When I looked into switching to a better food several years ago the links on the Tails of the Tundra Siberian rescue website had some great info. I've included a link below. *********************************************************** Also, on a different forum I came across a "food grading system". . Its a method of analyzing the ingredients of the food you feed and determining whether its a high quality/healthy kibble. You will need your kibble's list of ingredients, as found on the bag (or oftentimes their website). Please note, however, this is for ingredients ONLY.... so before feeding a pup be sure to look at the protein and fat and calcium and calories in the Guaranteed Analysis. Start with a grade of 100: For every listing of "by-product", subtract 15 points For every non-specific animal source ("meat" or "poultry", meat, meal or fat) reference, subtract 10 points If there are no specific meats or meat meals, subtract 25 points For every grain "mill run" or non-specific grain source, or grain "middlings", subtract 10 points If the food contains BHA, BHT, or ethoxyquin, subtract 15 points If the same grain ingredient is used 2 or more times in the first five ingredients (i.e. "ground brown rice", "brewers rice", "rice flour" are all the same grain), subtract 5 points for each occurrence If the protein sources are not (specific) meat meal and there are less than 2 meats in the top 3 ingredients, subtract 3 points If it contains any artificial colorants, subtract 5 points If it contains ground corn or whole grain corn, subtract 3 points (subtract 5 if corn is listed in the top 5 ingredients) If the food contains any animal fat other than fish oil, subtract 3 points If lamb is the only animal protein source (unless your dog is allergic to other protein sources), subtract 2 points If it contains soy or soybeans, subtract 5 points If it contains wheat (unless you know that your dog isnÂt allergic to wheat), subtract 2 points If it contains beef (unless you know that your dog isnÂt allergic to beef), subtract 1 point If it contains salt, subtract 3 points If it contains corn syrup, molasses, or other added sweetener, subtract 10 points Extra Credit: For every different specific animal protein source (other than the first one; count "chicken" and "chicken meal" as only one protein source, but "chicken" and "turkey" as 2 different sources - do not count egg, cheese, or other similar ingredients), add 1 point If the food contains 3 or less different mentions of grains (or other high-carb plant-based foods like potatoes), add 5 points If any of the meat sources are organic, add 5 points (if the number 1 ingredient is organic meat, add 10 points) If the animal sources are hormone-free and antibiotic-free, add 3 points If the food is baked not extruded, add 5 points If the food contains probiotics, add 3 points If the food contains fruit or vegetables (NOT corn or other grains), add 3 points If the vegetables have been tested for pesticides and are pesticide-free, add 1 point If the food contains barley or oats or oatmeal, add 1 point If it contains sunflower, hemp, flaxseed, or other polyunsaturated vegetable oils, add 3 points (add 5 if it is the #1 fat) If the vitamin and mineral sources are chelated, add 5 points 94-100+ = A 86-93 = B 78-85 = C 70-77 = D **************************************************** If this info helps even one person find a better quality food then it was worth the time I spent digging it up again.

Have grown it in my "pot ghetto". These are in 1 gallon pots placed in the grown. The plants were grown from cuttings. Had some nice 4 inch single blooms on them this past year. The flowers really stand out.They have been stunted due to being in such small containers for 2 years. Have seen them used to line rose beds at the Roger Williams Gardens in Providence, Rhode Island. Saw them in June there several years ago. The bushes were a mass of light to medium pink blooms and about 3 ft high and wide. Healthy. Mine are healthy. Hope to get them planted in the ground this year so they can really strut their stuff. IMO, this is a rose that deserves to be more widely grown; a nice garden rose. I believe Shepherd was the hybridizer and he made a lot of unusual crosses; I think he was working towards disease resistance. Jim

Patricia, I think you are correct. :-) Heavens, Ann, if that wasn't a tornado, it was at least a micro burst. We have a lot of micro bursts here. Knocks down trees, rips off roofs, all sorts of damage. Michael, they forecast and report our weather from the Greenville/Spartanburg airport which is at least 30 miles from us and their reports of rain fall, high temps, low temps, any of it, rarely reflects what is actually going on in our area. The east side of Spartanburg has had several inches of rain and some sections of the west side have had rain but it has been very scattered. It seems like the same areas get rain over and over and the same areas stay dry. So not fair. We really have had bad luck in the rain department this year. About 3 years ago it was the opposite. It seemed like a rain cloud hung over our house for months. It rained every day and would be dry half a mile from us. Jean, maybe you could sacrifice manbearpig?? We got our water bill....yikes!! Carol

Forsythia is nearly fail proof. Take 12" long canes from last year's growth. It's a brown color, softer than the gray branches of past years. Strip the leaves and flowers from the bottom 8" and stick them in the soil where you want them to grow. That's it. I use a screwdriver to make a hole first. Be sure to get 6-8" of the cane in the soil. You can make several cuttings from a single cane. Winter jasmine should be just as easy. The roses are already too far along for me. I've never had luck with dogwoods. I did a few others over the past couple of weeks. You can see what I did here. Be sure you're using growth from last year. Deciduous plants are the easiest to do now. In May and June, softwood cuttings can be taken and stuck in containers used for wintersowing. Just keep them in a totally shaded spot for 6-8 weeks. A dusting of rooting hormone will help. If you want figs, find one in your area, push the sticks into the soil leaving only one bud out of the ground. You can also do Plums, peaches, and a few other fruits now. Nuts don't do well using this method as they need to be grafted or budded.