After a little research I am pretty sure what I have are paper wasps, they are a little longer and more slender than some photos of yellow jackets, and they don't really seem to be too aggressive, I tried photographing one that kept flying around and around my potted golden celebration (my rose with the most leaf damage) it was very obviously checking the undersides of leaves & it payed me no attention at all. It was kind of neat to see this in action, these bugs are obviously pretty intelligent and seem to remember finding the larvae in that area before. BUT don't get me wrong, even if this type of wasp is less aggressive than actual yellow jackets I am still terrified of these little critters. Especially after researching them and reading a few of those horror stories out there. I just hope I never happen upon these guys' nest, I don't see it anywhere on my porch or my yard, so hopefully it's in my neighbor's yard! Michaelg, when you say yellow jackets usually don't do that until October, do you mean that they usually don't show their faces until that late in the year, or that they seem to be more aggressive around that period of time?

Go to your local feed&seed or coop store and buy some seed potatoes. Cut them into chunks wherever you see an eye sprouting. Buy some powdered sulfur and sprinkle it all over the raw potato, like flouring chicken before frying. Let them sit overnight. This will cauterize the wounds and help keep the potato from rotting once buried. Commercially grown potatoes are treated to keep them from sprouting eyes but you can go to the grocery store, buy a few potatoes, wash them with soap and water and put them in a dark, warm place. They will begin to sprout. Better still, ask the produce manager at your grocery store if he has any sprouted potatoes he has culled. He may not be able to give them to you but he will probably sell them for next to nothing. One plant will grow a bunch of potatoes.

The shepperd hook I have has a straight botton, i.e. needle sharp like, so it's actually very easy to insert the pots from the bottom up. You say yours has double prongs on the end side? How about drilling a hole large enough for the prongs to be able to fit? One word of caution regarding the metal pots idea: depending on where you live and how hot your climate is, you may wish not to do this. In my climate, metal pots left outside in the afternoon sun are a sure way to fry the plant's roots. Even plastic pots have similar problems in Summer. Clay works very well, even though we have to be more dilligent concerning watering. Eduarda

Thank you everyone for your prayers and good wishes. The neurosurgeon said I didn't have MS, that I'm a little old because it should have been evident in my 20's. Of course he added, "Not that you're old..." (I've already had my mid-life crisis, over a decade ago!) I can laugh about this now but for those few days, it was pure agony. Thank you all for being there for me. I don't know what I would have done without you all. On the other hand, the "cure" for the facial spasms is surgery and he mentioned a 60 - 70% success rate. I'm looking at this as another one of my life's hurdles... Again, thank you all very much for your support and compassion. It truly means a lot to me. Keeping all of you in my prayers...