When I was a teenager, my mother thought chipmunks were cute. My Aunt next door cut down on the amount of cats & Mom was feeding them (the tree rats). The next thing we knew, there were chipmunks EVERYWHERE. Dozens of them, digging up all the bulbs & everything we planted. Emptying all the bird feeders. Running & playing & most of all multiplying. My Uncles were poisoning, trapping & shooting them until they finally got down to a manageable number. In later years, I had a Sheltie who thought it was her job to be on chipmunk patrol & she took it very seriously & kept them away. My Newf isn't that excited over such a small mouthfull but we have an Eskie who likes organic dog toys (mice & such are organic cat toys). Linda

What height is your box at? Here are some hints I looked up at batmangement.com Common design/construction problems Bad designs are simply flawed from the start. They are often too small overall and contain crevices too large. Sometimes a critical detail is omitted, such as a landing plate. Usually these boxes cannot compete with a modern design, even after being upgraded by a creative hobbyist. Bad construction is a different matter, usually the box can be successful after some paint, caulk, extra screws, and extra roughening. * A single chamber box. Bats simply prefer larger structures which offer more stable temperatures. * Factory smooth interior crevices. All interior wood must be roughened for bats to readily cling to. Some commercial boxes staple screening to the inside of the box which may eventually fall off. A box seen for sale at a major hardware store has only one groove on the "landing plate"; this is totally unacceptable. * Unprotected roof. Roofs without shingles may last only a few seasons, once the roof is compromised the box will be incapable of retaining heat and fall into disuse. * Nailed together with unsealed seams. This type of box will warp and separate at the seams allowing unwanted ventilation and disuse. * Unpainted, unprotected exterior. Some manufacturers insist on leaving bat boxes unpainted. While in certain regions the natural wood color may be a suitable color, there is no good reason for the structure to go unprotected. * Old design. Bat research has proceeded at a very fast rate, thanks to improved communication among many different hobbyists and researchers. For example, a tall open-bottomed bat house is now prefered over smaller closed bottom designs which tend to attract more parasites. * Old plans. Bat house plans can be found in a variety of places, which is good. Unfortunately, many posters, books, and flyers were published years ago with now antiquated plans. Frightningly, this information is still distributed by many seemingly reputable sources. A stack of utterly horrid plans obtained from a state wildlife agency were seen distributed at a wildlife program in 2000. * "Recycled" material. Some people construct bat houses of good design but with lumber salvaged from demolished structures in effort to cut costs. As some pesticides can leave active residues for years, BCM always uses new lumber when constructing bat boxes. Common placement mistakes The greatest bat house in the world will never contain a bat unless it is placed properly in the field. In cool climates it is best to avoid shady locations at all costs. Often this limits the mounting options to strategically placed new posts or sunny chimneys. Bad placement includes the following: * Box is in a shady location, it needs a minimum of seven hours of morning sunlight. * Box mounted on a tree, rarely will the box receive enough direct sunlight in cool climates. * Box placed on a structure, directly under the eves. Again, this may be simply too shaded. * Placed too far from permanent water. Dry, arid locations are less desirable, though bats will drink from swimming pools. * Located over bright surfaces which reflect light into box. Shiny flashing or even pans to collect guano may deter use at certain times of the season. * Located near burn barrels or air vents where smoke or strong wind will disturb bats. Beware of air conditioner units which may not be active when installation occurs. * Erected where the box is prone to vandalism. * Placed in brightly lighted areas. Avoid mounting where dusk-to-dawn lights shine directly onto the box. * Erected directly along roads, where bats are vulnerable to automobile traffic during their dawn return. * No maintenance. Some mounting solutions make a quick yearly inspection into a difficult and even dangerous ordeal. Bat houses do require minor wasp and seam inspection, otherwise bats will begin to abandon the box. Be alert for a hornet invasion as well; bats will immediately abandon a bat house until these agressive insects are removed.

I believe I had IE, but not sure which version. Now, I am not sure WHAT one is up! Right now there are 3 searches running- there are 3 'file card tabs' at the top of the page. Two of them have a small red/green/blue/yellow flag icon, the third has the 'Gardenweb' icon- the page that I am on now. Walnut.. I did not download anything that I am aware of.. If I move my curser to the top nothing happens- there is a 'wrench' on the far right, but when I click on it, it opens a list that has 'Google Chrome' near the bottom, yet the icon on the far left of the page (this page), is the 'Yahoo' icon. I don't even have a way to open my 'favorites' now. Did IE7 have favorites/back/forward arrows, file/edit/view/tools/help in the upper left hand corner?? I am wondering if I am in 'Google Chrome' or IE9 by some chance? How do I check which browser I am set to go to auto? Tx

I feel the same way about my husband's exwife. I am custodial stepmom of 3 chlldren. My husband has always had custody because the exwife decided one day she no longer wanted to be married or a full-time mother. Before I came along she constantly dumped 99% of her time on my husband, he of course never said no, she had full control of her old household only she lived in a differnt place and had her own life. It was a very unhealthy situation. My husband just never stood up to her, he struggled to keep a full-time job and take care of 3 children. I give him tremendous credit because many men in his situation would not be able to take on that responsibilty. Well, then I come along, we get married and all of a sudden she begins to take a deeper interest. Mainly because I would not allow her to control my household and my husband began saying "no", She always used us as her babysitter, whether it was a work meeting, an exerecise class or a European vacation. She has been nothing but a major PIA, she wouldn't pay child support when my husband enforced the order she opened a full blown custody case, suing us for full custody because she did not want to financially support her children. We also have a screwed up schedule. During the school the chldren visit their mother Mon&Tues 4-8pm with alternating weekends. During the summer they visit her Mon-Wed 4-8pm with alternating weekends. The exwife wanted some crazy, they live with her 3days one week, then us 4days, and the next week it was the reverse. Mind you, she only had a 2bedroom condo. All three children sleep in the same bedroom. 2 girls 13&10 and a 8yr old boy. The master had enough sense to reconize that the living arrangemnents were not appropriate and would not grant anymore overnight visits except for the already standing 2 weekends a month. The schedule is crazy. The exwife is crazy. She teaches the children it is ok to lie to us. She is NOT supportative of myself or my husband. She has harrassed us to the point that she is not allowed on our property, she can not contact us by phone, she may only communicate via email, unless it is an emergency related to that day's schedule, then she may leave a message on our cell phone. She would call my husband at work and pull him out of meetings with the CEO of the company for some nonsense question. HE would get numerous calls on a daily basis. I never saw 2 divorced people talk on a daily basis. We have insulated ourselves as much as possible but everyday there is some new issue. She never returns clothes that the kids wear over there, one day she sent my ss home with no shoes on. She won't take the kids to baseball games and then tells them we did not give her the information. I could go on and on. But your words say it best I HATE HER!!!!! If I had hindsight my posting would be alot differnt. I would be like that one woman who used to be involved with a man with children. Trying being involved with a man who has custody of his children. The rewards have been few and far between. I have lived this from the first day I moved to where my husband lives (I moved from a different state). So the entire two years of my marriage have been filled with this crap. My husband's relationship with his children has also suffered terribly. I was divorced for 11yrs before I remarried and never experienced one ounce of the trouble I have in this life, and it isn't even my divorce. The best advice I can give you is stand your ground. Say NO, she is responsible for her custodial time. It took my husband a long time to be able to say no, it is very easy for me. I know that he is still uncomfortable with saying no but I help him, Remember you can't let her control your life. Good luck, God Bless. I understand, it's one hell of a way to live.