Actually, I got off the Okla. Forum for a while, as it seemed it was more of a "social affair" between the same group of people just chatting back and forth, and not a whole lot of helpful info to posted questions and, quite frankly, I got sick of the subject of "tomatoes". I love tomatoes as much as anyone else, but, "holy nightshade", it is NOT a religion! There are a few who try to be genuinely helpful (including you), and I have really appreciated the help! Thanks for the warning about hornworms on Brugs. First I had heard that. You asked me to watch my Callirhoe for worms, and so far, the only thing that has chowed down on it is a busy deer, who got into it because it was growing near my daylilies and roses. For the first time, I have a deer problem. I am anxious for my butterfly and humming bird plants (Asclepias, Lantana, Lavender, Echinacea, Liatris, etc.) to start blooming prolifically, so I can watch them darting about the flower beds. Hope the 4O'Clocks DO bloom this Summer. They seem to be slow growers, or maybe they, too, have been waiting for warmer temps. Jeanie

I've had good luck with PC. But, the best to grow, are the old ones, not the new varieties. I have good luck with magnus, and I have some pink ones that I'm not sure what the variety is. Mine die back in the fall and come back in the spring. They also come up everywhere in the flower bed. So, I transplant them where ever I want some. I just deadheaded them, and threw away a lot of seed. But, I can keep seed and share them. If you are interested in some hardy, no name coneflowers, that even attract red spotted purples, I'll share my seed this fall. How I grow them: I stick them in the ground, and water them until they are established. Then I just forget about them. My soil is sandy loam, but has lots of silty clay in it also. It can get pretty hard when it gets really dry. Silvery crescentspot cats sometimes defoliate the plants, but that's ok with me. When everything starts to droop in the garden, I water. I don't feed them, and I don't mulch them. I also have the new named varieties. The blooms are pretty when they first appear, but they don't stay true as they age. They actually look worse than the old no-name variety. But they are spreading and thriving. Sandy

