My garden and house caters first and mostly for my dog - he's the most pampered pet you can imagine :-) This includes his own doghouse in the garage (that he hardly ever uses, but is used by the roaming cats in the neighborhood, much to Timmy's distress), an enclosed front porch with doggie door, basket, rug and private sofa, free roaming of the garden, two more beds inside the house, etc. You get the picture - he's the king of it all :-) As for wildlife, since we live on the foothills of a small mountain range and part of a natural park, we do get quite a lot of critters. We have a birdbath that is used not only by the birds but also by the bees and wasps, of which there are gazillions (we are in a honey producing area). Birds in the garden include sparrows, robins in Fall and Winter, loads of blackbirds, gold finches and a multitude of others I can't name. Last Saturday I saw my first swallow of the year. Above us on the hill we can frequently spot hawks, of which there are some colonies in the park. At night owls are a frequent visitor and we can hear their calls many times. Cuckoos are also a familiar sound as soon as Spring is here. I have a lot of evergreens in the garden and this provides excellent nesting sites for the birds. Preferred are the bay trees, laurustinus and the conifers. I'm constantly finding nests whenever I prune anything. I had a resident bat for about a year, sleeping in a closed garden umbrella we had on the patio. Unfortunately I had to remove the umbrella because the wasps decided it was a good place to nest, so it had to go. I was already stung twice, didn't want to be stung whenever I opened the umbrella! Still, bats visit frequently and it's common to see one or two flying around the garden at dusk. Some years we have glow worms in the Spring, which I absolutely love. It's magical to see them hovering around the garden at night. Other assorted critters include geckos, small lizzards, snakes, mice (yuk!), crickets, locusts and the occasional hedgehog. In terms of specifically catering for critters, I keep the birdbath going all year (we don't have hard freezes) and try to plant things I know will be used by the wildlife. This includes berry shrubs like pyracantha which are a major hit with birds in the cold Winter months. I also have a weeping mulberry tree and let its production go to the birds, who have a feast with the fruits. The compost pile is also a good feeding ground and there's a little bird that spends hours there hunting for the small fruit flies that proliferate inside the pile. Butterflies are catered for with things like lantana, mock orange and buddleia. I need to add more larval food to cater for butterflies, but haven't come quite up to it yet. I don't use any sort of chemicals in the garden, don't even spray the roses, and this of course translates into a welcome sign for critters, even if it means that slugs and snails are huge, sigh... I don't use a slingshot to get rid of them, like Edna does ;-), but I do throw them onto a neighbooring field that is kept wild. All in all, I consider a privilege to have wildlife in the garden and have been slowly educating myself to encourage it as much as possible. Eduarda

Jan is a friend of mine. I've been to her house and there are no tied up birds, bats or anything else. SHe was speaking an incident that happened 30 plus yeas ago in Korea. No, GatorMomx2, English is not her native language. She came here as an adult and now is fluent in both Korean and English. She speaks with practically no accent. As an ESOL teacher, you should appreciate how hard she had to work to learn a language that is completely different from her native language. She is called on by her pastor numerous times to translate business transactions for fellow Koreans who are not as facile at English. I am amazed and disappointed at the attacks on our Hoya Queen. You folks can have your critters, I'll take Jan any day of the week!!!! Barb

Well, here we go...I'll educate all of us. It seems that the PT band is the large muscle that runs from the front of your hip down the outside of your leg and attaches to you knee. Oh....that explains the pain. My PT told me yesterday that a lot of times after surgery the muscle tightens and can be very painful...much like sciatic pain only in the front. She showed me a couple of exercises to help stretch the muscle. I could do one of them and looked online for some others I could do. I did them throughout the day and lo and behold, it helped. I actually slept for six hours last night without waking! The first time since my surgery. It is amazing all of the different things our bodies can do to cause us pain, but I am thankful that there are ways to coax it into not being painful as well. Thanks for the continued prayers and support. I'm not at the "I'm really glad I did this stage" yet, but I'm at the "okay, I'm ready for this to be over" stage, so I push along each day and the doctors say I'm still doing better than most at this stage, so I'm encouraged by that. Thanks again ladies for the support!

Badgergirl, your granddog looks very similar to my baby, Bella, who lives with my STBX POC DH. I miss her terribly. She has black spots like a cow, though, but has the same smile as your sweetie. Pits (and Rots) are incredible dogs. (My Rot, Shelby, died a few years ago. I still miss her little dances.) They're so smart they'll do anything to please their owners. They're great natured, but because of their quick intelligence, easy to ruin. They learn what makes the owner happy, and if it's horrible, how are they to know? Their owner is happy and safe, and that's all that matters. I'm all for the death penalty for those who train these smart, loving dogs to be aggressive and dangerous. I'll get off my soapbox. They're fabulous. 'Nuff said. Fori, your baby looks like he got caught doing something! That's a funny place, a log! My Morgan sleeps on a cold tile floor. She can tear up a bed in less than 10 minutes. I started buying comforters at the thrift store, which she'll fight with, roll around with, and eventually sleep with a paw or sometimes her head on the blanket. They'll last about 6 months. My foster Pugs sleep on the comforters. They're just weird, sweet, funny little dogs who could do a bed, I'm sure, but they don't care as long as they're together. Thanks for the bed links, though. Morgan is 12-14 years old and I'd like to get her off the floor!