Well, I'd say you have a camera worth having, for sure!! What cute squirrel pics.! They do get fearless if they get use to you for sure. Maybe, the folks living there previously fed them and tamed them abit for you! :o) We have one with about the same amount missing from his tail, too. We call him 'Stubby'! He probably is the most shy, but he may have good reason to be more wary, given the missing tail event that must have happened in a most frightful way for him! He will come, if I call, but he does not rush up so close. Does the little guy in your pics. have a swollen lip or jaw? It looks like it to me, in the pic. Probably an abcess if it is what it looks to be--very swollen. I bet he got a bite in a brawl with a foriegn squirrel coming into *his* territory or vice versa! They are VERY territorial, from what I've heard and seen! Or, it could be an abcessed tooth---Poor guy! Or, maybe just the angle of the pic.!!LOL Are you feeding them yet? They LOVE black oil sunflower seed and unsalted p-nuts! But, I bet you know that already! :o)

I think I am the one who posted on the Florida Forum and yes I am still seeing the hummie, almost daily. In fact, I am wondering if there are two. The first one I saw I thought was almost all light in color under the throat while the one I am seeing now seems to have the pinkish red throat. It comes around throughout the day, I have seen it around noon and on and off throughout the afternoon. It loves to sit in the bare Crepe Myrtle trees and comes down to drink from my two feeders. I have taken some pictures and will post them soon. I no longer have my son's network to go through so I have to figure out how to use Flicker or Photobucket. We have our video camera set up and will also try to get some video tomorrow. We did get cold here - lost alot of my butterfly plants along with the hummer plants. I think it was also feeding on the Cape Honeysuckle today. This is the longest that I have ever seen one in my yard. I am so excited!

Before I forget (again) or get distracted by my family (again), here are (((((A COUPLE REMINDERS FOR THE GARDEN SWAP GUESTS:))))) Please label your plants, and check to make sure they're healthy (i.e. no hitchhiking aphids etc.). Don't forget your dish to pass! I'll provide plates, cups, etc. etc. etc. Bring a folding chair - I've only got four outdoors chairs to share, and not enough picnic table space for all of us at once. You're welcome to bring a card table or other way to display your plants (and hide your new treasures!) if you wish - I don't have a lot of table space to go around. Just FYI: our lot is SLOPED, and our yard and house have lots of STAIRS. Another reminder: we have indoor cats and birds - just in case any pet allergy sufferers or people with asthma will be here, I want you to be forewarned. I'll post again if I think of anything else, but I HOPE I've covered my bases. So far I've had five people RSVP that they'll be here, and more are welcome. I'm looking forward to a fun day! Laurel

Hi Everyone - I'm just getting online today. I'm in Apalachin and we've been without power and limited water from Tue until yesterday. I'm not complaining since SOoooo many people have such disasters to deal with. But we were happy to get showered and have power again today. Rte 434 was flooded east and west of us so we had to sit tight until Friday. Then we were able to get through to Vestal for ice. Unfortunetly we had to throw away alot of food that was in the fridge and extra freezer. We tried to use up what we could by feeding neighbors. I'm a pack rat so we had a lot to share with those who didn't have much food or gas grills for cooking. It was actually kind of fun having everyone here. My poor neighbors down the hill from us got a horrible flood. The drain pipe get clogged with debri so the creek over flowed into there yard. There was 10 feet of water swirling around in a whirl pool in their backyard Tuesday night. There basement got flooded up to the first floor (not including the first floor). They didn't loose much but it was a mess. You can see the pictures in the link below. My side gardens got flooded. But they are recovering. I had just put in a new garden with nice compost and garden soil. It all swept away. But it can all be replaced at some point. I've been so behind anyway on getting my winter sown plants and plants from the swap planted so luckily I still have lots of plants. I've also been behind on my container planting. I just finished those yesterday. Usually I'm done by Memorial Day. I hope I get some decent blooms before summer is over. My winter sown petunias are just starting to bud and bloom. So they should look good all summer (I hope). You can see my garden starting to flood in some pictures and me and my kids sleeping together one night when they are afraid of the total darkness. You can also take a look my spring garden photos too. I hope to get more pictures out there soon. My heart goes out to those that have lost so much. We have friends with 2 young children in Vestal (in Castle Gardens) that have lost a great deal and they are not sure if/when they can get in to salvage what little they have left. We plan to help them with clean up or whatever they need once we can get in. Here is a link that might be useful: Flood 2006