Based upon what Prarie love wrote, at least some people do believe that hypothyroid-induced seizures are common. Being hypothyroid and having seizures are not necessarily related, though they certainly can be. Unfortunately being that most animals do not get regular annual (twice yearly for older pets) bloodwork when they are healthy, but most people will get bloodwork done when their pet has a seizure, it is often the case that low T4 is discovered right after an animal has a seizure. But the seizure itself can cause low T4, and once the animal's seizures are controlled the T4 returns to normal- or not if the animal is on phenobarbital. This is euthyroid sick syndrome- normally functioning thyroid that is temporarily suppressed due to another disease. Euthyroid sick syndrome can be caused by any disease, including a disease that causes seizures or the seizures themselves. It doesn't hurt to judiciously supplement thyroid hormone in an emergency while waiting for a full thyroid panel, which takes 1-2 weeks (having just gotten one for my dog) as long as you don't go overboard, as oversupplementing thyroid hormone can be cardiotoxic. But you are not really controlling the seizures, you are actually preventing further seizures. In other words, even if a dog's seizures are caused by hypothyroidism, giving thyroid hormone won't do anything to stop the current seizures (explaination follows). The full thyroid panel can sort out euthyroid sick syndrome from true hypothyroidism if it is done prior to starting phenobarb, usually. Some pets refuse to be classified, like my own dog. I did a LOT of reading on this lately because my pathologists were stumped when I asked how hypothyroidism, which causes decreased cellular activity, could possibly cause seziures, which are caused by increased cellular activity. I would have asked the neurologists, but they were in rounds and then left before I could catch them. But I did find the info myself, and it seems that hyperlipidemia (VERY high serum triglycerides and/or cholesterol) may lead to atherosclerosis and then ischemic encephalopathy (low oxygen to the brain) due to hemorrhage or thrombus, causing seizures or other CNS signs (called a stroke in people). There are many causes for hyperlipidemia, hypothyroidism is one. One study showed that dogs that had atherosclerosis were 51 times more likely to be hypothyroid than dogs who did not have artherosclerosis (they showed similar results for dogs with diabetes mellitus). Hyperlipidemia may also cause hypercoagulable syndrome where an animal throws clots, which can end up anywhere. Clinical signs are referrable to location of clot, so if a dog threw a clot into the brain, that would also cause ischemic encephalopathy and possible CNS signs or seizures. Of course, bloodwork would pick up hyperlipidemia (well, a complete panel would show both cholesterol and triglyceride levels; some in-house machines can't do this), so waiting for a thyroid panel just tells you why the hyperlipidemia is present. Because hyperlipidemia may have causes besides hypothyroidism, it is much more important to include cholesterol and triglycerides in a seizure work-up than to include thyroid testing. You can always go back for a cause of hyperlipidemia if needed. That said, you need to have a full thyroid panel done before a pet is placed on phenobarbital because that drug suppresses thyroid hormone in some animals. It does not always cause clinical disease and may not always need to be treated. Once on phenobarb, it is very difficult to impossible to sort out true hypothyroidism from phenobarb-induced thyroid suppression. Without clinical signs though, there doesn't seem to be a need for treatment. Atherosclerosis appears to be rare in dogs overall, but common in dogs with hypothyroidism and diabetes mellitus. The actual incidence is unknown because you need either MRI, CT, or a necropsy to diagnose it. Most people don't have access to MRI or CT for their pets either because of expense or because it isn't available. And most people refuse necropsy. The unfortunate part about atherosclerosis is that once it is in the brain, you can't get rid of it, even by treating the underlying cause. If you can get the animal to stop having seizures and if there isn't too much permanent damage and if you can treat the underlying cause, you may be able to prevent more seizures depending upon how much of the brain is affected by atherosclerosis. The damage is done, and you have to prevent further atherosclerosis by treating the disease. In some cases, the damage to the brain may be too great and the patient dies despite best efforts, even if the cause was "just" hypothyroidism. Controlling hypothyroidism would also prevent further seizures due to hypercoagulable states caused by hyperlipidemia, but the same "ifs" apply. This is why supplementing thyroid hormone when presented with a seizuring animal isn't really necessary, even if the seizures are caused by hypothyroidism. You do need to control the hypothyroidism, but that can wait until the animal stops seizing and you have at least a clue of whether or not the animal is actually hypothyroid. It appears that the reason hypothyroidism is a rare cause of seizures in dogs is that most cases of hypothyroidism are diagnosed and treated long before a patient develops clincally significant hyperlipidemia and subsequent atherosclerosis. It seems that mild hypothyroidism without clinical signs does not cause the a high degree of hyperlipidemia, so the risk of seizures in this case is very small. I guess if you ignore the clinical signs long enough and don't do screening bloodwork on a regular basis, a dog could have severe hypothyroidism and seizures. BTW, collies are prone to hyperlipidemia without hypothyroidism, so in the case of poor Shelby, testing cholesterol and triglycerides is much more important than thyroid testing. You have to know what is common in certain breeds and ages, otherwise you end up running every test in the book and that is a waste of time, money, and effort.

A cool front has passed through southern WI and is headed to the east coast. Relief is on the way. Behind the front, day temps are 70s to low 80 with drier air: Dew point 60 F. No wind to speak of so can not tarry outside because of misquitos - have to keep moving or get eaten. We've had our share of rain the past 3 days. The problem was the rain clouds were strung over 200 miles and were aligned with the direction of travel. The rain front was not exceptionaly wide. The result was 200 miles of rain clouds passed over the same spot. Menomonee Falls and Milwaukee, WI got flooded. Nicolet High School in Glendale, WI got flooded: 6 to 8 ft or water in the basement and 1.5 ft of water running down the halls on hte first floor. The gym floor went under. They had just gotten in new sports gear for the fall term and it was stored in the basement. Official's preliminary estimate is $1 million to clean and repair. They think that if crews start now and work 7 days a week, the school may be in shape in time to open for the fall term. And of course by now, you have heard about the Cadillac Escalade swallowed by a sink hole. The vehicle pulled up to a stop light, the street caved in dropping the vehicle into a 15 ft deep hole and to add insult, the stop light also fell and leaned on the car. Its going ot be interesting to see how the insurance companies react to this one. I can hear it now: This was flood damage and your policy does not cover flood. The real sob story goes to a the owners of 5 to 7 homes on the north side of Milwaukee. Their basements caved in; the city condemed the properties as uninhabitible and has ordered immediate demolition. One woman lamented: "I bought this house not long ago for $120,000 and have 20 more years of mortage left. I'm loosing my house this week, but the mortage lives on." She'll get nothing from her home owner's insurance because it is flood damage, and most homes in that area do not carry flood damage because they were not in a flood plain and up to now, it was not needed. A number of cars parked in underground garages were flooded. If the water level got up to the relay box under the hood or the fuse panel under the dash, these will be totaled by the insurance firms. Yes sireee, the is the second time in 15 years that we got a 100 years rain.