Bam, I had the exact same symptoms on my potted SHB this past summer when all the sulfer I added to the potting medium at planting finally settled out. Smaller than normal leafs, no new flushes of growth, pinkish chloratic leafs. I've learned to use sulfer a pinch at a time especially when using rain water. If I was using this nasty Houston tap water I probably wouldn't have seen these issues. On the other hand it would have drove the ph up and I would be playing chase one way or the other. I think that's the big advantage of using rain water. Once the ph settles in the range you want it , it should remain so for a very long time.

Laurel - that is so great!! Wintersowing will be such a wonderful thing for him because sometimes when you are older, you need to have something to look forward to... a sense of nurturing and caring. Wintersowing has been such an inspiration for me and I bet for others too. I would say, without a doubt, it has changed my life (and saved me money!!). Wonderful news, Laurel - let us know how he fares Carrie

G.M., I always share recipes. It's not like it's going to hurt me if someone else makes the same thing. It is a recipe I found on the internet, but then I had to change it up just a little bit. It gives roast a bit of a different flavor, and we just love it. Here's it is: one 6-lb. roast 4 T. butter or margarine 2 medium onions, chopped 16 oz. sour cream 32 oz. chicken stock or chicken broth 3 T. dill weed 1 and 1/2 t. seasoned salt 1 t. red pepper flakes Pour the chicken stock, sour cream, dill weed, seasoned salt and red pepper flakes into a crock pot, and stir together. Cover the crock pot and turn it on. Let the broth ingredients begin heating up. Melt the butter or margarine in a dutch oven on top of the stove and then brown the roast on all sides. While it is browning, chop up the onions. Remove the roast from the dutch oven and place it in the crockpot. Saute' the onions in the dutch oven until they are lightly browned. Pour the onions/butter mixture into the crockpot and stir well. Set the crockpot on low if you want to cook the roast all day, or on high if you want to cook it for a half-day. Cook, serve, enjoy. The longer it cooks, the more the liquid cooks down and thickens. Sometimes, if I only cook it for 6 hours, the liquid is a little runnier....more like au just when I want it a little thicker like gravy. So, to remedy that, I pour about 80 percent of the liquid into a saucepan and simmer it on the stove for a while to evaporate more moisture. Then I pour it back into the crockpot and stir everything together again. (Usually, while I am doing that I am preparing the side dishes.) If I cook it all day on low, the moisture usually has cooked out and the broth is thickened up the way we like it. A roast this size makes the four of us a couple of big meals, and there is usually some meat left for sandwiches. I like to make open-faced sandwiches like the open-faced roast beef sandwiches at Cracker Barrel. Just chop up some of the leftover roast beef and heat it and the sauce. Serve over thick slices of sourdough bread. Yummy! And the tomato plants.....well, the ones I have more or less match what I thought I was raising. I have to finish the comparison tomorrow, as I got distracted by a movie DH was watching and sort of stopped in the middle. There are a few tomato plants that weren't on the original list, which isn't unusual. Often, after starting my seeds in late January, I come across a variety that sounds delicious and decide to start "a few more tomatoes". LOL And, of course, sometimes a few seeds don't sprout, or sprout and die, or sprout and get eaten by the deer or rabbits when I leave the flats sitting outside at night. (sign) Tomorrow, I'll let you know how much the list changed. I know I did add Ramapo F-1, which is back on the commercial market for the first time in quite a while. I ordered seeds from the New Jersey Agriculture Extension Service at Rutgers University (in January, I think) and they didn't arrive until March 10. I started them right away, and they are now about 3" tall and have 2 to 4 true leaves, so they'll have to grow a little before they go into the ground. Still, with the very warm weather we're having, I think they'll reach planting size pretty quickly. Sometimes I think back to how easy it used to be before I started raising my own from seed, and think that life was so much simpler then. (smile) But, I do love the huge variety of colors and flavors, so I don't really mind. I want to plant a lot Monday, so I'm free to run down to Ft. Worth the rest of the week to see Mom in the hospital, especially if they start the tests Monday. I think the oncologist is going to try to diagnose the probable cancer without extracting bone marrow (due to her age and lower bone density), so it may take a few extra days to get a definite idea of what is going on. We also have the annual Fire Dept. awards dinner Saturday, and have to do some running around one day this week to pick up plaques and other awards and stuff and get ready for that. I hope for a rain-free Monday so I can plant, plant, plant, since the weather seems good in the extended forecast, and it may be the only day I have "free" this week. (At least the recent rainfall has kept down the number of grass fires, so I'm not having to drop everything and go!) Dawn

First of all, thank you for not declawing your cats. I assume you have researched the procedure and understand that it involves much more than the removal of claws. It is, in fact, amputation down to the first joint of each toe, comparable to the amputation of each of your own fingertips down to the first joint. Declawing is not only a painful and completely indefensible surgery, but it may very well end up causing more problems than it solves. Declawed cats sometimes experience permanent, chronic foot pain that results in rejection of their litterboxes. Then you're dealing with cats who end up soiling all over your house for the rest of their painful lives. Some cats who are declawed also become insecure and defensive, resorting to biting as a "first strike" mechanism at inappropriate times. Sure, there are plenty of declawed cats who don't develop litterbox avoidance or biting behaviors, but why take that chance with your own healthy, happy felines? Furniture is replaceable, but you can't replace your cats' amputated toes if the cats develop post-declaw behavioral issues. OK, that covers the reasons why declawing shouldn't be considered a reasonable or advantageous option. Now to the scratching thing. Here are a few options you havent' mentioned trying yet: 1) Provide a variety of scratching surfaces. Some cats prefer to stretch up when they scratch and like tall, vertical scratching surfaces. Other cats prefer to stretch out when they scratch and will enjoy horizontal scratching pads. Different cats like different surfaces: corrugated cardboard (a favorite around my house), sisal rope (another favorite), natural wood (draws them like flies - esp. firewood with the bark still on it)), carpet (NOT in favor in my household), fabric (also NOT favored here). Try as many different orientations and surfaces as you can find. With five felines in your household, you're bound to be living with different scratching preferences. 2) Buy a package of loose catnip leaves and rub them generously into all acceptable scratching surfaces to inspire feline activity. 3) Buy a roll of very sticky, double-sided carpet tape and tape the areas on your furniture where the cats have been scratching. Cats HATE getting their paws sticky, so they will avoid the taped areas. Once they have been successfully and reliably deterred from the furniture and redirected to their own scratching surfaces, you can remove the tape. 4) If the cats still refuse to leave your furniture alone, buy some "Soft Paws", little plastic or rubber caps that you glue onto their claw tips so they can't cause damage to furniture. 5) Buy cheap furniture that can be replaced as necessary. 6) Abandon the folly of "training" cats. Make peace with the fact that you are now a slave to five felines. Such is the joy of living with cats. :-) Laurie, who is happily enslaved by 14 of the beasts