Yes, I'm rather broken-hearted regarding the new Sturbridge policy regarding herb sales. I used to acquire two or three new herbs each year by stopping by there on my way to or from the Boston area. IMO it was one of their more significant contributions. So far they are continuing their line of traditional seeds, but when I bought some in June they were totally out of all their bean varieties. They also seem to be trying to gradually block public access to their herb garden, which until now was accessible to members of the non-tourist public that patronized their gift and book shop. Their herb garden is very interesting and instructive, and well worth the trip to the RT 84 exit from the Mass Pike, from which Sturbridge is easily accessed. It is terraced on three or four levels, and always has a nice variety of herbs, with some of the old roses on the top level. There are some old wooden benches to rest on under a nice, shady tree about half way up, which is a definite boon on hot days. I had an interesting encounter with a chipmunk there this summer; it was happy to ignore me while it checked for seed pods on one of the herbs. They usually have several nice books on herbs in their book shop, too, If hops doesn't deter you motherwort probably won't, either, but in some situations it can definitely be worse than lemon balm. You will probably want to keep an eye on it once it begins to set seed. In the clay soil in my area, I have had much better success overwintering sage and thyme outside in pots rather than in the ground, as that provides the "sharp drainage" they prefer. The only herbs that have really done well as "perennials" for me here are the ones that reseed or spread by runners, though--lemon balm, black peppermint, sage, thyme, motherwort, oregano--imo most herbs are only short lived perennials in my area unless frequently divided and replanted. I admire people that keep their herbs going by rooting and etc., but I have broadened my herbal interests to include things like forsythia buds and honeysuckle blossoms from plants that truly perennialize in our area, to salve my disappointment over not having neat little rows of all the common kitchen herbs coming back each year. So many of them just don't, without really skilled handling. ..or, at least, the full sun that I simply can't give them. Ah, well; even my walnut tree's leaves have herbal uses....

Before I turned over my computer to my son, I wiped the hard drive clean and reinstalled Windows. The same exact Windows XP the computer has always had. It runs IE 7, same as my current computer. The computer uses the Windows HOST file. All I did was add the sites I want to block. 127.0.0.1 myspace.com 127.0.0.1 etc. But I can still access those sites from his computer. The method works fine on my new computer. And when I had his computer it worked fine then too. I can't think of anything that has changed. Pooh Bear

Jerry the biggest difference is Zonealarm's two way blocking feature which is lacking in the XP firewall. This means if phone home spies or other malware piggyback in on legitimate software you have absolutely no control over it with XP because it only controls incoming things. There is no down side to having Zonealarm instead of the XP firewall. Once set up it is very easy to control. Just pay attention during the download and install so that you keep ticking the free version to install. If memory serves me right you then need to go to your security window and turn off the XP firewall manually.

I'm an alarm tech. Apart from things, bugs (silicone the holes in the back of the motion sensor to seal where the wire comes in) triggering it, a moving blind or curtain can trigger it too. A wall hanging could also, if the hvac makes it move. This is why it's not desirable to have two motions on one zone. If it faces a window or something sometimes that can cause falsing. If it's curtains, you can mask the back of the motion's fresnel to block that part off, the motion installers's sheet will explain it (you can usually download these.) Brands generally don't mind being mixed. One thing you could do is disconnect the zone in the panel (are there resistors in there? Another possible issue) put a jumper wire in there across the zone, then put a small relay that's switched by the 'loop' - the sensor output from the motions - and a buzzer, if the bedrooms aren't in use. Watch it for a few days, and see if you can figure out what's causing it. This is an intriguing issue. Another thing that can trigger them is if the dc to the motions is interrupted...they go through a warm up cycle and of course, because they're probably Normally Closed, when the current to the motion is interrupted, the panel sees it as an alarm event. What could be causing it is a loose connection or damage to the wire in the wall. If there's enough slack at both ends, very carefully restrip the outer sheath an inch or two and remake all connections. If it's typical alarm wire, station z (old style 4 conductor phone wire) it's quite easy to nick one of the conductors when stripping the outer sheath, so a nick is likely close to the end. How are the two motions wired together? Are there two wires that run to the panel and are connected in series? Does one motion run to the other and have a splice inside? There may also be a splice in the wall, in which case it could be bad, but I don't know why it takes 2 weeks to have an issue. There are a lot of possibilities here. Timers and electrical interference are two, but unlikely - alarms are generally robust and simple. As for cable length, there ARE limits but in practice some runs can be hundreds of feet without issues. I've attached a link to an alarm forum, you might try for some fresh ideas there. Another thing to try is to remove and bypass one motion, then the other, either reprogramming the motion as a door so you can chime it, or using the buzzer as I suggested. A word to the wise about programming, none of the systems are terribly user-friendly, so you may not want to do that yourself. Another possibility is to see what that zone is programmed as. Also, can the motions see out of the bedrooms into a hallway, and could something in there be tripping them? Here is a link that might be useful: DIY security forum