Here's a paragraph taken from the above mentioned article. "One of the biggest dangers to the success of any baiting program is people's tendency to trap nuisance raccoons and release them many miles away in another area. "All it will take is one infected raccoon transported past the baited perimeter to blow everything," Wilson says. "We saw this happen in Connecticut when the leading edge of the epidemic suddenly jumped 60 miles from the last known point of infection. The most likely explanation was that infected raccoons were unintentional stowaways on garbage trucks making deliveries to a large landfill in the area." I would question that theory, a raccoon would not stand still if it was inside a garbage can and it was dumped in back of a truck. That's completely a nuts theory. The coon would hightail it before the sanitary worker reached the can. The can would be open and the sanitary worker wouldn't come close to it if a coon was on top anyway. I think maybe Wilson has the right kind of smarts to be a succesful bureacrat and not a succesful gardener.

For those of you who wanted to know about the gas well-- 50 years ago, my grandparents built a beautiful Farm and house on the property I live at. For energy, they had a gas well put in. The company who built it drilled 1200 feet in the ground and ran piping down into it. As the gas comes up the pipe by natural pressure down there, some of it is liquid, and some is a gas. It runs through various different valves in which the liquid is siphoned off into a 14 ft tall, 8-10 ft diameter steel drum. The remaining gas is run through piping to our house. Once or twice a year (I don't know exactly how often) a truck comes from the company and switches tanks. We then recieve a check for 100-150$ for the liquid gas that they take. They refine it and sell it to local power companies and such. There are a few downsides- 1. There is a huge green steel drum half a mile down the field. 2. Once in awhile(every two years or so) a pocket of gas makes its way to the surface around the pipe.....So we get a big brown stain around the well itself. 3. Our neighbors are required to have access to a well because of Mineral Rights- Why? Whose to say the gas pocket we are using ends at the property line. There is a possibility that we are taking gas from there property, so by law they are granted access. Which can be a pain- In the winter gas pressure drops, and its just strong enough to support one house....They run their heating as well....And the gas "goes out". When it goes out we have to go outside where the pipes meet the house and reset the connection to the house, because when pressure drops, the valves close. Not terribly difficult, just annoying! Our township has a regulation about gas wells- if you don't own more than 4 acres of property, you can not have one. We have 36 acres, and two gas wells. Right now, a company is going to drill a new well for commercial use. The well will be a little more than a mile into the ground, and they'll bottle it and sell it. We'll recieve between $1200 and $5000 a month depending on how much they collect. We are planning to have pipe laid from the rear gas well(about 7/8ths of a mile from our house) to bring gas from there. All our winter difficulties will no longer exist. My grandparents' house and farm burnt to the ground 20 years ago, and they rebuilt a small house. Then they passed away and my father inherited 36 of the original 60 acres, and my parents built a house here. Just a little history for you. The gas well has its good points and bad, and we like it, but I am starting to think Thermal energy may be the way to go. Feel free to ask questions- I don't know everything about it, but I'll try. Thanks, Kenny

I was just aiming for plant survival at night. No killing frost in there. During the day I would open the door and take the cover off a vent if it got really hot. I only grow bedding plants and veggie transplants in there from about mid Feb to mid May. The rest of the year it is empty. In the fall I put a few tomatoes and peppers in there in containers I bring inside. I was not joking when I said this thread made me realise something. I have been collecting fans, pumps and aquarium heaters so that next spring I can have a more controlled environment, and seeing this made me realise the more dependant I become on 24/7 power in there the more I have to work out a backup plan. My record high temp in there? 140F in early Feb. Clear skies, outside air temp just about freezing and snow on the ground. The snow reflects additional light/heat in there. Plus the snow all around the greenhouse sealed all the cracks for me.

Running extension cords under rugs is a fire safety hazard. If you need outlets elsewhere, have them installed where they are needed, outside the area where your rug is placed.