I plan on having a 'work day' this weekend if the weather holds as promised. I will pick up the wood for framing the raised bed tonight or tomorrow, already have the dirt at home, just waiting for the 10 day Roundup clearance to end. I am only putting smaller flowers (16-26") up along the front walk in raised beds. Once I move them up to the front, I can plant the new taller ones in the older beds. I like Todd Monroe and have been trying to decide if it or Siloam Shocker will go. They look too much alike and I have limited room. I think Todd will win as it is a rebloomer. I had a seedling I meant to evict, but forgot to mark which of two plants it was-and I don't want to toss the wrong one, so it may end up there until next year. Other evictions/overgrowns are going out to the holding bed at Dad's for next years spring plant sale-that's where I get my flower money! Once I get that done, I am hoping to have one segment of the back bed cleared so I can add things to the soil as it is full of clay there and the daylilies aren't fond of it. Then in the spring, I can cross things from the other side of the back bed and amend that side of the bed. Will probably drive husband crazy by then. :)

Ummmm...your eggs don't look like asparagus fern fruit to me. I think you may have been right the first time. They look just like lizard eggs. But maybe you have broken them open and found out that they are "fruity" inside? In the photo, I would have sworn they were lizard eggs. The other thing (on top) doesn't look like any real life bird bill I ever saw. The top portion is too perfectly straight across, for one thing. Are you absolutely sure it isn't plastic of some sort? It's interesting, for sure. Let us know if you identify it. Check with your local college and see if someone there can confirm what the material is, and you'll have a better idea. The petrified frog is a more common thing. I've seen dead frogs look like that from time to time. He probably did just "croak" (pardon my pun) there, and for whatever reason, got dried out and mummified. (Maybe the extreme heat of this summer, during the drought, did it.) Interesting photos...thanks for sharing! Let us know if you find out anything on the top one! Marcia

Wow, y'all are so organized - now your making me feel bad. I've been a terrible slacker - rain REALLY gets me down. Anyway, hopefully I can get motivated to get a few more things together - luckily, I had already done some work getting plants ready before all this wet weather.

Hi Gena I have a friend (not me of course) with a similar addiction. My friend, (I'll call him h for husband) started out on the light stuff first, gardening then composting. Soon that was'nt enough. H works in construction, like myself, and things are slow so he and his wife (w for the rest of this tale) decided to start renovating their small house during his off days. Then w ordered him some worms for x-mas. H was careful not to schedule any work so he'd be home when they arrived (careless mailman could leave them in the sun). First sign of trouble: h calls w at work (which he never does) to state they arrived. He then calls again to say he called the company that sent the worms with a problem (they had sent more worms than were ordered and he thought the bin they sent was too small) oh and he had talked to the worm guy himself!! the same famous guy from the web site!! w was happy her gift was appreciated. W began to notice behavioral changes in my friend, small at first, a little dirt by the worm box, box moved to different parts of the house ect. Then the changes became more pronounced, work around the house had slowed, but h had finally taken his starter plants out of her empty aquarium so she was excited to get some fish and so she let it slide. Then the weather turned cold, (my friends h and w have an agreement that h has custody of the thermostat during the cold months and w during the hot, saves on electric and arguments as h likes it colder than his wife). Imagine her horror as she sat under her electric blanket and saw the worm bin in the fish tank with the heating pad at a comfortable 75 degrees. More trouble: work at my friends house has slowed to a crawl. W, while using the computer found the browser history had many worm related sites on it. Turns out when not messing with his worms h was reading about them. Like a true addict h explained this by saying he was just a concerned newbie. Begging forgiveness he moved the bin to the garage. h had a few busy weeks at work so all was good, then he had an entire week off and much to do at home, small house, 1 room at a time, lots of stuff to move to tile, paint ect. W notices this is taking a long time! H, who like me has 20+ years of construction experience has several thousand plausible excuses for this. It's a necessary skill to explain delays. Still there is more web proof that he's reading about worms, turns out he's not smart enough to erase his web history. w mentions the web use but rather than repent h considers using the library computers. Other personality changes: h agrees to accompany his wife to petsmart (which he never does) w finds him asking about redwigglers, turns out he read they sold them as exotic pet food. W is now concerned this is spiraling out of control, he has too many for his bin yet wants more. W takes hubbies atm rendering him helpless to buy worm related products without leaving a traceable paper trail. One day while shopping wife notices husband in fishing (bait) department at wal-mart(like me he does'nt fish) h now must show receipt if he shops alone. h is left with homedepot, lowes, and gas card only, none sell worms. Another cold wave in florida: H is worried about his worms so he closes the garage door all the way, usually he locks it slightly ajar so any of w's cats who did'nt come in at bedtime can sleep in relative warmth. w is awakened by screaming cat at bedroom window. worms in back yard now. h blames heating pad autoshutoff not himself and considers rewiring it. h repents and starts to get some stuff done; he totally reorganizes all of their large storage bins in the garage, he does such a good job one is totally empty! He also finds the paper shredder that was stored during the office renovation (w had been asking for a month) lets hope his motives are pure. unfortunately like all addicts h was thinking only of himself soon the storage box was drilled, and that sunday while looking for the sunday paper w found him shredding it. H explained that he needed to move his worms (the box was full, not his fault they sent so many and things would get better when they were moved. w then returned home on monday to find h filling the storage box with water. I need to make sure there is nothing to harm the worms he explained. w mentioned he uses the same paper for the rabbit and never worried but he did'nt hear her. after a week of filling and letting box drain w came home and found the box in driveway drying in the florida sun. H is in the house, he has gotten the juicer out and is juicing some apples (w's favorite) Alas the juice is to hydrate the worms bedding so they'll eat more. h apoligizes and starts sorting his worms to their new bin. things will be better he tells her and himself when they're moved. several hours later he is done and ready to start his new worm ignoring life. all he needs to do is put his harvested castings in his pots outside in the morning. Trouble: H starts to put his castings on top of his veggies, oh oh found an egg. well h thinks that's only about 4 worms but i should really sort this better. three hours later w comes out and asks whats going on. I found 20 or so eggs and some babies he replies and then explains how this represents a gazillion worms over time, w doubts his math and his sanity so h does his normal chores instead. He is still trying. H sleeps poorly worried about the neglected worms. The next day he begs off going to a superbowl party. Too much to do around here he says. wife attends party but leaves early to surprise h with some company and some takeout (she knows he loves football and is proud he missed the party to get things done). She arrives home, no tv on in living room, truck is in driveway, no sign of h. w goes outback and follows extention cord to shed where h is sorting castings and listening to the game on radio. As h stands in his now dark shed he hopes this is what they mean by rockbottom. Sorry this post was so long but i want my friends story to warn others of the dangers of this hobby.