..time really flies I love West Coast much more first, it reminds me of Israel. The sky is high here too..:) and other things second, I'm plainly happier. on some important accounts but I will always want to go back If somebody translated Joseph Brodsky's poem(no.. he never been to Israel and never wanted to, and didn't feel any connection as per his interviews.. but since he was a genius poet he just knew certain things I guess...that's a poem about a desert)..in short if I find a good translation-I'll post it..the link I mean ok..that was really long..:)