I'm not a school teacher; ....... but, it's true most sounds bats make during echolocation occur beyond range of human hearing. Our normal (human) hearing range is about 20 Hz to 15-20 kHz, where most bat vocalizations occur in the 9 kHz to to 200 kHz range - so there is some overlap there. Obviously, we can hear bats making many sounds - those made by their claws as they move while at roost or the fluttering sound of their wings, either at roost or in flight. Most humans can hear some of the sounds made when bats are in echolocation mode, and almost anyone with normal hearing, if you describe what to listen for, can hear faint clicks on calm nights while insect-eating bats are nearby and in flight, the 'click sound' being part of the chirps used during echolocation. I don't consider my hearing to be all that sharp, but just last week I did observe some bats clicking as I stood quietly watching them while waiting for my dog to finish his chore in the gloaming. Too, from a short distance, people with normal hearing would have no trouble hearing some of the vocal communication that passes between mother and pup. Al

Yes, the changes are working out so much better than I envisioned, so we are thrilled. We love how the fountain is working - remember when we were afraid it might be a mini niagra falls if the pump was too big? I especially love how I hardly ever have to mess with the pump, and when I do it is so easy to get into the tub to get at it. Hubby and I have been talking about the expansion. I am after him to get the grass transplanted to the backyard during our rainy season. That means like NOW :). Here is our current scheming. The red ink indicates the outer edge perimeter which will be bogs or marshes. The pond actual is the blue ink. Hubs wants a 'water wall' so the thought is to have the water wall running off a bog into the pond that runs the opposite side from the house. So we can sit out on the front porch, watch the fishies swimming around and enjoy the water wall. In the mean time, I get to sit around and noodle over how to make a pseudo stream in absolutely flat sand, what size pump for a water wall and how to get adequate water exchange between the two sides. Should be fun! And I am thinking of trying out sailfin mollies in the pond. Anybody have them? ~dianne

I am sorry that this thread is going toward a direction that is not intended. It is almost funny to see how people would defend themselves over any gardening issues, which is a good thing actually. It is nice to see serious people giving their best to this thread. Thank you. You guys really know your stuff. First of all, I'd have to agree with pnbrown that, while being a good gardening practice, mulching is not for everyone in every situation. What I just said might sound redundant but if you try it for a few months in the place where I live like I did, you will come to the same conclusion that mulching is good for soil but does not solve my sandy crust problem at all. Soil crusting is a complicated problem(at least to me) . The crust on clay soil has very different behavior from a sandy soil crust. Clay particle is highly water absorbing and the crust on it just gives it more surface area for it to absorb and retain more water. If you mulch in this situation, the mulch will effectively reduce water evaporation from the clay crust, thus saving you a lot of watering in certain time of year. This is exactly what mulching is for imo: to preserve and reduce water evaporation in soil. Sandy soil is a water repelling in nature. Anything you put to cover it will add to the difficulty of it absorbing water. It is not a problem with water retention now. It is the problem of getting water INTO the soil. Mulch does nothing to help with this, and somehow makes it harder to water the plant. Even if you manage to soak a few inches on top the rest of the bed is still dry as hell. This leaves me no choice but to water my beds longer than usual during dry seasons which waste water. The breathe holes really stop surface runoff. The water disappear so quickly and not running down beside the beds like before. It is tedious job poking them every once in a while but at least they work. And if you apply fertilizer before watering the breathe holes it is even better as the fertilizer can go deeper and faster.

brokenhead, do you have a window air conditioner in your home? My sister and her husband have a window air conditioner in their diningroom and through the window each evening a little treefrog would always sit on the top of it. Then during the day, they would see him under it somewhere where the moisture/water was dripping. One day they didn't see him there. That night they went into their bedroom and there he was. What a time they also had to catch him! He would jump and attach his little feet to the side of the furniture. They figured that he must have come in through the vents in the air conditioner somehow. Here is a picture of mine. I had been taking pictures of the clematis in bloom and looked up and saw him. He must have thought that the clematis trellis was just wide enough to sleep on and didn't care less that I was getting closer and closer to him with my camera...except that he did finally open his eyes. He was there all day. Can you find him? Here he is a little closer. Brenda