I hope Paul can clarify what he meant on number 3... I didn't get that either. Before I respond to the other point, let me say that I agree with Ken's primary response to HVX in hostas and testing - it doesn't make much sense to test an inexpensive hosta with a strip that costs almost $6. If it looks virused, it probably is... toss it. But the latest info - that the virus can persist in the soil for 18 months and we don't know how much longer - that opens up a new possible reason for wanting to test. I think if I have to remove a plant, I'll probably replace it with something non-hosta and avoid the issue altogether - but I can see someone wanting to know for sure if they are dealing with HVX out of concern for the soil in that section of their garden. Many folks are dealing with limited space. I think the false positive question is important, because I think people are pretty OK with disposing of diseased plants, but the idea that the strips might tell them to throw away healthy plants might motivate people to not test - after all, if you can't trust the test, why bother? So as the false positives... like Ken, I'm more skeptical than most... but the science of the strips suggests false positive are almost impossible IF the testing strip is correctly used. Two facts support that. First, the results of the strips match extremely well with Elisa testing. (from wikipedia..."Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), also known as an enzyme immunoassay (EIA), is a biochemical technique used mainly in immunology to detect the presence of an antibody or an antigen in a sample.") The strips were designed to be the field equivalent of the typical Elisa test done in a laboratory - though in a lab, they are likely to do a whole panel of antibodies, not just a specific one. They use antibodies in a similar way to the Elisa testing. Short of an electron microscope, this is the standard set for testing for virus. In fact, it is the standard screening tool for human diseases like HIV and West Nile. In both kinds of testing, false NEGATIVES will occur (plant testing healthy even though it has the virus.) This is most likely due to the plant not having built up enough "viral load" to show up in testing. I don't know how long a period this can be... my impression is that the virus spreads throughout the plant fairly rapidly... but I believe Dr. Lockhart has had the experience of testing a plant negative and then having it test positive later... so not many false negatives, but there will apparently be some. Second, the antibodies on the test strip are quite specific to HVX. Agdia markets a line of strips, each designed to test for one specific virus. Once the chemicals mix with the plant juices and mark the virus, that is, for all practical purposes, the only thing that can make those antibodies react to give a positive reading. The "positive" band on the strip is designed to react ONLY with HVX. The rep says they've tried - and they can't get false positives unless they do something mechanically wrong. Certainly, nothing is perfect... and the science of HVX is changing as we acquire knowledge... and I wouldn't assume that a negative test guarantees my plant doesn't have HVX... but I think if I got a positive test, I would approach it as a sure thing and destroy the plant. This sales rep was a pretty interesting kid. He seemed to be more interested in the science than the sales. He didn't hand out any literature... I had to take it myself. He talked about his visits to the ports of entry where the European import plants are checked... and his work with the inspectors to get them away from just checking samples from each shipment to checking shipments by cultivar - the inspectors didn't realize that the way hostas are harvested and processes, the infection is more likely to be spread among the plants in one cultivar than being spread in the shipping container among the plants. Easy enough error to make - our usual model for virus spread is person-to-person... Anyway, all he wanted to talk about was the virus and what we know so far and the science of the strips - I had to ask him about the pricing...

I've posted this before on other forums, but I hope no one minds that I post this again. I would have linked to an old post, but they seem to have scrolled off. Depending on your level of skill and confidence, you may not need instructions as detailed as these. First you need a Photobucket account. Go to Photobucket and open that account. Find a picture on your hard drive that you want to add to Photobucket. Look at it on your screen. Click on File, Save as, and take note of what directory it is being saved in. Make sure that it is saving as a jpeg type of file. Write it down if necessary. Go to PhotoBucket Go to your album. It will look like this. Place your cursor in the box UNDER the Add pictures from URL (see the circled item) Click on BROWSE You will get a window something like this: Browse to the folder containing your pictures by double clicking your way to it. It helps if you know ahead of time where they are. Double click on the photo you want to add. You will see part of the photo name in the box (see the circled item) Click on SUBMIT and wait. When the picture has been added, there will be a message. (see the circled item) Under the photo you have just added will be up to three lines - URL, TAG and IMG (see the circled item) You will need the TAG to embed photos into your message. If you click on that box, it will be highlighted. Copy that (CTL-C) and go to your message thread. Paste it in the message where you want it. (CTL-V). If you donÂt see the TAG option, click on ACCOUNT OPTIONS Make sure there is a dot in the YES circle in front of TAG (see the circled item) If you want to add multiple pictures, click on the little down arrow beside Submit Multiple Pictures (see the circled item) There will be a drop down menu allowing you to choose up to 19 pictures. Browse for each picture as above. DonÂt know if I covered everything, but if you have any more questions, please ask. Does this help??

Rosewitch, England was definitely one of my favorite places I have ever visited. My folks took me there when I was 14, and I remember bits and pieces the Crown jewels, walking amongst the Stonehenge stones (roped off now, vandalism), Stratford upon Avon. Time for me to take my own 14YO. Im trying to think how I can get over there for a whole summer, LOL. Dlynn, I could have worked so much more. I didnt really look at night time stuff and there was loads to do. Greece: cant help you, but shoot Yasou a line, she went a few years ago. LOL Annie! Teresa, well go together. I wanted to explore more cooking and food shops/stores but didnt get to. Terri, here is more a link to Pictures of England, a website pointed out to me by Denise. I started it on Bourton on the Water, where we stayed for a few days. Thanks Sharon, I was actually thinking how can I even come close to posting her quality of travel guides, I dont do the pictures she does LOL. We might have sat at the same table in the Cheshire Cheeses dining room! Sawdust still there, but we didnt make it to the cellar. I missed a lot of the British Museum. It has changed.check out the new atrium. I couldnt keep up with DH and DS16. Afternoons, when I planned museums, I crashed. Next time! Pam, lots of people did more than we did per day! Theater every night, more attractions, I cant imagine. Gina heh heh yeah I need another vacation like a hole in my head. Speaking of whichDH has another week off in August. Nooooooooo! Kathleen, DH says he took an average of 200 pictures a day. Yup. Me, I just buy the post cards or Google the images, same thing (DARFC from the photo bugs here) Cathy, thanks for giving me the War and Peace moniker heh heh. Next time I go with CF friends! LindaC, I know. Im still exhausted. Speaking of the V&A, did you know there was a Dale Chihuly chandelier in the entrance room?

Some can be purchased from Outwater or Van Dykes. Most of those frames are likely cut to shape or fashioned from molded resin or MDF. Notice that almost all of the pieces have opaque finishes and not clear finish. My guess is whatever is underneath the finish is ugly material. The piece in the second picture looks like an exception. The curves are fairly gentle and are probably cut out of a larger piece of material. It's quite possible to bend large pieces of wood to severe curves but that's a time-consuming and expensive process for most people. Steam-bending was popular before the Second World War but you'll almost never find that technique used in modern factories. This post was edited by JAAune on Tue, Dec 23, 14 at 20:51