The implication is that this genetic modification makes the farmers' domestic plants extremely vulnerable to being wiped out by infection. If so, why use it? Interesting quote from the article: "However, while disease-resistant crops have been a boon to commercial farmers, ecologists worry there might be certain hidden costs associated with the modified crops." As someone who is not necessarily for or against GMO crops, I'm interested exactly what "boon" means in this case. I also found it interesting that cucumber beetles prefer to dine on healthy rather than diseased plants. I've heard it the other way around many times.

Finally! I'm of use around here (and a smarty pants). With the incubation period that you describe, you didn't have "Cat Scratch Fever", which is caused by Bartonella sp. bacteria. You can find more on this disease at Wikipedia, but in general, it has an incubation period of 1-2 weeks and the symptoms are of lympadenopathy in nature (swollen lymph glands). It can be treated with antibiotics, but it is especially bad in patients with any sort of auto-immune disorder or therapy. Instead, what you had is classic infection by Pasteurella sp., usually Pasteurella multocida (named to honor Louis Pasteur). Symptoms of infection are very rapid to develop; in 1 or 2 hours, redness, swelling and severe pain can appear. Fever, moderate or very high can be seen along with some other symptoms. Rapidity is especially from a bite, which after all is a puncture wound which makes a happy buffet for bacteria. These bacteria are normal mouth flora in many domestic animals including cats, dogs & rabbits. They are adept at causing infection due to production of enzymes that breakdown tissue. As with any bacteria that causes infection or necrosis, this puts the immune system at a mechanical disadvantage because antibodies, immune cells and also antibiotics are transported to the site via blood supply which is disrupted in an abscess. They are generally very susceptible to a variety of antibiotics; *however*, if the wound is a bite wound, by far the best coverage will be with ampicillin/clavulanate (Augmentin (tm)) *because* of all of the other oral flora that have also been inoculated into your finger, toe or other appendage. (It is also the antibiotic of choice if you get in a bare-knuckle fist fight in a bar, game or reality show and shwack someone in the face, fyi ;-) Leaving a real infection to more homeopathic methods is NOT recommended as Pasteurella spp. as well as several of the oral flora bacteria organisms are also adept at causing osteomyelitis (bone infection) if they come in contact with bone and are left untreated.

You know, Lizalily... you could always put your older Dahlia corms up for auction at Ebay, make a little money, and spend it on new Dahlias! In spring, Ebay is loaded with corms and bulbs and roots for sale! And the only energy required would be a little typing, and then bagging up the corms for shipping! Plus, you'd be surprised at how many people would want the older varieties! When it comes to most of the garden chores and projects, I don't trust anyone to do it, but me! Not everyone is familiar with what weeds vs. perennial seedlings look like, or knows that the sod must be taken off first if you want a decent bed, etc... I'd just as soon do most of it myself so I know it's all done right! In response to your idea for adding moisture holding crystals to the raised shade bed, I wouldn't if it were my project... I'd use a bit heavier of a soil mix, and use a good layer of mulch to help hold in the moisture, instead. I despise the new-fangled moisture retaining chemicals and gels! They don't keep the moisture even within the soil mix, and are a waste of time, I feel. I think that a mix with a bit more compost and actual soil, or a mix with some clay type soil, in addition to using layers of old carpeting or newspaper between the plants, with wood mulch over that would be a better choice. That's what I'd go with, anyway. When choosing bagged soils, I always steer clear of the moisture control products, and go for the regular high quality soils, such as MiracleGro or Schultz's. If you plan to add some bagged soil to the bed, Hyponex brand is a heavier, wetter soil mix. By the same token, I wouldn't use Hyponex for any of my containers or anywhere I want to keep really good drainage, either! Hyponex tends to be a damp, muddier type of bagged soil, not good for bulbs! Another item that may help the raised bed with moisture content is an irrigation system... I saw some small, inexpensive systems at Miejer's yesterday that just lay on top of the bed and attach to the garden hose... they have tubing and sprinklers at intervals... the system actually looked kind of cool! The columbine is in full bloom right now, but as soon as it fades and the seed heads ripen, I'll ship you lots and lots of fresh full seed pods! I'm just about ready to give up entirely on keeping permanent markers with their respective plants in the gardens! Every single tag I placed with bulbs or plants last fall either faded to un-readable, or they were pushed out of the ground by weather, critters, and who knows what else! I don't have time now, but when I get some time this coming fall or winter, I want to begin making aluminum tags from cut soda cans... I can then scribe the names of the plants on them with an engraver or just press sort of hard with a pen to "engrave" the writing. I want to hang those from loops on thick wire pieces that can be stuck quite deeply into the soil! It's the only way I can think of to keep name tags with the plants, besides buying the really expensive tags, which is out of the question for so many plants! Dahlias are not my favorite plant, and even though I like a few of the newer ones, I'd have to dig them all up and store them every year... something I'm not willing to do as there is already too much prep work for winter! I have Cannas and Glads to dig, not to mention Oxalis and Hippeastrums! Those are enough! We got another inch or two of rain yesterday... not that we needed it, really... the ground is already saturated! What we really need are several days in a row of sunshine and warmer weather! On a positive note, we picked up a couple of foam garden kneeling pads yesterday, which will really help save my back from bending over so much, and my knees from all the kneeling to plant things! Another box of named Daylilies arrived yesterday, so you know what I'll be doing today!

Dedtired - thanks for the kind words about my braids! I refer to it as my Rhoda Penmark "do" ... You remember her from The Bad Seed, right? ;-) DH and I also wondered how useful we would be on this medical mission, since neither of us has any training (beyond basic CPR). Our fears of inadequacy were quickly put to rest when we had to just jump in and start doing. DH was the muscles of the group, hefting heavy equipment that needed to be loaded and unloaded, and he also overcame his lack of Spanish-speaking ability when working with patients who needed reading glasses. We did have translators who were a huge help, but once they gave us some rudimentary phrases we were able to do a good deal without their help. I assisted him with the reading glasses, and one day we distributed shoes to the children, which required fitting little feet. Most of my time was spent as patient coordinator, acting as sort of a "gatekeeper" and ensuring that the flow went smoothly. My forte is administrative work, and I found my skills well put to use in the tasks I was assigned. There is so much work out there to be done, and there are so many roles that need to be filled. Think of it this way: The Air Force doesn't just need pilots. ;-)