Thanks guys, that's helpful. After reading through 3 binders worth of "Container Soils" threads a couple of months back, I don't know why I had S.T.E.M. stuck in my mind as a suggested micro ingredient for the soils. Thanks, 41, I appreciate an alternative to the Micromax since the Micromax seems difficult to find in anything smaller than a $90 bag. The Dynamite product you suggest is described as a complete organic fertilizer including all essential micronutrients. I have seen it stated that organic fertilizers are not well suited to use in containers since they likely do not contain the right populations of microorganisms needed to metabolize the fertilizer to its active form. What's your take on this, with respect to Dynamite? Thanks again, Alex

A rose-ID quest here is almost always "a process of elimination." Certain details in the mystery-rose description from your mother-in-law tell us it is definitely not Peace. According to the ARS's official description of Peace: Peace has "slight" fragrance [others say "mild" at the very most]. Peace's mature leaves are (very) dark-green. Peace's mature leaves are (very) glossy. To try to be more helpful than just saying what the rose's name is not, I'll add: (1) Ask her whether it bloomed in clusters or mostly as one-bloom-per-stem. (2) Ask her about the size of the blooms. (3) Ask her about the size of the bush. (Tall, short, wide?) (4) WalMart almost never sells Patented rose-varieties - just inexpensive expired-patent varieties. This means that even 20 years ago, her rose was a 17-year-old (or more) variety. This indicates it is a rose introduced prior to 1967. Without a photo of it (now an impossibility, I know) and lacking certain other important info, the comments above are the best I can do to be of service to you at this point. Regards, JohnReb

Agreeing with billhart's advice. Can you tell us a little more about your design and objectives? When you say that you have a solar home "that is also tied to utility power", does that mean that some circuits are on solar power whereas others are on utility power? Also, am I correct in infering that this is not a "grid intertie" system (i.e., you are not selling power back to the utility company)? If I'm wrong about this assumption, all bets are off--that's a different situation altogether. Depending on the age and sub-model of that Inverter, it may have a so-called UPS capability and may have a built-in transfer switch as well. But a likely problem here may be that you are trying to use it in a way that conflicts with purposes for which the inverter was installed. I may be wrong about this, but I think that when that inverter is used in its typical UPS capacity, the AC hot input is the normal power feed (from utility power) and the inverter passes that power on to a specifically designated SET OF CIRCUITS under normal circumstances. (That is, the AC-out is connected to circuits that are isolated and specifically wired as your "emergency" circuits, as opposed to a backup for your main panel.) In this type of application, when the utility power goes out, the inverter's transfer switch disconnects from utility power and feeds those "emergency" circuits with power from the batteries (converted, of course, from DC to AC by the inverter). Under another design, that inverter may normally supply AC power from batteries (charged by the PV array) to circuits that are wired to the separately derived solar system. When solar power runs low, the inverter has the capability of supplying the circuits from a secondary power source (e.g., generator power) to deal with the deficit. (In this case, the AC input hooks to the generator.) In neither case does the inverter take AC input from utility power and feed it back to circuits also connected to utility power. Please don't apologize for the "long explanation". If anything, a longer explanation is needed. How, exactly do you see this as working? Is your house currently wired such that some circuits are on solar power and others on utility power? If so, it's likely that your best bet may be to put the circulator motors on the solar system but I'm just shooting from the hip at this point, without knowing more about the overall design, the capacity of the solar system and the demand load requirements of the circulator motor(s).

I assure you that it's not a short circuit. If it were, either the light would never turn off, or the breaker would trip. One possibility is "lazy" switch contacts. You could try replacing the switch. Another possibility, if the delay happens when the light's been turned off after some time of use, is that your light has a thermal protector in it and it needs time to cool down before the light will work again. That said, a problem like this is best handled by troubleshooting, not by random replacement of parts and devices. If you don't have the electrical knowledge to trace the circuit and find the actual fault, it's probably best to hire someone who does.