Sequoia, I'm in Sacramento. Which city are you in or near? You asked "Where would one order bulk fertilizers, amendments, sprays, etc? I maintain a number of large gardens, and am making an effort to switch them to organics, but I need or purchase on a larger scale than a couple small boxes here and there." You could do all the following if you could find a landscaper who would be willing to deliver their grass clippings to your gardens: (And since the landscaper probably has to pay to dispose of the clippings now, he should be happy to let you have them for Free!) 1. Never rototill or weed again. 2. Transform your soil, even if it's terrible now, to the best soil in the world. 3. Never spend one more cent for fertilizers or soil conditioners. 4. Conserve water. 5. Encourage an explosion in the populatiosn of beneficial soil microorganisms and earthworms in your soil. 6. And significantly increase the yields from your gardens. I've been an organic, mulch gardener since 1972. I haven't disturbed my soil in any way, except to plant seeds and seedlings- and ocassionally dig up some worms to give to fellow gardeners. I've spent not one cent for fertilizers, soil conditioners, soil tests (Why waste the money when the "treatment" is always the same, no matter what the findings? Namely Add More Organic Material.) herbicedes, and have so few problems with insects that the only chemical I use is Bt for caterpillars, and not even that some years. There IS the issue of chemical fertilizers used on lawns often containing herbicides, too. But a few years ago I spoke at length to someone at the Univ. of Oregon, which does consulting work for the EPA. The person agreed that a whole series of events would have to occur before pesticide residues on lawn clippings would be a problem. (The pesticide would have to be very toxic,and most of those have been banned in Calif, a great deal of residue would have to be present, the uncountable trillions of microbes in the soil would have to have NO effect on it, which is highly unlikely, and the plants would have to absorb it in high enough quantities to do harm. You are almost without doubt in much greater danger from the ride to and from your gardens than you ever would be from some chemical in clippings.) But if you simply object to introducing any kind of chemicals into your garden, which I could completely understand, another way to go would be to grow your own mulch. I've twice seen a special on PBS about a tomato farmer who took over the family farm when his father retired. His dad had used "traditional methods"- plowing, chemical fertilizers, and herbicides. But his son just grew some kind of cover crop- which the show irritatinly didn't identify- which got about ten feet tall. He just crushed it flat with his tractor, and planted his tomatoes right through the residue, with a special device he built himself. He greatly reduced his fuel costs (does That look good now?) virtually eliminated erosion, eliminated weeding, reduced watering needs, and increased his yield per acre from 15 bushles to 40 !!! There are much better ways to garden, or farm, than "traditional methods." Maybe when diesel fuel reaches five bucks a gallon, more farmers will try them. If you'd like to talk more about my suggestion, please e-mail me. Tyrell in Sacto

I guess there could be a problem with the clutch but I would not know what those problems would be. I know what they do and how they operate (mostly) but I would not be good at troubleshooting them. I think they have a sheer key involved with them. Does the engine accelerate when you blip the throttle? If it does not significantly change when you do blip it, then it is chain break or air supply (clogged filter, etc.) in my experience (there are probably other things that I don't know about). If the engine does accelerate normally, but no chain movement, then the power from the engine is not transferring to the chain. Part of that path is the clutch. I can visualize the other parts in that chain but I don't know all their proper names or more importantly how to fix them. I would have to take it to a shop at that point ;).

Maybe you meant sodium carbonate. Sodium carbonate (washing soda) isn't just a filler. It softens hard water, binding up the calcium and magnesium so that detergents are not inactivated by them. And it adjusts the pH to a level effective for cleaning. I may try Ecover just because I'm kind of compulsive about trying lots of cleaning products. But in real-world conditions of hard water that is not scalding hot, I'd expect better results from OxiClean. I get a 15-pound box of OxiClean at Costco for I think about $12. Ecover around $4-5/lb is a lot more expensive. I'd have to get equal cleaning power from 1/5 the amount by weight to break even, costwise.

Papa's little darling is a black/tan dachshund girl named Dixie. She is a huntress. After we added the "back forty" to our fenced space, she was enjoying exploring that new and shady locale. However, a week or so ago she disappeared one dark night and did not come when I called her to come in. It is my habit to let the two dogs out for a final business trip before we go to bed, and is usually over in a few minutes. But Dixie does not exactly pay attention to coming back when she gets her nose full of a scent like RABBIT, and we now have a rabbit coming into the garden to eat tasty stuff, and Dixie can track it everywhere it's been. So it was about 11 pm, and I was ready to go to bed. My flashlight batteries were DEAD, so I could not see how to walk in the stubbly field of cut bushes to look for her. Calling her name endlessly that late at night and clapping hands would not be appreciated by neighbors. I looked and looked, and listened for any sounds of her, all to no avail. Nothing. I went out front to the street to see if this little black dog could be out there, again no sign of her. I was sick at heart, because she is not wise to the ways of cars, and will follow her nose without looking up. I could not think about what I'd tell her papa in the morning when he called. So I turned on the front porch light, opened the blinds so I could see if she came up on the stoop, and waited. And waited some more. Around 2 am, there was a little scratch on the front door, and I looked that way to see her panting tongue lolling out the side of her mouth. She was ready to come home. She had scratches, a rash on her low slung belly, and by the next morning there were many bruises like finger prints around her back legs under the belly. I took her to the vet for babysitting (I was heading to Iowa next night), and they gave me something for the rash. Well, the same thing happened again Tuesday this week, only it was daylight, and I was watching the dogs while I watered my flowerpots. Suddenly no Dixie in the yard. I went calling again, no answer. I went to my neighbor's yard to see if she had gotten under our fence into HIS yard, but no. I was pretty mad at her this time. So I came back to our side of the shrubbery, and there she was, by the car in the driveway. Now I am putting her harness on with the leash attached to a large but movable object (a wire basket) so that she is slowed down, and cannot get far if she tries to go under the fence. This will be the routine until I can add a barrier around the new fence area, like we have under the old fence area, which will keep her from escaping. She is a quick learner. Poor little rabbit, I hope Dixie makes friends with it, and it grows up quickly to be bigger than she is. Anyway, here is a picture of her with her "ball and chain." I hope the animal cruelty folks don't catch me.