diff --git a/tunnelkeeper b/tunnelkeeper
index 428169b..6a7e786 100755
--- a/tunnelkeeper
+++ b/tunnelkeeper
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ function ruroot () {
   fi
 }
 
-DEBUGLEVEL=$(grep -i -m1 "debug" $TKCONF | grep -o [0-9])
+DEBUGLEVEL=$(awk '/^debug/ {print $2}' $TKCONF)
 case "$DEBUGLEVEL" in
   2) dbgopt='-v';;
   3) dbgopt='-vvv';;
@@ -32,6 +32,11 @@ function dbg () {
   [[ $DEBUGLEVEL != "0" ]] && logger -t tunnelkeeper
 }
 
+function connect () {
+  ssh -F "${SSHCONF}" $dbgopt -N $1 '#tunnelkeeper' 2>&1 | dbg
+}
+
+
 case "$1" in
   FORKSTART )
     echo -n $$ > "$BASEDIR/var/${2}.connected"
@@ -48,7 +53,8 @@ case "$1" in
       done
     else # passwordless auth
       while [[ -e "$BASEDIR/var/${2}.connected" ]]; do
-        ssh -F "${SSHCONF}" $dbgopt -N $2 '#tunnelkeeper' 2>&1 | dbg
+        # ssh -F "${SSHCONF}" $dbgopt -N $2 '#tunnelkeeper' 2>&1 | dbg
+        connect $2
         sleep 5
       done
     fi
@@ -56,10 +62,10 @@ case "$1" in
   FORKSCREEN )
     while [[ -e "$BASEDIR/var/${2}.connected" ]]; do
       echo $$ > "$BASEDIR/var/${2}.screen"
-      ssh -F "${SSHCONF}" $dbgopt -N $2  '#tunnelkeeper' 2>&1 | dbg
+      # ssh -F "${SSHCONF}" $dbgopt -N $2 '#tunnelkeeper' 2>&1 | dbg
+      connect $2
     done
   ;;
-  # FORKKILL ) kill $(sudo netstat -tnlp | grep "127[0-9\.]*:${2}" | grep -o '[0-9]*/ssh' | grep -o '[0-9]*') &>/dev/null ;;
   FORKDEL ) rm "$BASEDIR/var/${2}.connected" ;;
   FORKKILL ) pkill -f '#tunnelkeeper' &>/dev/null ;;
   start)