Larry, The Leonardus I found have the markings of the montana pawnee. I'm aware that these are not in any way connected to the small population around Pikes Peak. However, it is interesting that I couldn't locate any photos that matched the Leonardus I found. The picture of the Pawnee in Kaufman matches to a "T". But, when I went on line to try to find a photo, I couldn't. I end up back at the montana pawnee. So, I may submit my photo to Bugguide, as their photo base for Leonardus is limited, as is NABA, BAMONA, and any other database on the web. And, yes, I read about the interblending of the species. Quite interesting. I can't pretend to understand the limiting of the species, except that DNA has been checked. I've read quite a bit lately about the small amount of difference in DNA it takes to establish a new species/subspecies. Currently, Mark Dreiling from Bartlesville (who does a lot of blacklighting), has a moth that may be a new species. He has a pbase gallery. I have only seen the one Brephidium exilis here locally. It was in my yard with a large population E isola alce. The one I saw was a county record, and the first seen this far east in Oklahoma. I was south and west of Tulsa, not too far from the Texas border when I went on my outing. It's within the range for the B exilis. I also found out that the elusive Ambliscirtes linda have been spotted there. So, I'm sure I'll go back--most likely in the spring. This is my week to travel to Ohio. I head out on Thursday, and will travel through St. Louis, Chicago, and then to Cleveland. There are some butterfly houses along the way, so I'll stop off and enjoy some tropical B-flies. And, hopefully, visit Elisabeth on the way home. No computer. I always leave home without it! Sandy

Glad to hear that everyone seems to be safe. Around here, we are far enough inland that we didn't expect to be hard hit, but it ended up being pretty mild. Lots of rain, but that was about it. Our power stayed on. Some stuff I intended to bring in off the deck, but forgot, didn't move an inch. We decided to go out and run some errands this afternoon. The storm was past and the skies were sunny and clear. The only damage I saw was the next door neighbor's FOR SALE sign on her house was hanging from only one of the 2 hooks that holds it up, and a rather large tree branch was down. I know in harder hit areas there are some deaths, lots of flooding, and millions without power. I'm just glad it wasn't worse. Casey

Moccâ¦..We have a ton of squirrels as we have a ton of trees but I have managed to keep their nuisance level to a minimum after I quit putting out bird feed. That helped a lot with that issue but they still are in the yard every day. Whenever I see one of the little bastards I send my dogs out to chase them off. I had to build nets around my potted roses because they wouldn't stop chewing off the buds and digging in the pots, but for some reason don't dig much in the hosta pots. Maybe because the dirt wasn't so obvious like it is in the large rose pots. Also, I stared using cedar mulch to cover the media in my hosta pots this year. That has seemed to stop almost all digging, and I also rarely see any holes dug into my beds that are mulched with cedar. It doesn't stop the skunks or other diggers in the beds but it does detour the squirrels. Same as you, the heat does not seem to have an affect, at least short term, on any of my hosta. Also, as we don't get regular rain, we get downpours or two or three days of light rain followed generally by long periods of dry, so that isn't a huge concern with me right now. I totally agree, my concern is the affect of a warm winter, although we had one two years ago and my 6 or 7 plants all came out and did fine. Again, long term, I don't know. They were slow to come out that year, not showing up until probably around April 1, where as last year after we had a super cold winter they all started popping out in late February. I planted maybe six of my new plants last year in the moisture control MG before I knew that was a no-no and had planned to repot as soon as they went dormant, but now I have decided to experiment with them and leave as is. My weather is pretty unique to yours, ilovetogrow's and even bkay's, so with our combination of warmer and drier winters I want to see what happens. Most of my plants are potted in straight regular MG and new plants next spring will be planted in Ladybug natural potting soil mixed with some expanded shale and nuggets of some sort. Then I can do a real comparison of any differences. So bottom line I plan to hold course with what I have been doing, for better or for worse, pots mostly shaded year round, sitting on the mulched ground in my beds and on feet on my patio, and see what happens. All that said, we NEED rain to fill our aquifer! Lots of it!

Annie, was thinking of someway for you to fill in a few days with something that might be of interest. If you travel a bit north from Harlingen you'll bump into San Antonio. SA is about a 3 1/2 hour drive north of Harlingen - pretty wide open driving and nothing to slow you down. The King Ranch owns most of the land along this route. About 1/2 way between Harlingen and SA is one of the best BBQ places in Texas. There are several Motel 6's in the SA area. You might find bargains on the Riverwalk this time of the year (off season) and maybe you'd be nearer many of the major attractions/history. There are many things of interest that would keep you moving and out of the motel several hours a day. There is a hop on - hop off trolley that's convenient and easy to use. Might be less expensive to stay downtown than parking and lot fees on a daily basis etc. Austin is about a 1 1/2 hour drive from San Antonio. If it appealed to you both and was an easy fix, you might choose to drive to SA, spend a couple of days then drive into Austin for a couple of days before picking up your return flight. A few sites below for you to check out for interest. http://www.segcity.com/ http://www.lsjunction.com/facts/missions.htm http://www.sanantonioriverwalk.com/photo.html http://www.sanantonioriverwalk.com/tourism.html http://www.buysanantoniotours.com/index.html I didn't include the museums, zoo etc. Included only what is unique to this area. The next address is of a very pretty cavern between SA and Austin - not a Carlsbad, but very pretty in it's own right. You could pick it up on your trip from SA to Austin for the return flight. http://www.buysanantoniotours.com/tours/sa-natural-bridge-caverns-north-cavern-tour.html I hope this gives you another option for those precious vacation days. Niene