Here are some photos I just took in my yard of Spanish Bluebells and why I consider them aggressive weeds. Please note that I never planted them, they have spread by seeding and I've been digging them out twenty years....all these beds were lawn when we bought the house but there were some Spanish Bluebells in the neighbor's yard and on the side of the house by a big Hydrangea that seeded....Yes, I know I've got other weeds too ;) They grow up into the crowns of other plants and are very hard to dig out. They just finished blooming so they aren't as easy to see in the photos. They'll turn yellow in a couple of weeks and get very slimy and attract slugs like crazy too.

I just might have to transplant in fall as they whole border needs replanting. DH also put up a deer fence for me in the back, so I have to move about a bunch of peonies too. On the other hand, the peonies might do me in and the front yard border rearrangement may be put off until spring. It would be lovely if I could divide it and have a few repeated across the border. I am going to try to grow it under a small obelisk I have next year also, as it was quite sprawly. thanks :)

Cady, I've got eight chickens left from my original gang of poultry. The guinea fowl left the enclosure every day, and one-by-one they got picked off by coyotes or foxes or whatever. Lost the last one in May. While I was away on a business trip this past April the spring heave and thaw lifted a couple of fence posts (sunk three feet down, but obviously not deep enough) such that the gang could squeeze under the mesh fencing, and I came home to find most everyone running around in the yard and in the fields, the survivors, anyway. The only chickens that survived were the ones still inside the pen, which is surrounded by an electric fence. It must have been a real smorgasbord for the coyote. The surviving ducks and geese decided that they liked the outside better and kept getting out. It's hard to stop a determined goose. I built another enclosure for them down by the stream and dug them a freshwater mini-pond that was fed by the stream, thinking they would like that better. But, they just kept busting out and each time there would be one less bird to catch. Eventually, I just gave up. I had a neighbor call me back in June to say that she saw three geese and a duck walking in her field, which most likely was the Brown African, a Toulouse, a White Chinese and a Black Cayuga. She lives on the other side of the road just off the Connecticut River, and I like to think that the survivors made it down to the river. ThatÂs the last I saw or heard of the waterfowl. So, what did I learn? Guinea fowl are too free-ranging to survive in an enclosure thatÂs not roofed, at least not with the kind of predator population that I have around here. For me, ducks and geese would only work, if I could put a fence around the entire pond, not practical. Chickens are the best, easy to keep, not a problem at all. They are what I wanted to get in the first place, before I went crazy and ended up with my menagerie. IÂm down to eight, the hardiest ones, and thatÂs fine, as I only wanted a half-dozen to begin with. If I lose any over the winter, IÂll replenish in the spring. When I go out to throw cracked corn they all follow me around clucking and gurgling, excited as all get out. They looked pretty ragged these past few weeks, molting and all. But, everyone is looking much better these days. My six beehives are doing great; it was a good year for bees. How are all your critters faring? I didnÂt deadhead anything this year, and the garden was a very popular hang out for all types of songbirds. I had hummingbirds like crazy this year, too. I think they like the butterfly bushes. I saw one land in one of my honeysuckle shrubs and sit in one place for over five minutes. IÂve never seen a hummingbird be immobile for so long. It was a real treat. narcnh

"I love Blue Bell. And I understand the demands of business. But they always billed themselves as such a wonderful place to work and family atmosphere. I was disappointed that they laid off some of their employees after their disaster." I don't think they had a choice. If they had kept the employees, they would have gone bankrupt without any money coming in and the employees would have permanently have lost their jobs. By laying the employees off and fixing the problems, the employees have a job to come back to. I've never seen the full explanation of the contamination. I don't think the company was trying to hide it. It was all just a no win situation. I suspect, the company probably had to replace a lot of specialized equipment and that has caused the time delay in hiring employees back. Hopefully, the problems are fully fixed. The company can go back to being the wonderful company that they were.