1. This may change. The EPA is over-stepping its authority in a number of areas. 2. Previous studies have shown imidacloprid to be one of the most innocuous insecticide formulations available, at least from a human perspective. I know someone personally, on a PhD track in Biology, who has conducted tests on imidacloprid. If it doesn't kill, it seems to enhance reproductive efforts. Personally, I prefer Orthene except for the smell. Merit seems to turn the switch on for spider mite reproduction like no other insecticide I've seen. So, technically - I wouldn't be that sad to see it go, but it's the principle of the thing of uninvolved/uninformed bureaucrats telling us what's we can use and we can't. Believe me, they are often the last ones who are really in the know. ;-)

I was working as a temp at Fred Jones Manufacturing, about of mile, as the crow flies, from the Murrah building. The week before our fire alarms had gone off. Someone on the third floor had run into one of the sprinklers with a forklift. Because of all the volatile chemicals present in the building, once the alarms went off we had to evacuate, even though we knew in five minutes what had happened. But alarms in our building went off simultaneously at the nearest fire station so we were required to wait until we had an all clear from the firemen before we could return. When we felt the blast we just figured this time someone had dropped a forklift. We got up and prepared to head downstairs expecting to evacuate again. On our way to the stairs we looked in the offices to the east to see if they, too, were preparing to leave the building. ThatÂs when we saw the smoke and all the papers flying around in the street below us. All the plate glass windows on the ground floor shattered, and you could smell the stench. Many of the smaller windows on the upper floors were cracked, and the blast put a crack in the east wall of the building, originally completed in 1916, that was not there before. Two of the men I worked with lost their wives. They both worked for HUD and were at the sign-in desk when the bomb went off. One had been married about 12 years at the time. They had spent most of their first ten years of marriage trying to have a child. Finally, about a year before the bombing they had a little boy. Until about a month prior to the bombing he had been in the day care center in the Murrah building. They had taken him back the week before the bombing for a birthday party. They took lots of pictures of all the kids at the party. He was asked to take those pictures and go to Denver to testify during the sentencing phase of the trial. Poor man, he was so grief-stricken at losing his wife that he moved back in with his mother to have help with the little boy and never again lived in the house heÂd shared with his wife. Another man had a "near miss" with his wife. She also worked for HUD and, under normal circumstances, would have been right there with the other two menÂs wives, but her job involved travel to Indian communities. She had a regularly scheduled travel date that conflicted with their only childÂs, a daughter, soccer game so she traded and traveled on the 19th to be home for the girlÂs soccer game. My daughter and her best friend, just two years out of high school, were both working evening shifts. My daughter was waiting tables at a restaurant near our apartment, and her friend worked at the sign-in desk at what was then the Westin Hotel downtown. I think itÂs now a Sheraton. Being accustomed to staying up late they didnÂt wake up until maybe 10 am. Once they heard the news they took off together to see what they could do to help. First they tried the Oklahoma Blood Institute which had put out a call for O negative donations (my daughter is not O negative, not sure about her friend), but every donation center was swamped. They had to turn away people because there would simply not be enough time in the day to take that many donations. They went to a fabric store to buy ribbons. No ribbon color had yet been selected to represent the city and the tragedy so they picked purple. Late that first night they took their spools of ribbon downtown and tied them around all the poles along the marked off perimeter of the area. The next night a policeman would remember having seen my daughter tying ribbons. Next they tried volunteering for anything that was needed. Again, they were turned away everywhere because everyone was swamped with people volunteering to help. They finally managed to convince someone, Red Cross I think, that they had something to offer most of their other volunteers didnÂt. They were young, worked evenings, and were accustomed to being up very late. They could be there to help in the middle of the night when most of their other volunteers needed to get some rest. Mostly they just served drinks to the rescuers, police, and others working on the rescue effort. This is when the policeman remembered seeing my daughter tying ribbons the night before. My daughterÂs friend "caught" a rescue worker buying himself a soft drink from a vending machine on the hotelÂs first floor. She "scolded" him and pointed out that one flight up, on the Mezzanine, rescue workers were being provided drinks for free. I remember a news article where some of the rescuers who came from New York remarked about how in 1993, the first time the World Trade Center was attacked, street vendors showed up charging outrageous prices for coffee and sandwiches. Here, we pretty much fed them for free. Cots were set up in the convention center for the rescuers to sleep rather than them having to pay for hotel accommodations, and the governorÂs wife worked with local florists to see that a rose was placed on each cot every night. Whenever the rescue effort put out a call for supplies, I specifically remember boots for the search dogs, in short order they would be literally inundated. WeÂd hear the local news people ask for something then the next thing you hear is, "Please, we have enough of this, no more!" I have a friend who was still active in Boy Scouts then, both his sons were in Scouting. He remembers sitting at the Channel 5 location with a semi trailer taking donations. He says the line of cars waiting to drop things off was enormous. He especially remembers a little old lady; he says she probably could hardly walk, driving up bringing goods and then insisting on also writing a check to help out. Sometime in the late Â90s I took my first, and so far only, tour of the Crystal Bridge. I donÂt remember where in the gardens it is, and I donÂt even remember what exactly it is, but somewhere is a tree, small when I saw it, with a plaque in front of it that states the tree is a thank you gift to the city from rescuers who came from Arizona. I canÂt explain how perplexed I was when I read the plaque. They came to help us. It is we who should thank them, but there I was staring at a tree these Arizonans gave us in thanks. I think that gesture says a lot about who we are and how we were perceived in the immediate aftermath of the bombing. We have another anniversary this week. While the environmentalists co-opted it some years ago for "Earth Day" for me it will always be the anniversary of the run of Â89. Thousands of brave souls came looking for a new life, but one that they would have to carve out of the wilderness by their own efforts and hard work, having no one else to rely on but themselves and their neighbors. Less than twenty years later Oklahoma Territory joined with Indian Territory, another situation where people had to make a new life in the wilderness by their own work except that it was forced on them and not their choice, to form the State of Oklahoma. We are the sons, daughters, grandsons, and granddaughters of these pioneers. Through oil booms and busts and the associated economic ups and downs, the Dust Bowl, killer tornadoes, and the Murrah Building bombing we have continued to exhibit what Howard Witt, writing for the Chicago Tribune on the occasion of the bombingÂs 10th anniversary, called our "Âessential prairie stoicism--the same ÂOklahoma spirit for which they were lauded in the aftermath of the bombing, when Oklahomans demonstrated extraordinary decency, humility and bootstrap resiliency" based on "deep religious faith and unblushing middle American values." I agree with Dawn. April 19, 1995 was both our worst tragedy and our finest hour. I have never been more proud of my state and its people than I was in those dark days of April. IÂve always said that no matter how much nicer, prettier, easier other places might be to live, I wouldnÂt want to live anywhere else, and my fellow Okies are the reason. You are the best people in the world, and that goes just the same for all you "transplants" and "adoptees." YouÂre here now, and as my Granddad would say, "youÂre ourÂn." Debra

