Hi Henry, several members of my Rose Society were at the meeting. Here is a report from our newsletter about the RRD Roundtable: Then we heard a great panel discussion on Rose Rosette Disease, including Drs. Mark Windham, Byrnes, Ong, and Tzanetakis, all of whom have been studying RRD. The RRD virus has been identified, and research recently has fulfilled all three of KochâÂÂs postulates to prove that it is the causative agent. The disease has been observed in the US since the 1930s. ItâÂÂs transmitted from bush to bush by the âÂÂrose leaf curlâ eriophyid mite. It moves through the plant slowly at first, from cell to cell, but then rapidly moves through the plant to the roots and to other branches. So what else did we learn? The disease may exist in plants and plant parts that arenâÂÂt showing symptoms, so if we have any suspicion of RRD we should act quickly to remove the entire plant from our gardens. After removal of an infected plant (and ALL its roots), we can safely replant in that space in a couple of weeks, since the mite doesnâÂÂt seem to survive in the ground. Early studies have been inconclusive about controlling the mite with common miticides, though research continues. Different herbicides (Round-Up vs 2,4d) may produce different symptoms on roses, but unless those symptoms appear in several plants/places, damage is probably not due to herbicide drift. Meanwhile, we may also see different symptoms of RRD on different cultivars, and different symptoms when there are multiple viruses infecting a plant. We donâÂÂt need to worry about transmitting the virus from plant to plant with pruners (unlike rose mosaic). We learned that Lysol is inadequate as a disinfectant for our pruners �" the professionals recommend non-fat milk!

Moving down

I've been there and driven through the campground but never camped there. I would imagine a lot would depend on the time of year you are going!

Hi Everyone - we just had our Neolith Calcacutta counters in silk finish installed in our kitchen. I DO NOT recommend going with this product unless you are okay with a number of downsides. We utilized a certified Neolith fabricator who has lot of experience in working with this material. We did the mitered edges so that they were not white as well. Not only was this by far the most expensive product, but it was disappointing as well. You can see the white edges where it was mitered and there are defects from the moment of installation from which I was told are "normal" and acceptable. My seams (only two, that is nice) are VERY obvious and not what I would have expected. The material itself marks up when ANYTHING touches it basically. Put a cookie sheet on it and you have horrible black / gray marks everywhere that do not come out. I have been told you have to be willing to scrub it for that to happen and they recommended using acetone to get them out. Um....so now i am left with counters that cost me over $13k that I am not happy with from how they look (they look great from afar) and that mark up when anything touches it and I have to use a special something to try and get them out and that is not easy. If I could do it again, I would go with quartz or quartzite. These are not worth the pain and suffering along with the high cost and disappointing outcome. I went to some friend's house over the weekend where they had their new quartz counters installed, by the same fabricators we used and they look far superior to ours and they do not have the same issues. I read the reviews on here and chose it anyway and am devastated I did. I wish I had taken these reviews to heart and not listened to the fabricator's comments that these were one off experiences.