Thanks guys. I have done some reading (I have Storeys Guide to Raising Dairy Goats) and from what I understand they would have gotten CAE from their mother when first born. My goats are brother and sisters so I would assume (please correct me if I'm wrong) that they all would have been exposed to this rotovirus then. They are my only goats, and I don't milk them, they are my pets. The girls don't do this, just him. Its my understanding that there is no cure, so other than making sure he is comfortable, there is nothing I can do. We don't plan on getting more goats, or breeding the ones we have. I am prepared to spend whatever is necessary to help any of my animals but I'm not sure what good it would do to do the test and find out its positive if I can't take any action. I spend a lot of time with them and am sure I'd know if he was in any pain. They run and play together, and his disposition is the same as the day I got him. The book doesn't mention when the symptoms usually appear, and it really only mentions swelling in the knees, pneumonia and weight loss. None of which he has. They will be 1 year old on the 9th of this month....do you know when the symptoms would appear? Please, I'd really appreciate some feedback. Thanks.

Rainsend (great username, BTW, I could use your services in hot and dry New Mexico ;D) Don't be discouraged by the lack of response you are getting. You do lovely work. You should be very proud of what you have done so far. You mentioned that summer is coming to an end where you live. A common complaint on this forum during the cold months is that it's too cold to cast, sculpt, create with tufa or crete, so I would suggest that while the temperatures are still warm enough to get good cures accomplished, you should cast as many things as you can think of and get them to the point that you can embellish them at your leisure this winter. That will help to scratch the "tufa itch" that most mudders have in the cold weather months. You'll have all winter to hone your artistic techniques and when next spring arrives you'll be teaching us all how to achieve what you've created over the winter. This is only a suggestion, mind. As for the volume of posts, you'll find that winter is MUCH slower than the late summer post count you seen recently. There were times last winter when I would not see a new post for days on ANY thread, but when the weather started to warm up, so did the enthusiasm and energy on this forum. Think of it as hibernation. Take care and keep your chin up. Jo

tcstoehr: I wouldn't try to thin Fuyu at this stage of the season. If the fruits are only marble size, a lot more natural drop will still occur. You may end up having to do little or no hand thinning. Mine are still dropping occasionally, and the fruitlets are much larger than marble size. You won't really know how many persimmons your tree will hold until August/September. But at that point, they will still be a long way from ripe. Those that do hold will continue to grow, even when they begin to color orange. They will hang on the trees right through October and into November. Where you live, maybe even into December. Leave them on the trees until they start to soften, which seems to take forever. I wonder what kind of rootstock you have there, since I was unaware that persimmons can be grafted to any other than persimmon stock. I am quite sure mine are grafted to American persimmon stock, which is more vigorous than the scions above, and will provide excellent anchorage and hardiness. On my trees, the rootstock stem is clearly thicker than the grafted Asian varieties above. With persimmons, I think you can leave fruitlets that are right next to each other, as frequently happens, and they will both grow to full size. Last season I had 3 Eurekas grow in a cluster, left them all, and all three grew to over 3 1/2 inches in diameter. This year, there will be a lot more, both on Eureka and the other two varieties. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

It depends...everything seems to be relative. I'm new to African Violets too. My November planting of leaves went through so much with me...I decided to wick the leaves because I knew I had to be gone for a couple weeks. About half the leaves took six weeks to have babies, some a little longer and some a lot longer. My first flower appeared just recently. At one point I decided to dome half the leaves and noticed a big improvement with the doomed leaves and babies. What Montezuma suggested about cutting the peripheral edge--that's so true. I experimented with two of the same kind of leaves and same size, and the leaf I trimmed rooted and had a baby much faster than the leaf that didn't get trimmed. Just want to add, I purchased a Pow Wow plant and planted a few of its leaves. Those leaves had babies within about three weeks--much faster than all the other leaves that I had received in the mail. Pat