Yesterday was my day off and mom and I ran some errands and saw three different doctors. The first is her foot doctor who takes care of her toe nails - diabetic care. That went well. Next dropped her off at the nursing home to see hubby and I ran to Wally world for stuff we both needed. From there to the next doctor for a bone density test. She has Osteoporosis, not real bad. She measured a 2 on the 3 point scale. Those results were then transmitted to her primary doctor which was our last visit. Doctor had a long conversation with mom and asked how she was doing, if she had any concerns etc. She explained to him that she was concerned about the muscle mass in her legs and the weakness as a result. He talked to her for about 10 minutes about her history which includes a stroke, heart attack and the diabetes. He also reminded her that he has tried for 6 years to get her to take a prescription for Cholesterol and explained to her how the muscles are fed by the blood that can or cannot flow through. My mom refuses to take the prescription. Says she has prayed about it (she has) and the answer she keeps getting is no. It amazes me that she always gets the answer she is looking for through her prayers. That's another matter though. He then turned to me and asked me directly what I was concerned with. I told him I thought she was too inactive and unsociable. That I was concerned about her being by herself too much and not being physically active. I was also concerned about her hearing and her moods. He asked if she was depressed, she wouldn't let me answer the question. He could see there was a conflict between mom and I and explained to mom that perhaps some of what I was trying to relay to her was for her own good and that she should give it some thought. She said she didn't have bad moods and was generally very happy. I had to remind her of the time just last month when she went off on me, got so mad that I wasn't sure if she was going to hit me and eventually threw some of my stuff down the stairs. Mom has a temper but I know she gets that way when she needs something and doesn't necessarily know how to express it. She is lonely and I recognize that. I can't honestly say that it is all about missing her husband. They've only been married since 1999. Yes, I'm sure she thought when she married that since he was younger than her he'd be there to take care of her and it didn't turn out that way. More than anything, I think she's a bit angry about that. I know my mom. I married for the first time in 1999 as well. Up to that point we had lived together for most of my life. She announced the marriage less than 60 days prior to my wedding and I had never heard of him. She never spoke of him until there was a ring on her finger. Many in the family think she married because I was getting married. We are going to start some in home physical therapy. That will help me to know what kind of excercises will help her and perhaps keep her motivated. Her nutrionalist say's her vitamin d level is low and has increased her dosage. We have checked into assisted living, I told her if that is what she wanted it would be fine with me. We looked at units but she has decided against it. I think being alone although surrounded by other people did not thrill her. She says she feels safe in our home. The stairs are getting harder so I did discuss the stair mover chair, she wants to think about that which is good. We just had a electric reclining couch delivered and she loves it. I am fortunate in that if I need a break I do have two brothers that take her for a few days to give me that break. Mom is generally ready to come back sooner rather than later. The boys have kids, dogs and alot of things going on their homes and that gets to be too much for her. She takes trips as well. Last year she took 3 trips and I encourage her to do more if possible. Most are through her church. We will keep trugging along, it's nice to be able to bounce things off of everyone here at the table. I'm surrounded by men so I don't get much feedback from them. Thank you again.

md you are correct. too much coffee this AM. I did misread #2 quote. I would elect the #3 Trane quote over the #2 Bryant quote based on the price difference alone. "Dealer has verified that the Air handler will fit. On the Honeywell stat, the dealer told me that the Trane warranty may be void if using with non-trane eqpt. Is that your experience?" Total hogwash. Trane stats are a POJ and the HW VP IAQ has the "dehumidify on demand" feature which you do want. I would not have the Trane system without it. In fact, I would strike it off the list because of what the dealer said which is not truthful. One nice feature though about the XL15i is their "electronic demand defrost" which eliminates unnecessary defrost calls. #1 quote is still my first choice. The Evolution air handler with matching Evolution controller is simply the best available on the residential mkt. As far as new lineset goes, flushing is fine as long as existing lineset is the correct size for new system. If it is not, you will not reach performance/eff ratings. Verify with dealer existing size and Bryant recommendation for a 3 1/2 ton Preferred 15 HP. You don't want to cripple a new system. You do want the heat strip staged whether 20KW or 15KW. Ask dealer what size you currently have. He'll know.You do want this staged-either two 10s or two 7.5s. Keep in mind that as long as outside HP condenser is operating, it produces alone about 27 KBTUs at 17 deg fah temperature. 20KW yields 68 KBTUs 15KW yields 51 KBTUs what is your heating load based on what outside design temp? you are just about there. let me know if you have questions. IMO Good Luck!