Kitty, I buy it. The mostly forgotten gardening advisor, Jerry Baker, had a "recipe" for make it yourself insecticidal soap. I haven't tried it so I can't say. I keep hoping that someone with a chemistry background will give us a REALLY SIMPLE homemade fix. If I understand correctly, the functionality is provided by a "soap" film layer left on the insects as the formulation dries. Insects "breathe" through their "skin" and the film layer smothers them. (The chemistry thing is about the soap to use or mix because there are bar soaps, laundry, dish, etc. all with different properties). I don't like to make endorsements primarily because manufacturers seem overly anxious to change their products. In my experience this often results in reduced effectiveness or ruin. An unrelated analogy would be the "brilliant" marketing strategy of improving Coca-Cola which the market actually rejected out of hand. So, if I were to endorse a product here now that product might not be the same in 6 months. The UC-Davis thrip management discussion which I've linked above as "Pests in Gardens and Landscapes" gives the brand name of the product they tested though.

I have read that an infected tick must bite you and stay on for 24 hours before passing on the infection. If you check each time you go into the woods or work in the yard and get them off you should be OK. When I was growing up, the camp counselors would sprinkle a little sulfur in our socks to keep the ticks off. It seemed to work but it wrecked the socks.

Susan, We try so hard to peacefully co-exist with the wildlife, but every now and then they make it impossible. That bobcat has been keeping a low profile since the day it enountered our son in the garden. Maybe it has moved on elsewhere. Unfortunately, the coyotes babies will soon be large enough to roam, and then it gets really crazy for a while around and after sunset! We have friends and neighbors having HUGE problems with racoons killing and eating their cats and kittens, so I am feeling lucky that so far the coons have only eaten the corn. Of course, I put up all the cats inside at night. There are a LOT of racoons most years, and at least twice as many as usual this year. I think racoons are 'cute', but I HATE having them on the property. They are very destructive. Our birds have apparently taken care of the mosquito problem as we have fewer and fewer of them every day. We're having more ticks around the area, but partly that is because it has been too wet to mow lately. My guineas are so happily tick hunting that they don't want to come inside their coop at night. For ticks on a body, I have had luck coating them with any sort of oil....veggie oil, baby oil, orange oil, etc. I found a tick on me yesterday, but I had been going through the tall grass with the dogs, so I wasn't surprised. I check carefully for them every night. I have only had them on me three times, which is pretty good considering I am outside most of the day, every day. Dawn

Your sad situation really does hit a very raw nerve with me. I live in an area on the east coast where there are lots of white tailed deer, they carry the ticks that carry lyme. About five years ago I rescued a dog from West Virginia, where the situation is about the worst in the country for lyme. When I got the dog, she was completely skinny, she literally looked like a walking skeleton. She's a large dog, probably a cross between a Lab and Weimaraner. I couldn't figure out why if she was so thin and obviously hungry she wasn't eating any or all of her food. Then, two days after getting her, I petted her face and mouth area and she screamed in horrible pain. I rushed her to the vet, gave them the dogs history, and after an examination, they made the diagnosis of a brain tumor. Estimates about how to deal with it and when were in the works before I gave any type of authorization. I was completely horrified and didn't know what to do. I consulted a vet in WV, she told me to have a lyme disease test done. It came back positive, after meds, she was fine. I have vented before on this forum about this issue. I do realize that vets make mistakes, this is not the issue for me. It's that they sometimes refuse to listen to common sense, and expect the worst, and proceed with that thinking, which is probably going to cost big $. My current vet who I love and adore, always takes the "path of least resistance" which is completely my way of thinking. I'm on my 7th vet in 17 years (I think) and my feelings toward the profession would be completely different if they would have simply said that they were sorry for a mistake, that did cost me lots of money and frustration. One time I was so furious about a mis diagnosis that almost cost me my dogs life, I almost put my cell phone through a plate glass window. And I am considered a very calm person. I have also learned the hard way to question everything vet says and research every little speck of information I can find. This has saved me tons of time and money and my vet is on the same page with me on this one. The last time this issue came up, Meghan (bless this persons heart) pointed out that vets are not money planners, nor are they in business to become millionaires. With the amount of debt each vet incurs when studying not to mention start up costs for a practice, all of this is a huge issue. BUT, something in the profession has been lost, and a severe disconnect is in place between client and vet. I would like to know if there is a "code of conduct" for vets. If there is, it needs to be reviewed and revised. IF there is not, there needs to be one. We as pet owners are at the mercy, yes mercy, of vets when we have a sick pet. We simply do not know what is going on and the thing we want is to have our pet well again, or at least an honest diagnoses. We need pity from vets. Plain and simple. Honest pity. If we get this, the money will flow to the vet without question. Without it, the profession is in a dire situation. SG